Some of the greats of the industry…feel free to email me more and tell me why…
Joyce Aschenbrenner
One of the trailblazers for women in the industry, Joyce Aschenbrenner made her first mark in the collegiate ranks at the University of Pittsburgh, having a hand in the publicity and promotion of future NFL stars Dan Marino and Tony Dorsett in a time when very few women were fulltime in the industry, especially on a major college level. A graduate of the University of West Virginia and a Pittsburgh native, Joyce moved on to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, from 1982 through 1990. It was while she was with the Runnin Rebels that college basketball became an even bigger showpiece than in the past, and her work fine-tuning the pregame excitement at Rebels basketball for Jerry Tarkanian’s squad, including light shows, red-carpet entrances, and indoor fireworks became an industry trend. She took college basketball and helped make it into showtime in the showiest city in the world.
Aschenbrenner then moved on to the University of Colorado, where she was the associate athletics director for external affairs and senior women’s administrator. During that time, she also worked as a liaison to the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. Following her time in Boulder, she served a three-year term on the Defense Advisory Commission for Women in the Services for the Department of Defense.
She then left collegiate athletics and moved on to The V Foundation for Cancer Research in November 2001 as the director of marketing and communications and is currently Foundation Vice President.? She is also a cancer survivor and a role model to the many women now entering the industry at record rates.
WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM JOYCE ASCHENBRENNER
The skills that are learned as publicists can translate to many different fields, including the not-for-profit area. There are many ways to help grow the area where charities and sports intermix these days and make that area a very worthwhile part of sports publicity as well.
Marty Appel
Yet another veteran of the baseball wars in the Bronx, Marty Appel, has spent his entire career in communications, public relations, and writing. Marty has won an Emmy Award and a Gold Record and has written award-winning books. He has seen it all, working on events ranging from the New York Yankees to the Olympic Games. He was the youngest public relations director ever selected to lead a major league baseball team and was George Steinbrenner’s first hire in that position with the New York Yankees. After nine years with the Yankees, under both CBS and Steinbrenner ownership, Appel went on to direct public relations for Tribune Broadcasting WPIX in New York and to serve as the Yankees’ Executive Producer concurrently. He later directed public relations for the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games and the Topps Company before opening his own agency. He has also done public relations for World Team Tennis New York Apples and for the Office of the Baseball Commissioner. His 16 books include collaborations with Larry King, Bowie Kuhn, Tom Seaver, Lee MacPhail, umpire Eric Gregg, Thurman Munson, the definitive collection of Hall of Fame biographies in Baseball Best, and the award-winning biography Slide, Kelly, Slid. It’s about a 19th-century baseball star. His autobiography. Now Pitching for the Yankees named best New York baseball book of 2001 by ESPN, was published in June 2001.
WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM MARTY APPEL
Sometimes, the sports publicity field is all about building relationships. The publicist needs to be able to build them and tell the story of the client in order to be effective and then grow a career. The people you meet when you start out may also be the same people you will work with later on.
Tim Cohane
Tim Cohane, was the sports editor of Look magazine from 1944 until it ceased publication in 1965, As publicity director for Fordham University for five years after his graduation, he wrote about Fordham’s excellent football teams and coined the phrase, ”The Seven Blocks of Granite,” in describing the Rams’ famous line of the 1930’s, which included Vince Lombardi. Tim then joined The New York World-Telegram in 1940 and wrote a nationally syndicated column, ”Frothy Facts,” until 1944, when he moved to Look. There, he wrote more than 500 articles, many dealing with college football. Mr. Cohane taught writing at Boston University’s School of Public Communications from 1968 until his retirement in 1978.
WHAT DO WE LEARN FROM TIM COHANE
Good writing skills and the ability to use publicity as a tool will open many doors for you. Whether you choose to stay in the industry as a publicist or not, the skills you refine and acquire will translate to other areas.
Mike Cohen
His nickname was Ink, and throughout his career, that is what Mike Cohen got for his clients. Whether he was a Jewish publicist for a catholic university (Manhattan College) or if he was pioneering the part of the publicity industry that dealt with announcers, directors and TV shows (when he was head of publicity for NBC Sports) there was no one better than Mike Cohen.
Cohen’s life was based on the relationships he had in the media and how he was able to take those relationships and make them name clients bigger or rising clients important. He always found publicity angles for the athletes at Manhattan to put the University on a national stage in sports ranging from baseball and basketball to track and field, even when the teams did not warrant national coverage for their on-field exploits. His time at NBC saw the berth of what is today the area of TV sports publicity, with most major markets devoting time and coverage just to that industry. Cohen had the ability to talk to those in front and behind the camera (from people like Bob Costas, Marty Glickman, and Marv Albert to directors like Michael Weisman) and come up with unique human elements about their style that he could take and work his relationships with the media to make them into stories themselves. He also had a flair for the underdog as well, working with jockeys and trainers at places like Yonkers Raceway as well as baseball scouts, finding media opportunities for them as well. Mike was the quintessential relationship builder, and his legacy lives on today in the form of some of the great sports publicists in this country who worked for and under him. His company, Mike Cohen Communications, became part of industry leader Alan Taylor Communications following his untimely passing in 1988.
WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM MIKE COHEN:
One of the greatest assets in sports publicity is the ability to see a story and then formulate a plan and match it with the right media outlet. By doing this, the publicist is able to tell the story of his subject in an impactful way and thus be able to grow the image of the subject beyond what one thought was its normal boundaries.
In conclusion, it is important for the publicist to know and understand the efforts of those who went before him or her, and be able to equate those efforts, especially those successes, to the business today. That is the best way that the publicist will be able to grow in the profession and have a better understanding of how the industry got to where it is today.
John Condon
He is probably best known as the legendary voice Of Madison Square Garden, but John Condons work as a boxing publicist throughout a lifelong career was really his hallmark. He arranged some of the classic fights not only in Madison Square Garden but around the world and was arguably the best fight promoter and publicist during the sports glory days of the 1950s and 1960s. John also had a great love for children as well, and New York’s Kid Gloves program, founded by him when he was president of Madison Square Garden Boxing, was a trailblazing way to reach inner-city kids and get them off the streets for nine weeks each summer. Boxers such as Mike Tyson, Mark Breland, and Hector (Macho) Camacho all went through the Kid Gloves Program in their youth. As a symbol of his outstanding achievement in publicity and promotion, the current Madison Square Garden press room is named in his honor, as is the John F.X. Condon Award, given out annually by the Professional Boxing Writers Association to it’s top writer.
WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM JOHN CONDON
Publicists have the ability to wield a great deal of influence with both the media and the client. That does not differ no matter what the market size or the interest in the sport or the product. Remembering that publicity has the ability to help tell stories and influence public opinion is always important.
Bob Cornell
One of the profession’s biggest advocates and strongest mentors is now been plying his trade in upstate New York for over 30 years. Bob has been at Colgate University since May of 1976, and his dedication to writing and teaching excellence, as well as molding the lives of young professionals entering the business, is unparalleled. In July 2001, Cornell was inducted into the College Sports Information Directors Association Hall of Fame. On September 19, 2003, he was inducted into the SUNY-Cobleskill Athletic Hall of Fame, and on Dec. 4, 2003, he received the Scoop Hudgins Outstanding Sports Information Director Award from the All-American Football Foundation. During his career in the sports information field, he has served as a press liaison for numerous NCAA and ECAC championships and regional events, including Media Coordinator of the NCAA Division I Golf Championships in 1977. He served on the press liaison staff for the U.S. Olympic Committee at the 1984 Olympic Summer Games in Los Angeles and the 1988 Olympic Winter Games in Calgary. In addition, he was on the press liaison staff at four Olympic Festivals (1981, ’82, ’83, ’87). He has served on the Site Selection, Post-Graduate Scholarship, and Ethics Committees of the College Sports Information Directors of America. Cornell is a past president of the Eastern College Athletic Conference Sports Information Directors Association and the 1992 recipient of the Irving T. Marsh Service Bureau Award, presented annually to the sports information director who has contributed the most to the work of the Bureau during the year and throughout his or her career.
WHAT DO WE LEARN FROM BOB CORNELL
If we choose the sports publicity field as not just a career but a lifestyle as well, we can do great things. Mentoring and helping mold young men and women, both as student-athletes and as rising journalists and publicists, are very important in making the industry grow.
Bob Fishel
Bob Fishel was legendary baseball owner Bill Veec.s publicist for both the Cleveland Indians and the St. Louis Browns (now the Baltimore Orioles), and was the man who signed midget Eddie Gaedel to a Browns contract. Bob got to participate in perhaps the greatest baseball publicity stunt of all time.. Veeck recalls Fishels involvement in the classic book,.Veeck As In Wreck…?Instead of bringing the contract up to his room, Bob Fishel set up a meeting at a corner a block or two away from his hotel. Bob drove up in his Packard; Eddie slid into the front seat, scribbled his name onto two contracts, and jumped out. One. of the contracts was mailed to league headquarters on Saturday night, which meant it would not arrive til Monday morning. Then, another was given to (manager) Zack Taylor in case our prized rookie was challenged by the umpires. The morning of the game, I wired headquarters that Eddie Gaedel was put on our active list. Fishel arranged all the pregame publicity, made sure that the photograph made the wires, and came up with the number (1/8) Gaedel wore on his back.
He spent many years with Veeck, the man who is arguably the greatest promoter in the history of baseball. After leaving, he moved on to the Yankees, spending 20 years in the Bronx in an era that saw some of the greatest and toughest years for the Bronx Bombers. At the time of his death, he was AL vice-president for public relations. As a symbol of his outstanding work, an award named in his honor is given to the outstanding baseball publicist each year.? He also devoted a great amount of time to his alma mater, Hiram College, which has its baseball complex named in his honor.
WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM BOB FISHEL
Stunts still remain a key part of sports publicity. No matter how outrageous an idea is, it is the job of the publicist to weigh the options, determine the course of action, and figure out the best plan to get coverage. We can also learn that the stunt is also one part of our job. Dealing with the media before and after that event in a professional manner is also very important.
Joey Goldstein
For almost 45 years, New York based publicist Joey Goldestein has trafficked his wares in the national sports scene.
His clients over the years have included Bob Hope, corporations such as Mobil Oil, the New York Road Runners Club, the New York City Marathon, the Millrose Games, Manufacturers Hanover, and RJR Nabisco, and for years, the entire sport of harness racing. He wrote for newspapers, handled publicity for Madison Square Garden college basketball and worked more fights for people like Joe Frazier than most people can remember. He worked every sport, including the Saudi Arabian Olympic soccer team, which is the ultimate irony for a Jewish boy from Conway, S.C.
His closest friends were three gentleman who hated each other, New York Post columnist Dick Young, New York Times columnist Red Smith and the legendary Howard Cosell, but they all worked with Joey.
Although he may have lost a step, he remains one of the true Runyonesque characters in the sports PR business, always wearing raincoats, carrying little note cards and a very clean linen handkerchief.
Harness racing was Joe’s biggest success. Goldstein started working full-time for Roosevelt Raceway on Long Island in 1954, and later took over p.r. for the entire sport, until he gave it up in 1980, he generated attention far beyond the public’s interest. His best story involved a French trotter named Jamin who came to the U.S. for the International at Roosevelt Raceway. Goldstein created the myth that Jamin had to have artichokes to survive. Since there were no artichokes on Long Island at that time of year, they had to be found and flown in from California and then helicoptered to the track so that the race could take place. Jamin won the race amidst publicity befitting the Kentucky Derby. The real story is that the horse used the artichokes as a laxative.
Unlike other mainstream publicists, Goldstein worked every holiday and eve. Believing that it was easier to get stories in on slow news days, and he is probably right, albeit with less circulation. His Rolodex or connections in New York for restaurants and theater tickets were unparalleled for the longest time.
Although he has gotten on in age and many have said that the business has passed him by, the legend of Joey Goldstein and the work that he did for clients are examples of how sports publicity can be done with hard work.
WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM JOEY GOLDSTEIN
Even in a large market with a great amount of competition, the publicist can find ways to make stories compelling and unusual and find ways to get their subject coverage. It may not always be the perfect kind of coverage, but the potential for solid exposure is always there, especially when the publicist has strong media connections.
Mary Jo Haverbeck
Another female trailblazer is former Penn State Associate Sports Information Director Mary Jo Haverbeck. The Wilmington, Del., native began her sports information career at the University of Delaware on a volunteer basis in the late 60’s, introducing the then three-sport Blue Hen women’s program to the media while working full-time in the university’s Public Information Office.
Haverbeck’s interest in sports journalism led her to graduate school at Penn State, where she wrote her master’s thesis on media coverage of women’s sports. Women’s athletic director Della Durant had been lobbying for coverage of Penn State’s then nine-sport women’s program and sports information director John Morris hired Haverbeck on a part-time basis to write releases.
Haverbeck began a relentless campaign to place stories about Lady Lion coaches and athletes. Her persistence paid off as Penn State’s women’s program was featured on ABC’s Wide World of Sports and in an extensive profile in Sports Illustrated. A photo of a Penn State Lady Lion lacrosse player also appeared on the cover of Time magazine.
Her efforts have not gone unnoticed, as she was the first woman to ever receive the Arch Ward Award for outstanding work in the college sports information field.
WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM MARY JO HAVERBECK
The opportunity for women in sports publicity is growing very quickly. The advent of Title IX, as well as the added interest in wome.s professional sports has opened career opportunities like never before. The need for quality publicists of any gender is greater today than ever before.
Ir. Kaze
Irv Kaze was the only man who can claim to have won a World Series ring working for Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and a Super Bowl ring working for Raiders managing partner Al Davis. He was also the Hollywood Stars’ publicist when they played the final PCL game in Los Angeles on Sept. 15, 1957. While attending New York University, he worked for the New York Post. Upon graduation, he began his baseball career with the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League, moving up to the parent Pittsburgh Pirates when the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn. Irv was the first public relations director of the Los Angeles (now Anaheim) Angels. When Al Davis became commissioner of the AFL, Irv joined his staff and later became business manager and assistant to the president of the San Diego Chargers for seven years. Irv has been recognized on six occasions as the Best Radio Talk Show host by SC Sports Broadcasters.
WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM IRV KAZE
Sometimes, we will work with very difficult subjects who may be neither media favorites nor have a full understanding of how sports publicity is done correctly. Being able to balance and educate while maintaining your credibility is difficult but doable and is essential in today.s world where sports and entertainment are mixed, and the coverage of sports is so extensive.
Ramiro Martinez
One of the great Hispanic sports publicists was Cuban Ramiro Martinez, who oversaw the publicity for much of Cuban baseball and the AAA Havana Sugar Kings in the late 1950’s..Martinez’s gregarious personality and flamboyant publicity stunts made the Sugar Kings one of baseball.s most storied franchises, as the International League grew in stature as the premier minor league before major league baseball expansion.
Martinez used his talents to help owner Bobby Maduro lure some of the top Hispanic players of the era to the team on their way to the major leagues, including. Luis Arroyo, Tony Gonzalez, Cookie Rojas, Leo Cardenas, and Mike Cuellar. He also developed a strong friendship with rising Puerto Rican star Roberto Clemente and stayed friends with him throughout his life. Martinez also worked on a promotion to have new Cuban leader Fidel Castro pitch for the team shortly after he assumed power in 1959. The Sugar Kings went on to capture their first and only title..Martinez worked hard to keep the Sugar Kings in the sports eye as Castr.s power grew, but unfortunately the team was forced to leave the island in 1960 after the United States implemented sanctions against the Island nation..Martinez went with the team to Jersey City, New Jersey, where it folded after one season despite his publicity efforts.
WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM RAMIRO MARTINEZ
Sometimes, despite all the best intentions, great publicity stories, and hard work, forces outside can take control and make the job less than successful. Publicists always need to stay focused and do their job despite the outside forces that they cannot control. Also, the publicist must also expect the unexpected.
Harvey Pollock
The Super Star, as he was dubbed by Philadelphia Bulletin writer Bert Kiseda has been involved with the NBA and sports in Philadelphia. well.since there has been an NBA in Philadelphia. One of only three employees to have worked for the league every day since it began operations, Pollock continues to go strong. The author of an annual NBA statistical guide and now a member of the Naismith Hall of Fame, as well as 11 others, is in a league by himself. He started as the assistant publicity director of the old Philadelphia Warriors (now Golden State) in 1946-47, and midway through he 1952-53 season, he became head of media relations for the Warriors. He maintained that post until the spring of 1962 when the franchise was sold to San Francisco. During the 1962-63 season, when there was no team in Philadelphia, neutral-court games were played here, and he did the publicity to maintain his NBA connection. Then in 1963-64, the Syracuse franchise was shifted to Philadelphia, and the franchise was renamed the “76ers.” He served as the media relations director for the 76ers until the 1987-88 season when he assumed the duties of Director of Statistical Information for the team, a position he still holds. Long before the league adopted the following categories, he kept them for Philadelphia home games: minutes played, blocked shots, offensive and defensive rebounds, steals, and turnovers. At the same time, he began tabulating categories the league didn’t do and the esoteric items and tables eventually became part of his widely read stat guide. In addition to his NBA duties, he also heads basketball stat crews at six major colleges in the Philadelphia area and heads the crew at the Major Indoor Lacrosse League games of the Wings and the Soul in the Arena Football League. His past includes 15 years as the head of the Baltimore Colts NFL stat crew, and in football, also in Philadelphia, he led the crew for the Philadelphia Stars, Bell, and Bulldogs. He currently has been Temple University’s football statistician since 1945. He’s en route to The Guinness Book of Records by wearing a different t-shirt every day since June 29, 2003. He was at 856 on opening day and is targeting 1000 as his final goal on March 24, 2006.
WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM HARVEY POLLOCK
Sports publicity remains a statistics-driven business for the most part. By being able to create compelling stories via all the stats and figures that go into the games and then being able to pitch those stats effectively, we can find new angles that have not been explored, even for the simplest of efforts.
Chuck Prophet
The amount of outstanding athletes that have come from the Southwestern Athletic Conference over the years is amazing. Football stars like Walter Payton, Doug Williams, and, Jerry Rice, and basketball Hall of Famers like Willis Reed all trace their roots to the schools that for many years had to toil in obscurity in the publicity world because of their largely African-American student body in the racially charged south. The push to bring these schools mainstream publicity and help get their stories told was led by longtime Mississippi Valley State sports information director Chuck Prophet.
Prophet worked with the Delta Devils for over 30 years before his retirement in 2001 and helped shape the publicity efforts of star athletes such as Rice, Willie Totten, Ashley Ambrose, Patricia Hoskins, Eugene Sanders, and Herman Sanders. He also publicized the exploits of such storied coaches as Archie Cooley and Lafayette Stribling.
As sports information director, Prophet received several honors, including selection as SWAC sports information director-of-the-year and black college sports information director-of-the-year. He served on the College Sports Information Directors of America Board of Directors.
WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM CHUCK PROPHET
There are always great stories to be told, even in the most rural of communities and in the smallest of sports efforts. Being able to uncover them, nurture them, and then promote them is a great challenge, but it can be a very rewarding one.
Pete Rozelle
Perhaps the greatest leader in the history of modern sport, Alvin.Pet. Rozelle began his career at the University of San Francisco, working as a student publicist for the school’s football team. He had already worked in public relations for the LA Rams front office, and while in the athletic office at USF, he marketed the Don’s national championship basketball season of 1949 into a national media event. He graduated from USF that year.
He held a series of public relations jobs in Southern California, marketing the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, for a Los Angeles-based company. He joined the Los Angeles Rams as its public relations specialist. By 1957, Rozelle was offered the GM job with the Rams. He turned a disorganized, unprofitable team, lost in the growing LA market, into a business success and then went on from there to replace Bert Bell as NFL Commissioner.
WHAT DO WE LEARN FROM PETE ROZELLE
If we want to grow in the sports industry on the team or league side, the opportunity exists. The publicist is an essential part of the business of sports and, many times is the link between the on and off-field efforts of a team, a league, a sport, or an athlete. If we learn about all aspects of our business, it is possible to ascend to great heights.
Irving Rudd
Unswerving, Irvin. as has been known, was one of the greatest sports publicists not just of his era but of all time. His ability to garner publicity for the most mundane harness race to the World Champion Brooklyn Dodgers made him the heavyweight in the sports publicity industry before anyone knew what the industry was. His tales (also contained in his book ), from purposely misspelling the name of Yonkers Racewy to Yonkers Raceway. It was the stuff of creative genius as was done before the days of billable hours and economies of scale column inches. And all the other terms that became publicity buzzwords and areas of measured growth as the public relations business expanded into the multibillion-dollar industry it is today.
Irving Rude ‘s career spanned the heyday of so many sports of a bygone era in New York. He began in the 1930s and 40s in the world of boxing, working with some of the greats of the fight game, from Beau Jac. to Sugar Ray Robinson, Rocky Graziano, Muhammad Ali, Ken Norton, and Sugar Ray Leonard. Along the way, Unswerving Irvin served as the chief publicist for the legendary Boys of Summer the Brooklyn Dodgers, through their greatest days, including their only championship in 1955. He also was a key player in the sport of Kings, handling some of the biggest races and publicity stunts in the golden era of horse racing. One of the most beloved figures in professional sports, his legacy may be gone, but it will never be forgotten.
WHAT DO WE LEARN FROM IRVING RUDD
No matter how big the event or how well-recognizable the team is, we can always dig to find a story yet to be told. Also, creativity is key, and presenting those opportunities in a unique light to the media will help us shape our story.
Don Smith
Another of the great publicists during the rise of the NFL, New York Giants impresario Don Smith oversaw the golden boy era of Fran Gifford and Kyle Rote in the 195.s and stayed with the Giants through Fran Tarkenton and the darker days of the early 197.s, all the while working for the Mara family, protecting and promoting the image of the players and an organization always known for class. That resonated well with his top publicist. Smith was always known for his ability to turn a story, massage a player’s image, and, when needed, fire off deep truth sarcasm, which made him a favorite among New York scribes. One of his best lines, listed below, came at the end of his run with the Giants when the team struggled in the early 197..”You’ve heard about the Rubber Band Defense that bends but never breaks. Ours doesn’t break either, but it stretches 101 yards.” Through it all, he remained fiercely loyal to the organization and the Mara family. He is one of only a handful of top publicists ever to work for the Giants. The list includes only Ed Croke and current Giants PR maven Pat Hanlon, all known for their ability to deal with the media, pitch stories, and preserve the tradition of the storied football franchise.
WHAT DO WE LEARN FROM DON SMITH
Being able to work in a professional atmosphere and represent the interests of your organization or subject as they would want you to are key. Also, having some balance as the organization’s spokesperson will give you credibility with the media in good times and bad.
Roger Valdiserri
Notre Dame’s former sports information director is universally regarded as the best ever at his profession. A 1954 graduate of Notre Dame, Valdiserri spent nearly 30 years overseeing sports publicity at his alma mater. He pioneered some of the publicity concepts that everyone uses today, such as having football coach Ara Parseghian record answers to questions for the media. The system dramatically reduced the time that Parseghian had to spend meeting enormous media demands. He was the king of balancing precious access time between the legendary football and basketball programs and the press. He maximized the effort both sides put in and gave everyone the opportunity to do their jobs. Valdiserri may be best known for changing Joe Theismann’s name from THEES-man to THEIS-man, which happened to rhyme with Heisman. Great is an appropriate word to describe Valdiserri’s contributions to Notre Dame. He’s a member of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Hall of Fame and was named one of the 100 most influential people in college football.
WHAT DO WE LEARN FROM ROGER VALDESERRI
As sports publicists, sometimes we have to be the calming voice in the center of the storm. Many people will look to the publicist as the voice of reason when the media are swarming, and we have to be professional and calm enough to make judgments at a time when emotions may be running rampant. Finding the best way to deal with the media and creating a win-win situation for all involved is a big element of success in the field.
Christy Walsh
Walsh was a pioneer of sports licensing. His most frequent device was getting sports stars to put their names on ghostwritten articles in newspapers and magazines. Many a WS game was “analyzed” by a star who was nowhere near the scene of action. A 1911 graduate of St. Vincent’s College in Los Angeles, Walsh first worked for the Los Angeles Express. In 1921, he started his own syndicate, creating a major industry for stars like Ruth, Gehrig, Rockne, and others. Walsh was sports director for the 1939-40 New York World’s Fair. His biggest success may have come working with Babe Ruth, as his fulltime publicist during the Bab.s heyday. There were numerous philanthropic events with kids that the Babe took part in and assisted with from afar, all with Walsh as the master planner. He was one of the first to look to sports publicity as a solid industry, and he did very well with it.
WHAT DO WE LEARN FROM CHRISTY WALSH
Working with the individual athlete can have its merits as well. Helping grow their image as a publicist, no matter how well the athlete’s career goes, can be very rewarding.