July 10, 2007 - Retired Rider AD to be honored by ECAC

July 10, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Retired Rider AD to be honored by ECAC
Curt Blake to receive James Lynah Distinguished Achievement Award

CENTERVILLE, Mass.-- Curtis Blake, who retired after 14 years as director of athletics at Rider University in 2005, has been awarded the 2007 James Lynah Distinguished Achievement Award by the Eastern College Athletic Conference and will be honored on September 30 at the Sheraton Hyannis Resort in Hyannis, Massachusetts during the ECAC convention.

The Lynah Award is named after former Cornell Athletic Director James Lynah, who is credited as being the principle founder of the central office for Eastern Intercollegiate Athletics in 1938 which ten years later became the Eastern College Athletic Conference.  The award is given annually to a maximum of four former ECAC athletic administrators who have achieved outstanding success in their career and have made an unusual contribution in the interest of intercollegiate athletics, the NCAA and the ECAC.

During Blake’s 14 years as director of athletics, Rider’s NCAA Division I athletics program grew to meet many challenges and achieved much success including the addition of four varsity teams in women’s indoor track and field, women’s outdoor track and field, women’s cross country and women’s soccer.  Blake also led Rider through the process of two conference changes from the East Coast Conference to the Northeast Conference, (NEC) and, ultimately, to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC).

Under Blake’s leadership, Rider significantly improved the student athlete academic enhancement program which resulted in approximately 50 percent of Rider’s student-athletes consistently achieving a 3.0 grade point average (GPA) or better.

“This is a great and well deserved honor for Curt on a personal level, but also a shared honor for the Athletics Department at Rider University,” said current director of athletics Don Harnum.  “Curt Blake was the catalyst in modernizing and professionalizing Rider athletics during his 14 year tenure as director of athletics.  The ECAC could not have chosen a more deserving recipient for the James Lynah Distinguished Achievement Award.”

Blake, who was named the 2002-03 Athletic Director of the Year for Division I-AA/I-AAA Northeast Region by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, represented Rider on numerous committees and served as commissioner of the East Coast Wrestling Association and chair of the College Athletic Administrators of New Jersey, the East Coast Conference Board of Directors, the MAAC Athletic Directors and the NCAA Wrestling Committee.

Blake and his wife of 45 years, Peggy, currently reside in Fripp Island, South Carolina.

-RU-