Horizon League Perspectives: Bill Benner

Horizon League Perspectives is intended as a place where any of our league constituents -- league staff, presidents, campus athletic administrators, coaches and, of course, our student-athletes -- can contribute essays regarding intercollegiate athletics in general or the Horizon League and its institutions in particular. All content must be approved by the Horizon League before being posted.

Please submit to Bill Benner, Horizon League Senior Associate Commissioner for External Affairs, at bbenner@horizonleague.org.

By Bill Benner

As some of you may know, I spent more than three decades as a sports writer and columnist for The Indianapolis Star. During my journalism career, much of my time was spent writing about intercollegiate athletics.

At times, it was easy to become swallowed up by cynicism, especially with the escalation of the so-called athletics arms race. So much of my focus, in response to the demands of editors and readers, was focused on the headline-grabbing and money-intensive sports of football and men’s basketball.

In doing so, it was easy to lose sight of the student-athletes who truly represented the vast majority of the enterprise, even those involved in those sports. And those were the young men and women who were going to class, succeeding academically, involved socially, serving as role models within their communities and overall benefiting greatly from the enterprise of intercollegiate athletics.

Last week, it was my pleasure to become personally reacquainted with just those kinds of student-athletes. The occasion was the Horizon League’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) meetings here in Indianapolis and after spending parts of three days with the group, I left absolutely inspired.

If, again, they are representative of the enterprise of the Horizon League -- and I have no reason to believe they are not -- then all of us in the League family should be very, very proud.

As a group (and I could discern no notable exceptions) they were highly engaged, enthusiastic, intelligent and motivated. In terms of presenting themselves and their communication skills, my impression was a “wow.” Top notch.

Especially illuminating was a session we had one morning in which we were to help the student-athletes with their interviewing skills.

I spent about a half-hour each with Jessica McCloy, a senior soccer player from Cleveland State; Mike Chiandussi, a junior soccer player from Detroit, and Macey Nortey, a junior women’s basketball player at Youngstown State.

Jessica wants to be involved in athletic administration. Mike is pursuing a career in engineering. Macey is on track to become a nurse.

My initial impression after “interviewing” all three of them: If I was their prospective employer, I’d hire them on the spot.

Some have suggested to me that the public -- via the news media -- is not interested in the stories of these kinds of student-athletes. Certainly I, as much as anyone, know what “news” people consider “news.’’ Sadly, I’m reminded of the line from songwriter Don Henley: “Give me dirty laundry.”

But that should not deter us in the Horizon League from making the effort to talk about the likes of Jessica McCloy, Mike Chiandussi or Macey Nortey … or any of their SAAC colleagues. Via this website and those of our institutions, and via the Horizon League Network, those are the messages that we control and positive stories that we can tell, and that’s what we intend to do.

Our League motto is “Raise Your Sights.” Well, when I raised my sights at SAAC, I saw nothing but bright, bright stars, all flying the colors of your institutions and our conference.

There are more where they came from. I can’t wait to meet them.

Bill Benner is senior associate commissioner for external affairs at the Horizon League. Email him at bbenner@horizonleague.org.