May 11, 2006
NORMAL, Ill. -
If you've attended an Illinois State volleyball or women's basketball game at Redbird Arena, you've likely seen Sports Information Director Tom Lamonica milling around on press row. A fixture on the sidelines of Redbird Athletics for the past 26 years, Lamonica will be retiring from his post in Athletics Media Relations effective May 31.
Upon graduation from Missouri's School of Journalism in 1975, Lamonica returned to his roots in the Chicago suburbs. Initially he intended to enter the newspaper business, following stints at The Maneater (UM's student newspaper) and the Columbia Missourian (the School of Journalism's periodical). But a position at College of DuPage, a community college in Glen Ellyn, Ill., became available, which opened the door to his 31-year career in athletics media relations.
Lamonica served as the Assistant Director of College Relations at C.O.D. for nearly three years before moving on to one the most challenging roles of his career. Approximately six months after the plane crash in December, 1977 that took the lives of the entire University of Evansville men's basketball team, their coach and the remaining 12 passengers, he succeeded the Purple Aces' sports information director Greg Knipping, who was also on the tragic flight. Lamonica was charged with aiding in the rebuilding of the Aces' men's basketball program in just Evansville's second year as a Division I institution.
During his time in Evansville, Ind., Lamonica encountered veteran Illinois State SID Roger Cushman and WJBC broadcaster Art Kimball. Hoping to learn from their experience, he took the pair to lunch to pick their brains. That fateful meeting over gyros in Evansville led to Lamonica replacing Cushman as Sports Information Director at Illinois State when Cushman was promoted to Director of the ISU News Service in 1980.
Since his start at Illinois State over 26 years ago, Lamonica has seen athletic directors, staff and student-athletes come and go, 125 conference titles, building Illinois State's athletics reputation and facilities. With President Al Bowman and Athletics Director Sheahon Zenger, Lamonica believes ISU's future is even brighter.
"One of the most pivotal things that has happened during my time at Illinois State was the building of Redbird Arena. It really showed the potential of this university. We really got a glimpse of what ISU could do," Lamonica said. "I think Illinois State is on the verge of its biggest change. Dr. Bowman and Dr. Zenger have been a big part of the turnaround. In my opinion it's a better time to be coming into ISU Athletics than going out."
Todd Kober, assistant athletics director for media relations, appreciates Lamonica's dedication to Redbird Athletics and the media relations office.
"Since returning to Illinois State five years ago, Tom has been extremely receptive and supportive with my leadership in the office," said Kober. "With Tom's writing ability and love for Illinois State University, we have been able improve the depth of coverage in the Alumni Magazine, our development newsletter Bird's-I-View and with our newly released on-line magazine Redbird Insider. I truly appreciate Tom's loyalty to myself and the department of athletics and wish him, and Claire, years of happiness in his retirement."
In addition to his passion for writing, Lamonica's love for the people, especially the students, has remained in tact during his 26 years at ISU.
"Probably the thing I'm going to miss the most is the one-on-one contact with the student-athletes and the students that work in our office. It's very rewarding working with all the young people we have coming through this department whether its athletes or student interns," Lamonica said. "I'm going to be teaching public relations courses and helping out in the School of Communication, so I'm still going to be working with students. I'm also going to be doing some writing and consulting."
After covering ISU women's basketball and volleyball since 1990, and working with both football and men's basketball before that, Lamonica has had more than his share of working on holidays, dealing with crazy schedules, etc. Retirement will give him the opportunity to spend more time with Claire, his wife of 31 years, and his children Andrew (26), Gina (24) and Peter (21).
"I'm going to have a lot of time to do the things that I haven't been able to do (since I started working in this business)," Lamonica said. "On Labor Day weekend my wife and I are attending a wedding. I think the last time I wasn't at a football game or volleyball tournament over that weekend, I was in the eighth grade. It's going to be nice to have the ability to choose to do things because I want to, like doing radio for volleyball this fall."
Lamonica has countless memories from being associated with Redbird Athletics for over two decades; however he hints that the women's basketball team that won the 2005 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament title in Redbird Arena was a defining moment in his career.
"When you do this job for more than 30 years, you often have moments when you ask yourselves why you do it," said Lamonica. "But seeing the dogpile after the game and seeing the team celebrating it really hit me why. I do it because of the joy I get from watching our athletes succeed, and I have a lot of fun watching people celebrate."
