NAME: Jack Neumann
UNIVERSITY: Calgary
CATEGORY (Student-Athlete, Coach, Builder): Builder
SPORT: Open
YEARS ACTIVE: 1978-2012
HIGHLIGHTS:
Trailblazing sports information director at Calgary
First Canadian inducted into CoSIDA Hall of Fame
Dinos Hall of Fame inductee
BIOGRAPHY:
Jack Neumann’s 34-year career at the University of Calgary touched the lives of countless student-athletes, coaches, alumni, and members of the community.
A native of Saskatoon, Neumann was hired in 1978. As one of the first full-time Sports Information Directors in the country, he was a trailblazer, pushing sports information forward by building local, national, and international contacts in the media and the sports world.
Neumann served as president of the Canadian SID association, advancing the profession across the country and helping pave the way for standardization in many areas of communications for university sport.
Throughout his career, Neumann was an active participant and member of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). From 1990 to 1992, he was the first Canadian to serve on CoSIDA's Board of Directors and in 2004 he became the first Canadian SID to be inducted into the organization's Hall of Fame. In 2012, Neumann was presented with CoSIDA's Warren Berg Award, recognizing his longtime contributions to the profession.
His other honours include the Order of the University of Calgary and Calgary Italian Sportsman's Club lifetime achievement award, both awarded in 2005. Neumann received induction into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame in 2006 as winner of the Achievement Award for his more than three decades of dedication and service to amateur sport in Alberta. In 2008, he became the first non-player to receive the Dinos Football Distinguished Alumni Award.
After moving on from his SID position in 2007, Neuman worked as alumni relations coordinator for five years until his retirement in 2012, when he was inducted in the Dinos Hall of Fame.