Iowa State University Athletics
The SIDs- Five Decades Of Cyclone Athletics
06.22.2015
Friendships were rekindled. Stories were rehashed. Memories were abundant.
It was an once-in-a-lifetime event, and the Cyclones.tv cameras caught every moment of it.
The Iowa State Athletics Department has been blessed with leaders in the sports information/media relations/athletics communications field.
It all began with Harry Burrell, who directed Iowa State's sports publicity efforts from 1942-77. The Iowa State and College Sports Information Directors Association (CoSIDA) Hall-of-Famer was a legendary figure in the profession.
His influence at Iowa State is still being felt and the directors who followed Burrell continued to utilize his practices.
On Oct. 10, the five head Iowa State sports information directors who followed Burrell sat in front of the Cyclones.tv cameras to tell their stories: Tom Starr (1977-80), Butch Henry (1980-83), Kirk Hendrix (1983-85), Dave Starr (1985-93) and Tom Kroeschell (1993-2013).
These were the men in the trenches who took care of their administrators, coaches, student-athletes and the media.
Their services at Iowa State provided them inside access and countless stories of great Cyclone athletes/coaches/administrators like Pete Taylor, Earle Bruce, Johnny Orr, Jeff Hornacek, Jeff Grayer, Fred Hoiberg, Troy Davis and Cael Sanderson just to name a few.
Watch this exclusive Cyclones.tv special presentation of "The SIDs – Five Decades of Cyclone Athletics" and take an incredible trip down Cyclone memory lane.
The Participants
Tom Starr: Iowa State Sports Information Director (1977-80)
A native of Newton, Iowa, Tom Starr served as Iowa State's sports information director from 1977-80. Starr graduated from Iowa and completed his course work for a master's degree at Iowa State while assisting in the ISU sports information office from 1971-72 under the legendary Harry Burrell. Starr worked at the Big Eight Conference service bureau for four years before replacing Burrell as the ISU head man in 1977. Starr was the football contact for a pair of bowl teams at Iowa State (1977 Peach Bowl; 1978 Hall of Fame Bowl). He helped promote ISU athletics in one of its most prosperous periods. Starr left ISU in 1980 and began a long career as one of the top bowl executives in the nation. He's been the chief executive officer of four different post-season college football bowl games. Starr has held the title of executive director of the Sun Bowl, the Armed Forces Bowl, the Freedom Bowl and the Heart of Dallas Bowl. He also was the senior executive director of the Independence Bowl. Starr has been named bowl executive-of-the-year twice and the Armed Forces Bowl named its Most Valuable Player Award the "Tom Starr MVP Trophy" in his honor.
Butch Henry: Iowa State Sports Information Director (1980-83)
A native of Little Rock, Ark., Butch Henry was sports information director at Iowa State from 1980-83. Henry graduated from Arkansas in 1971 had stints working in the SID offices at Oklahoma State, the Big Eight Conference, Southern Illinois and Arkansas. He was also briefly the associate athletic director at Louisiana Tech before arriving at Iowa State. Henry was with the Cyclones when Johnny Orr was hired in 1980 and was the football contact for Donnie Duncan's Cyclone teams which won three-straight games over instate rival Iowa. He left ISU for Arizona, where he spent 14 years as an associate athletics director. He later became the athletics director at Florida International University. In 1999, Henry joined Learfield Communications and became the general manager of Crimson Tide Sports Marketing for the University of Alabama. He is retired and living in Tuscaloosa, Ala., where he teaches graduate school courses at Alabama in sports management.
Kirk Hendrix: Iowa State Sports Information Director (1983-85)
A native of Carter Lake, Iowa, Kirk Hendrix was in charge of Iowa State's promotional efforts for athletics from 1983-85. Hendrix graduated from Creighton in 1981 and was the school's SID from 1979-81. He was New Mexico State's head SID from 1981-83 before taking over SID duties with the Cyclones in 1983. Hendrix was at ISU at the beginning of Johnny Orr's incredible turnaround in men's hoops. Hendrix left ISU in 1985 to become the Assistant Commissioner of the Midwestern Collegiate Conference. He later had stints with the Freedom Bowl, Fiesta Bowl and the Pac-10 Conference office as an assistant commissioner. Hendrix spent 10 years as the CEO of the Indianapolis 500 festival and is currently the President and CEO of AAA Hoosier Motor Club.
Dave Starr: Iowa State Sports Information Director (1985-93)
A native of Indianola, Iowa, Dave Starr was the sports information director at Iowa State from 1985-93. Starr graduated from Simpson College in 1980 where he lettered in basketball and baseball. He worked briefly in the SID office at Drake and was an assistant SID at UNI from 1981-83 before Hendrix hired Starr as his assistant in 1983. Starr was promoted to sports information director at Iowa State after Hendrix' departure. Starr watched the ISU men's hoops teams earn six NCAA Tournament bids and the ISU wrestling program win the 1987 NCAA Championship during his time in Ames. Starr was responsible for Iowa State's television and radio negotiations and helped develop the Cyclone Basketball Network. Starr is also credited with implementing Iowa State's marketing department. He left Iowa State in 1993 to work at the Principal Financial Group where he's had a successful 20-year tenure with the company. He is currently the Dakotas Business Center's Regional Managing Director, leading Principal's career sales force in North and South Dakota.
Tom Kroeschell: Iowa State Sports Information Director (1993-2013)
A native of Park Ridge, Ill., Tom Kroeschell is the second-longest-serving sports information director at Iowa State, directing publicity efforts from 1993-2013. Kroeschell graduated from Drake in 1982 where he worked in the Drake SID office briefly before serving as an assistant SID at Northwestern for one season. Starr hired Kroeschell as his assistant in 1985 and was promoted to head SID at Iowa State in 1993. During his time at Iowa State, Kroeschell assisted with the publicity efforts for two-time Heisman Trophy finalist Troy Davis and undefeated NCAA champion wrestler Cael Sanderson. He also was a part of Dan McCarney's turnaround of the Iowa State football program, serving as football contact on eight bowl teams. His influence and mentoring has helped many of his former students find jobs and success in the athletics communications profession. Now in his 30th season at Iowa State, he continues to serve the athletics department as the director of broadcasting for Cyclones.tv.
