EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. – Rick Leddy, the Senior Director of Communications at the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), received the Pete Nevins Award for Distinguished Achievement at the 2022 Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference-Sports Information Directors (ECAC-SIDA) Workshop on Thursday night.
The award honors the memory of Pete Nevins, East Stroudsburg University's sports information director for 33 years (1969-2002), who passed away in January 2007, and is presented to an individual in recognition of their advancement of the field of athletic communications and advocacy for intercollegiate athletics.
"This award is special because it brings me back to fond memories of Pete and the times we spent together," said Leddy.
Leddy went on to say, "Pete, inadvertently, jump started my career in sports information. In my junior year at Southern Connecticut, while serving as the student assistant, John Crane, the SID and one of my early mentors, left to become the editor of one of the state's daily newspapers. The football season had just ended and John Mattia, who had been the SID before being elevated to director of public affairs for the university, reached out to Pete to come to Southern."
"Pete declined the opportunity, having just left the University of Bridgeport and moved his family to East Stroudsburg University, where he was legendary while holding court for 33 years," Leddy added.
"I always looked forward to seeing Pete when the Warriors came to Southern but especially when I traveled to ESU for a game. He was like the ringmaster at the circus on football Saturdays, making sure that everything was set in place, from the popcorn machines to the program sellers. When the game started, Pete called out every play in the press box for his statisticians while mixing in a unique and funny banter about anything and everything," Leddy said.
Leddy is the 15th recipient of the award, following Pete Moore of Syracuse University, who was honored in 2022.
Leddy joined the NABC staff on a part-time basis in May 1985, serving as secretary for the NABC Board of Directors, a position he still holds, and as a media consultant. He became a full-time member of the NABC staff in 2007, retiring from his position as associate director of athletics after 36 years at Southern Connecticut State University. Leddy was NABC director of public relations until 2014, when he was promoted to senior director of communications.
Upon graduation from Southern Connecticut, where he earned a bachelor's degree in education, Leddy was appointed as sports information director for the university. He served in that position until 1994 when he was elevated to associate director of athletics.
A member of CoSIDA and the USBWA, Leddy has been inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame, the SCSU Athletics Hall of Fame and the New England Basketball Hall of Fame.
Nevins, who was inducted into the ESU Athletic Hall of Fame in October 2007, was decorated with every major award from CoSIDA and ECAC-SIDA during his illustrious career.
The other award recipients at Wednesday's virtual workshop were Connor Martin, Mary Washington (Bill Esposito Memorial Award), Chris and Steve Zerdelian, D2EastHoops.org (Monahan and Wallace Media Award), Greg Pellegrino, Holy Family (Bob Kenworthy Award), John Hartrick, Binghamton (Irving T. Marsh University Award), and Scott Guise, York (Irving T. Marsh College Award).
He was the second-ever recipient of the Warren Berg Award as the nation's outstanding college division SID, earned the Irving T. Marsh Award in 1986, and was inducted to the CoSIDA Hall of Fame the following year. He also received the Bob Kenworthy Good Person Award from ECAC-SIDA in 2006, which honors a person who shows an exceptional amount of respect for the profession, their fellow SID's, the media and the community.
Nevins was the SID at the University of Bridgeport from 1963-69 and was a sportswriter at the Bridgeport Post-Telegram in Connecticut before coming to East Stroudsburg. He was the beloved husband of Gail Nevins.
