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Promoting school, athletes keeps Gerdes happy, busy
By Allyson Wells John Gerdes has been helping to promote University of South Florida athletics for the past 18 years as assistant director of athletics-media relations. Gerdes, B.A., 1984, supervises a staff of six in charge of publicizing the 18 athletic programs at USF. "Obviously we start on the local level, but as we have story ideas that we think are of national interest, we work to place those stories," he said. "For instance, we had a men's basketball player who rescued two accident victims who had flipped over in their car in a ditch. We worked to get him some national publicity." He said that his communication degree from Purdue has helped him immensely throughout his career. "Not only the classes I took, but also the people I met, made the whole experience great," said Gerdes. While he loves everything about his job, Gerdes said that the most satisfying part is being able to help the student athletes and watch them grow from freshmen to seniors. "The athletes have the hardest jobs, but to know you even played a small part in it is very rewarding," said Gerdes. Since 1997, Gerdes has also been a member of the NCAA Media Coordination Committee for the NCAA Final Four. Gerdes has been the moderator for the Final Four media sessions since 2003. |
