ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Peter Schlehr, who retired last year after serving as the Sports Information Director at Towson University for 36 years, will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) on Monday, June 25 at the Awards Luncheon as part of the CoSIDA Workshop.
A native of Bel Air, Md., Schlehr graduated from Towson with
a degree in Political Science and History in 1971. He was the Sports Editor of The
Aegis for two years before taking a position with the sports staff of The
Baltimore News-American. During his years with that Hearst daily he covered
amateur, scholastic and college sports.
He was named as the Sports Information Director at his alma
mater in December, 1975.
A long-time member of CoSIDA, Schlehr was the recipient of numerous
publications awards for his work on football guides, men's basketball guides,
men's lacrosse guides, swimming guides and football game programs.
From 1976 to 1978, Schlehr served as the Information
Director for the Mason-Dixon Conference. He was the publicity director for the
Greater Baltimore Chapter of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame
for seven years.
Schlehr never missed a football game during his 35 seasons
as the SID. In his first season on the job, Towson earned an NCAA Division III
playoff berth and advanced to the national championship game in the Stagg Bowl.
While the Tiger football program ascended from NCAA Division
III status to Division II affiliation to its current standing as an NCAA FCS
program, Schlehr covered 378 consecutive games. His streak of 378 straight football
games worked stands as one of the longest in CoSIDA history.
In addition, Schlehr worked more than 1,100 men's basketball
games including five NCAA Division II Tournament games in 1976-77 and 1977-78.
During those two years, he was the media coordinator for the NCAA South
Atlantic Regional Tournament. From 1984 to 1991 he served as the Media
Coordinator for the East Coast Conference Basketball Tournament.
As the men's lacrosse contact for three decades, Schlehr
worked more than 450 men's lacrosse games for the Tigers. In 1982 he was the
media coordinator for the World Lacrosse Games hosted by Baltimore.
Well-regarded in college lacrosse circles, Schlehr was the first
sports information official to earn the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse
Association's prestigious Doyle Smith Media Award in 1992.
He served as the official scorer for the NCAA Division I
men's lacrosse championship game five times. In 2003 and 2004, he was the media
coordinator for the NCAA Men's National Lacrosse Championships at M&T Bank
Stadium, home of the NFL's Baltimore Ravens. It was the first time this NCAA
Championship had been taken off the college campus and played in a professional
sports venue. It also marked the debut of computerized statistics for this
event.
Schlehr remains active in his community. He has served as a Bel
Air town commissioner. He is in his third decade as a member of the town's
Planning Commission. He is a parishioner of St. Margaret Roman Catholic Church,
the largest parish in the archdiocese of Baltimore, and serves on its
communications committee.
Peter and his wife, Sande, are both Towson graduates. Their
children, Kristien Foss and Peter-John Schlehr, also graduated from Towson
University. Sande, Kristien and Peter-John are currently teachers in the
Harford County School system. The Schlehrs have two grandsons with a third
grandchild on the way with an ETA of October, 2012.