It’s official. Bradley University is now home to the Charley Steiner School of Sports Communication. Nearly 100 people gathered today in the Caterpillar Global Communications Center on Bradley’s campus for the dedication ceremony. The Steiner School of Sports Communication is the first named sports communication school in the nation.
Bradley announced in January that it was naming its nationally renowned Sports Communication program in honor of four-time Emmy Award winner, National Radio Hall of Fame inductee, LA Dodgers play-by-play announcer, and Bradley alumnus Charley Steiner.
The sports communication program at Bradley was launched in Fall 2009 and has grown to 120 majors. Steiner’s gift allows Bradley to expand its offerings for expedition courses and internships as well as create symposiums and lectureships. It positions Bradley to have the very best curriculum in sports broadcasting, marketing, new media, journalism, and play-by-play announcing.
Bradley’s President Joanne Glasser said the University was enormously grateful to Steiner for his contribution. “Charley is a big-time talent, an unparalleled storyteller, a tremendous friend to the University and a man of uncompromising ethics. The Bradley community is forever appreciative to you for lending your good name, legendary by any measure of the word, to our leading sports communication program.”
Steiner called attention to Bradley’s rich sports communication history noting sportscasters such as Jack Brickhouse, Chick Hearn, and Ralph Lawler all have ties to Bradley. He credits Bradley for many of the great honors he’s received in his life and calls this one of the greatest. “Of the 23,981 days I have lived on earth, there haven’t been very many, or any for that matter, more satisfying and gratifying than this one.”
Steiner said it was a once-in-a-lifetime moment when he received the call from the Dodgers to become the play-by-play announcer. “Everyone should have a once-in-a-lifetime moment like that. And today, at this ceremony, on a hilltop, THE Hilltop, I am having a 2nd once-in-a-lifetime moment, two more than I could have ever expected, much less dreamed of, for which I am eternally grateful.”
Also at the dedication, Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis presented a proclamation from the city acknowledging Steiner for his contribution to the University and the impact it is sure to have on the community for decades to come.
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