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MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL TEAM OWNER AND AUTHOR VEECK TO SPEAK AT SUNY CORTLAND SPORT MANAGEMENT AWARDS CEREMONY APRIL 26
CORTLAND, N.Y. (April 2007) – Mike Veeck, president and part owner of six minor league baseball teams and the author of Fun Is Good, will deliver the keynote address at the 2007 SUNY Cortland Sport Management Awards Ceremony on the campus of SUNY Cortland on Thursday, April 26. The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held at 6 p.m. in Brown Auditorium in the Old Main Building. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. A native of Mt. Pleasant, SC, Veeck has served to put fun back into baseball by following a plan that begins with three simple words: “Fun is Good.” An advertising professional, public speaker and founder of the Veeck Promotional Seminar, Veeck released a corporate training video and a book based on his “Fun is Good” philosophy. The “Fun is Good” philosophy not only has worked to make evenings at one of his ballparks enjoyable, but it has transformed a half-dozen money-losing or start-up teams into a thriving $25 million business. It is with this simple philosophy that his teams routinely set attendance records. Veeck and his partner Marv Goldklang operate the Goldklang Group, overseeing franchises in Brockton, MA, Charleston, SC, Fort Myers, FL, St. Paul, MN and Sioux Falls, SD. The Veeck family started in baseball nearly a century ago when Mike’s grandfather was president of the Chicago Cubs. During his tenure, William, Sr. gained fame as the person who first decided to grow ivy at Wrigley Field. Mike’s father Bill was an owner with the St. Louis Browns, Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox and the then-minor league Milwaukee Brewers. Famous for many unique promotions at the ballpark, Bill will always be remembered for signing Larry Doby, the first African-American to play in the American League, and for sending 3 foot, 6 inch Eddie Gaedel to the plate for the Browns in a 1943 game against Detroit. Bill was enshrined in the Baseball Hall-of-Fame in 1991. Mike has appeared on 60 Minutes, HBO Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, ESPN Sportscenter, CBS Sunday Morning, ABC’s Nightline, National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition and Late Night with Conan O’Brien. The awards ceremony is organized each year by the college’s sport management club to spotlight student excellence in both academics and service learning activities. The following awards will be presented: Outstanding Sophomore, Outstanding Junior, Outstanding Senior, the Bogard Scholarship, the Excelsior Award, the Sport Law Award, the Information Technology in Sport Award, the Wingate Scholarship, the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence, the Teaching Excellence Award, the International Award and the Sport Management External Partner Award. Cortland’s innovative sport management department currently has 375 students enrolled in its undergraduate degree program. In addition, Cortland launched its graduate degree program in fall 2006. Students are provided with both the formal educational foundation and the additional key experiential learning opportunities necessary to gain access to a career in the extremely competitive sport industry. Offering the only sport management major at undergraduate and graduate levels within the SUNY system of colleges and universities, SUNY Cortland is located in Cortland, NY, a Central New York town located at the eastern gateway to New York State’s Finger Lakes Region. This event is supported by the SUNY Cortland Campus Artist and Lecture Series, the Mandatory Activity Fee, and the Hampton Inn. |
