Alumni Spotlight

The go-to guy for Evangel sports

David Fillmore has been the school's source of sports information for nearly three decades.

Joe Cress
News-Leader

One of David Fillmore's many duties at Evangel University is serving as historian for the school's athletic programs.

And, while Fillmore will never admit to it, he has become as much a part of that history as any Crusader who ever caught a pass or scored a basket.

The only sports information director the school has known, Fillmore has been the liaison between Evangel's sports teams and the local media since 1977.

As part of the celebration of Evangel's 50th anniversary this year, coaches were asked by director of athletics David Stair for a list of the school's top athletics achievements in its first half-century.

"I thought the championship team we had was pretty good," Evangel men's basketball coach Steve Jenkins said of his 2001-02 squad that won the national title. "But I think the biggest move Evangel University ever made was hiring Dave Fillmore. I think he's that good."

Fillmore doesn't want to hear any of this. The way he sees it, he's only doing what he is supposed to.

"This job was created to serve," he said. "I'm supposed to serve the athletic department, and that's what I do."

Fillmore issues news releases for the athletics department and keeps statistics and records for all of the school's 15 sports teams. In addition, sports information directors (SIDs) are responsible for game programs, athletics brochures, media guides and upkeep of athletics Web sites.

Sports information offices for NCAA schools have two to four full-time employees, with as many as 8-10 for the biggest schools. But SIDs at the NAIA level don't have full-time (or even regular part-time) help. Fillmore's only assistance comes from a handful of students who work a few hours each week.

"At a smaller school, you just have to do everything," Fillmore said. "That's just the way it is."

Sports information directors generally serve as historians, too, keeping records from the programs' early days. Fillmore says he regularly searches old Evangel yearbooks, records and even library microfilm trying to gather information on the school's earliest sports efforts.

Trying to keep reporters and coaches happy at the same time is a thankless job, but one Fillmore has been recognized for at the highest level. In 1999, he was awarded the Clarence "Ike" Pearson Award, the highest honor the NAIA gives to sports information directors.

Even then, at what many would see as the highest point in their career, Fillmore deflected the attention. Stair had to talk him into going to Orlando, Fla., to accept the award. Fillmore keeps the plaque on a wall in his office, nearly hidden among various Evangel sports schedules and photos.

"We all work hard, and nobody gets awards," Fillmore said. "You work hard and you do your best, just like everybody else.

"I know it's a nice award to get; I just don't like the limelight," he said. "I'd rather set the chairs up for a meeting or clean up after than be the person in the meeting."

Fillmore, from Leadville, Colo., served 13 months with the Army's 101st Airborne in Vietnam before finding his way to Evangel. For six years, he was back-and-forth between Colorado and Springfield, working construction or in the mines back home to pay for another semester of tuition.

He graduated in 1976 and was married later that same year. When he was contacted a year later by Evangel about a new position the school had created, he and wife Patricia moved back to the Ozarks.

"It was a very hard decision," he said. "We stopped several times along the way in Kansas (and thought about turning back)."

Fillmore first went to work in a small office in Evangel's administration building, long before the days of computers and the Internet.

"I had a little 8-by-8 office with two chairs and a typewriter," Fillmore said. "I'd set the typewriter on the other chair and go to work."

Fillmore knew the only way to get everything done the way he wanted was to get in early and stay late.

"I probably put in 70-hour weeks the first 20 or so years," Fillmore says, matter-of-factly. "Now, I'm trying to cut that down to 55 or 60, mainly because I have experience and I know what to get done when."

Fillmore also served as sports information director for NAIA Region 16 from 1985-93 and for the Heart of America Athletic Conference from 1988-2003.

"David is a person of the highest integrity. You can count on him," said Larry Lady, commissioner of the HAAC since 1993. "He brought a lot of ideas as far as the formats we used for collecting data, and choosing our players of the week. We're still using those ideas."

Fillmore decided to scale back on his responsibilities a few years ago, reluctantly giving up the HAAC duties when health issues briefly slowed him down.

He says the reduced workload has benefited his health, and allowed him more time with his wife and daughter Deanna, 24, of Springfield.

These days, he doesn't get to his office tucked in the back of EU's Ashcroft Center until 6 or 6:30 a.m. (an hour later than he used to) and if he has to stay for a game that night, he "just takes a longer lunch."

At 57, Fillmore doesn't see retirement in his future anytime soon.

"I'll do this until they run me off or my health won't let me continue," he said.

Chances are, Fillmore could be with Evangel for a long time.

"I would hate to be the athletic director without Dave here," said Stair.

"I told him that if he ever thought about retiring, he needs to give me plenty of notice because I might go out with him."

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