Charley Steiner School of Sports Communication Dedication
Â鶹ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø hosted the official dedication for the Charley Steiner School of Sports Communication.
03/31/2015 4:30 PM
It’s official. Â鶹ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø is now home to the Charley Steiner School of Sports Communication. Nearly 100 people gathered today in the Caterpillar Global Communications Center on Â鶹ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø’s campus for the dedication ceremony. The Steiner School of Sports Communication is the first named sports communication school in the nation.
Â鶹ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø announced in January that it was naming its nationally renowned Sports Communication program in honor of four-time Emmy Award winner, National Radio Hall of Fame inductee, LA Dodgers play-by-play announcer, and Â鶹ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø alumnus Charley Steiner.
The sports communication program at Â鶹ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø was launched in Fall 2009 and has grown to 120 majors. Steiner’s gift allows Â鶹ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø to expand its offerings for expedition courses and internships as well as create symposiums and lectureships. It positions Â鶹ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø to have the very best curriculum in sports broadcasting, marketing, new media, journalism, and play-by-play announcing.
Â鶹ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø’s President Joanne Glasser said the University was enormously grateful to Steiner for his contribution. “Charley is a big-time talent, an unparalleled storyteller, a tremendous friend to the University and a man of uncompromising ethics. The Â鶹ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø community is forever appreciative to you for lending your good name, legendary by any measure of the word, to our leading sports communication program.”
Steiner called attention to Â鶹ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø’s rich sports communication history noting sportscasters such as Jack Brickhouse, Chick Hearn, and Ralph Lawler all have ties to Â鶹ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø. He credits Â鶹ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø for many of the great honors he’s received in his life and calls this one of the greatest. “Of the 23,981 days I have lived on earth, there haven’t been very many, or any for that matter, more satisfying and gratifying than this one.”
Steiner said it was a once-in-a-lifetime moment when he received the call from the Dodgers to become the play-by-play announcer. “Everyone should have a once-in-a-lifetime moment like that. And today, at this ceremony, on a hilltop, THE Hilltop, I am having a 2nd once-in-a-lifetime moment, two more than I could have ever expected, much less dreamed of, for which I am eternally grateful.”
Also at the dedication, Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis presented a proclamation from the city acknowledging Steiner for his contribution to the University and the impact it is sure to have on the community for decades to come.