FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Reprinted from Apprentice School Website
August 11, 2008
Heath Earns Media Honor From Peninsula
Sports Club
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Apprentice School Sports Information
Director Jim Heath received the Bob Moskowitz Media Award from
the Peninsula Sports Club on June 23 at its annual Headliners
Night banquet at the Hampton Holiday Inn. The following is a
story written on him to be included in the banquet program.
The man keeps busy. Spell it in
capital letters - BUSY. A one-armed paper hanger is lazy
compared to James A. Heath, sports information director,
multi-sport statistician, webmaster and, oh yes, a 183 bowler.
In retrospect, says Heath, one Dennis Kozlowski triggered all
of it - except the bowling.
The 39-year-old Newport News native, but long-time Hamptonian,
was recruited by then football coach/track coach/athletic
director Kozlowski to keep statistics for the Bethel football
team. That led to numerous other channels of endeavor for
Heath.
"That got me started in contact with the Daily Press," he
recalls. He worked there some in the sports department after
high school graduation and still is a stringer. After Heath
enrolled at Christopher Newport University, he found that "Koz"
had contacted athletic director/basketball coach/golf coach
C.J. Woollum, who recommended him to sports information
director Wayne Block.
From there, in effect, Heath spread throughout Tidewater.
He has been the SID for Newport News Apprentice School since
2000 and also owns the tag of assistant athletic director. It
would be egregious to stop there with his list of current
duties in the local world of sports. He still strings for the
Daily Press (mostly high school sports), is: media director
for the Virginia Duals, SID for the National Collegiate
Wrestling Association, SID for for the Atlantic Central
Football Conference, special assistant to the U.S. Collegiate
Athletic Association and last year became webmaster for the
ACFC (acting as content manager for the conference as well as
the Apprentice website).
Along the way he was official statistician for the 2004 NCAA
Division III Women's Basketball Final Four at Virginia
Wesleyan; has been an official statistics crew member for the
Portsmouth Invitational Tournament since 2001; was 2003 media
director for the AAU Senior Olympics; and was media director
for the AAU Junior Olympics in 2001 and 2006. He also was a
graduate assistant in the Old Dominion University Sports
Information Department. He also has been detected filling in
as official scorer for the Peninsula Pilots of the Coastal
Plain League.
At the Apprentice School, Heath has helped promote over 450
athletes for honors ranging from Player of the Week to
All-American. He has won three College Sports Information
Directors Association Publication awards, and was selected SID
of the Year in 2000-01 by the National Small College Athletic
Association.
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