An influential former NIU sports publicist will be honored next month.

Bud Nangle, 74, former NIU sports information director, will be inducted into the College Sports Information Directors of America Hall of Fame at the annual CoSIDA workshop.

Nangle, who retired in 1984, spent 19 years in two tenures as the athletic publicist at NIU from 1947 to 1949 and from 1967 to 1984.

“I think it’s a great honor for him and NIU,” said NIU Sports Information Director Mike Korcek, who worked under Nangle for 11 years. “Bud was a big influence on a lot of us in both journalism and sports.”

“Bud Nangle is one of Northern Illinois University’s true athletic pioneers,” said NIU President John La Tourette. “His induction into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame is well-deserved and a feather in Northern’s cap.”

Some of Nangle’s important accomplishments at NIU include the production of the school’s first football media guide (1948), winning the school’s first CoSIDA national award (1970), expanding the NIU Office of Sports Information to include women’s athletics (1978) and helping to establish the NIU Athletic Hall of Fame (1978).

However, according to Korcek, perhaps Nangle’s most important accomplishment was his role in the process of getting the NCAA to accept the NIU football program as a national major program in 1969.

“He knew the Chicago guys really well, which was a key to NIU,” Korcek said. “In 1969, Bud’s contacts with the NCAA made it. He was very well liked and respected.”

Notable alumni who worked under Nangle at SID are Mike Conklin and Ray Gibson of the Chicago Tribune, Gene Mustain of the New York Daily News, Gary Stein of the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel and Allan Zullo, co-author of the comedic sports “Hall of Shame” books, Korcek said.

“He was one of those people who bled cardinal and black,” said Associate Sports Information Director Steve Nemeth, who worked for Nangle for five years. “I can say truly that he’s one of the people I’ll never forget.”

Nangle will be honored at the CoSIDA Awards Brunch on July 6 in Atlanta, GA.