Sports media project starting at BGSU (04-07-11)

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Dick Maxwell (Photo:
Andrew Weber/Sentinel-Tribune)

When alumni with the stature of Dick Maxwell come back to Bowling Green State University, it is usually a
pretty big deal on campus.
When Maxwell comes back to BGSU to announce a project that could change the sports media programs at the
university for years to come, it becomes a huge deal.
Wednesday night, Maxwell, a 1970 graduate of BGSU who retired in 2006 as the senior director of
Broadcasting for the NFL, announced the launch of the Richard A. Maxwell Project.
The project, known as "The Max," will provide students with the opportunity to learn the crafts
of sports writing, reporting, broadcasting, announcing, production, promotions, public media and
community relations, and communication management.
"I’m very happy to be a part of this," Maxwell said before a standing-room-only crowd of around
250 people. He is a former sports writer for the Sentinel-Tribune. "It will be an umbrella project
as it develops over the years."
The project will include the formation of an advisory board comprised of students, faculty, and other
faculty from nationally-recognized sport management programs. Also included will be workshops on how to
handle the sports media, internships, scholarships, and a series of guest speakers.
"There’s nothing like it, they tell us, in the country, so we’re going to give it a go, and from our
aspect we’ll give it whatever we can," Maxwell said in an interview earlier in the day.
The two annual scholarships that the project gives away is the Robert F. Collins scholarship, which is
given to one sophomore or junior in the sport management department and one junior or senior in the
journalism department.
Collins, Maxwell’s late father-in-law, was a sports columnist for the Rocky Mountain News in Colorado,
and won the Colorado sports writer of the year award four times.
"It’s a tremendous honor to be the first Collins recipient of this scholarship," said Michele
Wysocki, a sophomore journalism student.
"It’s a great asset for Bowling Green to have the Max program," she added. "College is
hard as it is, so it’s great that the university is taking the chance at the opportunity to help
students facilitate with the experience of internships and allow students to have that extra step above
other universities."
The project also received the papers and files from all 36 years of work in the NFL from Maxwell.
"It’ll have an impact in that all the papers will be good for research purposes and they’re all
about, in the program, having really credible sources," said Lindsay Helm, a sport management
student.
"The fact that we had someone that graduated from BG that donated that type of information is
huge."
The Collins Scholarship recipient in the sport management department was junior Nick Juskewycz and he
agrees with Maxwell that the project could somewhat be used as a recruiting tool for students.
"To have the Maxwell Project … it will attract so many more people from across the country,"
said Juskewycz, who is from Iowa.
Maxwell was not alone in his presentation of the project.
He was accompanied by Joe Horrigan, who was the first speaker in the annual series.
Horrigan is the vice-president of communications and exhibits for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton
and will begin his 35th year of work in June.
He is regarded by many as one of the sport’s foremost historians and answered questions as to what his
job entails, how the Hall of Fame selection process goes, and he discussed numerous artifacts found in
the museum.
Horrigan was also named as the first outside member of the advisory board of "The Max."
The format for the announcement included a televised segment of discussion questions that was produced by
WBGU. The floor was then open to all questions in the audience.
"I think it went very well," Maxwell said. "A lot of people put a lot of hours and thought
into this process and we wanted to see how the format for this would work, and I thought it went very
well as far as adding some insight for the students."
Maxwell said that he has a long list of "people of substance," many of whom are associated with
the NFL, to come and speak in the future as a part of the series.
Maxwell’s story of success in the NFL isn’t a normal one by any stretch.
He majored in journalism and started out always wanting to be a sports editor for a large newspaper. But
after working as the interim sports information director at BGSU his senior year, he made a key
connection with Bob Peck of the Mid-American Conference.
After working as the sports editor for the Athens Messenger for three months he received a call from Peck
who had became the public relations director of the Denver Broncos.
Peck offered Maxwell as job as his assistant and Maxwell accepted without much thought.
After working with the Broncos, Maxwell moved on to work in public relations for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
and then moved into the league offices as the NFL’s director of information for the National Football
Conference before retiring at his latest position, Director of Broadcasting.
Maxwell was quick to point out that he was lucky to have made that connection early and, "If I
hadn’t gone to Bowling Green, I would not have the opportunity to get in the NFL."
Being the gracious man that he is, Maxwell feels great and is excited to help out the students at BG.
"If there’s anything I can do to open doors, I’d be happy to do that."

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