User:Dhwhite79/sandbox/Debbie Harmison White

Debbie Harmison White was the first fulltime woman sportswriter in Virginia, working at The Daily Press in Newport News, VA., from 1974-1977. She distinguished herself in collegiate athletic communications, and has been enshrined in several national, state and local Halls of Fame.

Background White was the first full-time female sportswriter in the state of Virginia, serving on the staff of The Daily Press in Newport News from 1974-77, covering high school and college football and basketball, women’s sports and sailing. She served as the sports information director at Siena College in Loudonville, New York, from 1977-79, where she was one of three women SID’s in the nation at that time at an NCAA Division I institution.

Debbie joined the staff at Old Dominion University in 1979 as the assistant sports information director, and was promoted to sports information director the following year, playing a key role in the national exposure that both the men’s and women’s basketball programs enjoyed in the early 1980's. During her tenure as SID, Debbie served on the 1981 and 1982 United States Olympic Sports Festival media staffs, and represented the United States as one of four sports information directors on the media coordination team at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.

After a one-year journalism teaching stint at Virginia Commonwealth University in 1984-85, Debbie returned to Old Dominion as an assistant athletic director, and was promoted to associate director in 1995 and senior associate in 2003. She was a member of the NCAA Communications Committee, NCAA Basketball Marketing Committee, and the Creative Content Committee for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. She also served as a member of the media liaison team and as press moderator at the NCAA Women’s Final Four from 1986-2006. White was a member of the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame honors court for 16 years, is a past president of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Tidewater region, and a current member of the Hampton Roads Sports Hall of Fame committee. In 2000, the Old Dominion University Women’s Caucus honored White with the organization’s Recognition Award for her support of women and women’s issues on campus.

The College Sports Information Directors of America recognized her in 2006 with the Trailblazer Award for her pioneering efforts in the profession and inducted her into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame in 2017. She was enshrined in the Hampton Roads (VA) Sports Hall of Fame in 2017 and will be inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2019.

Following her retirement from Old Dominion University in 2016, Debbie served as the executive Director of Communications for the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Education

B.S. degree in journalism from West Virginia University and a Master of Arts in education from the College of William and Mary.

Personal She and her husband Steve are the parents of three children: Kathleen Byrne, and Phil and Stephanie White. Awards Bold text 2019 Virginia Sports Hall of Fame 2017 Hampton Roads Sports Hall of Fame 2017 CoSIDA Hall of Fame 2016 CoSIDA Lifetime Achievement Award 2016 Old Dominion University Diversity Champion Award 2008 President, Susan G. Komen Tidewater Board of Directors 2006 CoSIDA Trailblazer Award 2000 Old Dominion University Women's Caucus Award