In front of a crowd of about 100 students, faculty, staff and Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis, the Charley Steiner School of Sports Communication was officially dedicated in a ceremony Tuesday afternoon with the revealing of the school’s watermark printed on the wall of the Caterpillar Global Communications Center.
Steiner, a 1971 Bradley graduate, attended the ceremony held on the third floor landing of the GCC. In his speech, Steiner talked about the phone call he received from Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully welcoming him to the Dodgers, the team Steiner rooted for growing up.
“Everyone should have a phone call like that just once in their life,” Steiner said. “Today, at this ceremony, on a hilltop, this Hilltop, I’m having a second once-in-a-lifetime moment, two more than I could ever have expected, much less dreamed of, for which I thank you, and I’m eternally grateful.”
The ceremony opened with Jeffrey Huberman, dean of the Slane College of Communications and Fine Arts, giving some background on how the sports communication program at Bradley began. Huberman specifically mentioned University President Joanne Glasser as someone crucial to the program’s implementation.
“Developing great academic programs takes courage; it’s a risk,” Huberman said. “The reason that we’re here today to honor this great academic program with one of our greatest graduates is because we had a great academic leader as our partner from the very beginning.”
After Glasser provided some background on Steiner’s career and achievements, which include four Emmy awards and an introduction to the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2013, Department of Communication Chairperson Paul Gullifor described exactly what Steiner’s donation would allow Bradley to accomplish.
“Your generosity is going to transform sports communication, the Department of Communication and Bradley University into true national distinction,” Gullifor said. “What we can do as a result of this is to take it to the next level. This opens the opportunity and enables new partnerships, internships, symposiums, lectureships, guest lectures and television programs…all those things are possible. I can now say that the sky is officially the limit for sports communication.”
To close the ceremony, Huberman referred to a portion of Steiner’s speech from earlier in the day, referencing a piece of advice Steiner shared with The Scout in January.
“Charley, you said earlier you are the messenger, not the message,” Huberman said. “Well, not today.”
