Hall of Fame
Wayne Koehler – Florida Southern College (Sports Information Director, 1983-1995, 1999-2002)
A graduate of Florida Southern College, Wayne Koehler has spent the last 22 years working for his alma mater, serving as sports information director for 16 years, assistant director of public relations for 15 years, coordinator of publications for four years and for the past two years as the assistant webmaster. Koehler was instrumental in establishing conference-wide communication in the Sunshine State Conference, helping to compile and distribute statistics, records, press releases and media guides in the days before personal computers, fax machines and e-mail became standard tools of the sports information trade. As if Koehler’s duties at Florida Southern weren’t enough to keep him busy, he also served as the SSC’s publicity director from 1986 through 1988, using what little free time he had to serve the conference. Koehler is still the primary resource for conference SID’s and SSC staff members that seek archived material and records for virtually every conference sport. He worked to produce the conference directory for several years and served as the host SID for the first SSC basketball tournament held at the Lakeland Center and the 1983 NCAA Division II volleyball national championship. A 15-year member of CoSIDA, Koehler served three terms on the NCAA Liaison Committee, was a two-year coordinator of the media guide contest for volleyball and wrestling and a member of the host committee for the 1999 CoSIDA National Workshop in Orlando. Koehler’s involvement extends to the community where he is the public address announcer for Bartow High School football and served for 15 years in the same capacity for the Lakeland Tigers, Class A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. Along with his daily work on FSC’s website, Koehler is also the webmaster and graphic coordinator for Shepherd Road Presbyterian Church. He becomes the first sports information director to enter the SSC Hall of Fame.