January - February
2000 -- Vol. 11, No. 1

newsmakers ...

Have you gotten some good press lately? Send us a copy of the article, and we'll do a write-up for a future issue!

... At U.S. National Doubles Championships, Jeff Conine showed the city of Baltimore that he can hit something other than baseballs. Jeff and his wife Cindy were the focus of much of the media’s attention at the championships, with the two being highlighted on both local and national television. Jeff also made a guest appearance on a Baltimore sports radio show during the tourney.

... The U.S. OPEN was the highlight of much of the Memphis media’s attention, as well as media across the country. Thanks to a hard-working group of interns from the University of Memphis, newspapers from across the country were running U.S. OPEN results daily. Their efforts even crossed the border northward, where U.S. OPEN athletes were featured guests on radio sports shows.

... In Memphis, Jason Mannino and Sudsy Monchik assisted with one of WHBQ-AM 560’s sports call in shows. During a live remote, Mannino and Monchik took calls throughout a two-hour broadcast. Monchik was also busy making the rounds of Memphis radio stations. He made an appearance on WMC-AM 790 sports call-in show, and WEGR-FM 102.7 morning show, where his lively spirit had him dishing out the dirt as fast as the hosts could take fun shots at him.

... All five of the local television stations were also giving daily reports on the U.S. OPEN. CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX an UPN all had camera crews in attendance daily during the event. Michael Eves, with ABC-affiliate WPTY, also did a special piece on Jason Mannino and his battle back from a life-threatening car accident. Once again this year, ESPN was on hand to tape the finals of the U.S. OPEN, which will be broadcast in early February on ESPN2.

... Jo Kenyon was the topic of a feature article in the Tallahassee Democrat after winning yet another title at the World Senior Championships in Albuquerque, N.M.

Side Court Action
by Christie Hyde

At this year’s Promus U.S. Open, court six had its share of activity, including Doug Ganim giving Adam Karp a run for this money, Jack Huczek capturing the men’s open title, Derek Robinson being upset by Dan Fowler and top-seeded Kersten Hallander losing to Mexico’s Susana Acosta. But there was even more hustle taking place on the “side court” opposite the right glass wall, where 11 students from the University of Memphis Department of Journalism were feverishly working on making sure the media knew all about the great racquetball action going on in Memphis.

The students — all members of the Public Relation Student Society of America (PRSSA) — were participating in an internship program with the U.S. Open, under the direction of USRA Public and Media Relations Coordinator Christie Hyde. Each student was assigned three athletes (two pros and one amateur) for whom they were responsible for the research and preparation of all hometown media efforts, which included sending results and press releases to the athletes’ hometown newspapers, radio and television stations.

The response? The student work was able to generate phenomenal results from hometown media outlets — from daily results in newspapers across the U.S. to radio interviews in Canada. Long after the racquetball courts had grown quiet each evening, the media room was still abuzz with activity (often as late as 3:00am) as students transcribed interviews, faxed press releases, and made follow-up phone calls. Their enthusiasm was infectious, and their efforts did not go unnoticed, as numerous players commented on how excited they were to have their accomplishments shared with friends and family back home.

The eleven hardworking students who pioneered this partnership with the University of Memphis were:
• Adam Badrain (Memphis)
• Harriet Bradley (Memphis)
• Natalie Garthright (Memphis)
• Leslie Grandberry (Munford, Tenn.)
• Forsyth Kenworthy (Memphis)
• Wendy Lindsey (Memphis)
• Kirsten Marks (Clarksville, Tenn.)
• Therese Pramick (Clarks Summit, Pa.)
• Courtney Sikes (Memphis)
• Kathy Walker (Whiteville, Tenn.)
• Molly Watkins (Germantown, Tenn.).

Special thanks from all the players and staff of the Promus U.S. Open goes out to these students and PRSSA faculty advisor Dr. Rick Fischer for all their hard work. Although many of the students had never played racquetball before, all fell in love with the sport and can’t wait to come back next year — even after graduation!