Bud Nangle, patriarch of the NIU Office of Sports Information, shares two things with many members of the Northern Star Hall of Fame.

He’s an NIU graduate – class of 1949 – and a sportswriter and editor whose resume includes stints at the DeKalb Daily Chronicle, the Chicago Daily News, the Toledo Blade and the Toledo Times.

“Simply put, Bud taught more young reporters about journalism than any journalism class ever could,” said Gary Stein, a columnist for the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. “And he did it with passion. He had time for every reporter who showed that they wanted to learn.”

“It’s a great honor, totally unexpected,” Bud said of the hall-of-fame news. “The relationship we had with the Star at the sports information office was always very cordial, not unprofessional. If the reporters felt there was something to be exposed, they did it, and I understood it.”

Bud’s long association with NIU began about 1940 after he earned numerous letters in basketball, track and softball at Palatine High School. He played basketball and baseball here before enlisting in the U.S. Navy to serve during World War II.

After the war, and while still an undergraduate, he became NIU’s first sports information director and produced the first football media guide in 1948. Following nearly two decades of newspaper work, he returned in 1967 as the athletic program adjusted to Division I status.

With no money for assistants, Bud brokered a deal with the Star. “They would be sports editor of the Northern Star in their junior year and then come to our office for their senior year,” Nangle said. “A lot of them found out what the real world was like.”

In 1974, Bud wrote the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Code of Ethics, which remains the standard for the profession. In 1978, he added coverage of women’s athletics to his office’s work.

Bud, 82, lives in Vista, Calif., with his wife, Joyce.

He is now a member of four halls of fame, including the CoSIDA Hall of Fame, the media wing of the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame and the NIU Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame he created. This fall, he will enter a fifth: the Palatine High School Hall of Fame.