September 24, 2008
THE
LATE CLIFF GUILLIAMS TO BE HONORED WITH MEDIA SERVICE AWARD
Cliff Guilliams, the late sportswriter for the Evansville Courier & Press, will be
remembered Friday night as this year’s recipient of the IHSAA Distinguished
Media Service Award for District III.
His memory and
contributions to high school sports over three decades will be honored during a
special ceremony prior to the Evansville Bosse-Castle
football game in Newburgh. Members of Guilliams’
family along with IHSAA Commissioner Blake Ress, Castle Principal Phil DeLong, a member of the IHSAA Board of Directors, as well
as Sports Information Director Jason Wille will be in attendance.
Guilliams
was a 1973 graduate of Bosse High School where he
played football for the Bulldogs and Hall of Fame coach Archie Owens. It was during
those formative years in which Guilliams developed
his passion for high school sports. Later while a student at the University of
Southern Indiana, he helped coach Bosse’s cub and
freshmen teams. Upon graduation from USI in 1977 with a degree in
communications, he began working for the old Sunday Courier & Press in Evansville covering high school sports and another
passion – horse racing – before joining the daily Courier in 1981.
In 1983, Guilliams left the newspaper to become a chart caller and
columnist for Daily Racing Form (now Equibase, Inc.),
where he charted 25 consecutive Kentucky Derbys,
seven Breeders Cup days and covered the Kentucky racing circuit. While doing
so, he continued freelance writing for the Evansville papers. Beginning in
2000, he left his winter duties with Daily Racing Form to spend time in
Evansville and cover southwestern Indiana basketball games writing stories and
columns on some of the area’s smaller communities.
Some of his
favorites included covering southwestern Indiana’s champions — Gunner Wyman’s
final team at Vincennes Lincoln in 1981; Tom Beach’s back-to-back champions at
Forest Park in 2005 and 2006 and; the Dave Omer and Gene Miiller coached clubs
from Washington in 2005 and 2008. But he most loved features on people who made
a difference in the game — Cy Birge,
a referee at the Milan-Muncie Central game in 1954; Jerry Hoover, the baritone
voice of Roberts Stadium in Evansville; and John Kendall, singer of “Back Home
Again (In Indiana)” at the basketball tournaments at Huntingburg Memorial Gym.
Guilliams
received national recognition in 2003 when horse trainer Nick Zito named his top Kentucky Derby contender, “The Cliff’s
Edge,” in his honor. Guilliams’ book, “Final Calls
for Absent Friends,” was published that year, telling the stories of horses,
athletes and coaches who had touched his life.
He earned
many awards for his sports writing and, in 2007, was honored by the Indiana
Basketball Coaches Association with the Virgil Sweet Award for “meritorious
service in the promotion of basketball in the state of Indiana”.
Last April,
he had just finished covering the Blue Grass Stakes for the Courier & Press earlier in the day before
passing unexpectedly at the young age of 52.
This is the 24th year the IHSAA has recognized
outstanding members of the Indiana news media from each of its three
legislative districts for excellence in the coverage of high school sports.
District III covers 42 counties across southern
On behalf of its 410 member schools, the Indiana High
School Athletic Association is pleased to salute the late Cliff Guilliams for his dedicated service to high school
athletics in the state of Indiana.
Previous award recipients from southwestern
Don
Bernhardt,
Bob
Simmers, WITZ, Jasper, 1986-87
Larry
Goffinet, Tell City News, 1991-92
Dave
Hunter, WAOV,
Norman
Hall, WBNL, Boonville, 1993-94
Dave Dedrick, WUME/WSEZ, Paoli, 1995-96
Mike Blake,
WFIE-TV,
Larry Schweizer, WBNL, Boonville, 1998-99
Pete
Swanson,
Tom
Douglas, Spencer Evening World, 1999-00
Mark
Downey,
Brian
Bohne, Ferdinand News/Spencer County Leader, 2003-04
Lance
Wilkerson, News 25, WEHT-TV,
Tom
Collins, Evansville Courier & Press, 2006-07
Mike Hole,
Chuck Akers, WFLQ, French Lick, 2007-08
IHSAA
08-09/6