PELLA—Stretching from the days when a scorebook and a pencil were trusted tools of the trade to a time where website content, video webcasts and social media posts command non-stop attention, there's been one consistent voice promoting all things Central Dutch.
But after 45 years, that's going to change.
Larry Happel, Central's athletics communications director since 1979, will hand off that title in June to launch his retirement. He'll continue to assist on a part-time basis.
"Larry has redefined the profession in some ways; how fortunate we've been to have him shaping athletics communications at Central for nearly half a century," said Central College President Mark Putnam. "It's incredible to think about his lasting legacy and the many moments in our history where Larry was present and brought the stories to life. Larry is Forever Dutch.®"
The position was referred to as sports information director back then, and he never even applied for it. He was unexpectedly offered the job near the end of his junior year, after serving as editor of the school newspaper, the Central Ray, and interning in the college's News Bureau, with the understanding that he could complete his degree requirements over two years while working full time, graduating in 1981 instead of with his 1980 classmates. He managed to hang on to the job long enough to unofficially surpass Iowa State University's Harry Burrell as the longest-serving college or university sports information director in Iowa. Including his time as a student journalist, he's spent 48 years tracking the Dutch.
He's simultaneously handled additional roles at Central, including a couple of stints as the college's communications director, but he said he didn't like any of them as well as serving as SID, largely because he cherishes the opportunity to interact daily with coaches, student-athletes and, especially, his student workers, while also getting to tell their stories.
The job title maybe should have been Stat Guy in the early days, as much of the work involved numbers, compiling statistics reports that were mailed to the NCAA and phoned in to the conference office. Indeed, as the men's basketball team bus began its trek down the highway on a snowy winter night in Dubuque early in his career, it was only after someone asked for the statistics from that night's game that the coaches realized they'd left Happel at the school, where he was in an office calling in results to the media.
The job evolved and he had to as well. He's remained active in the profession throughout his career. A proud Waverly, Iowa native, he was inducted into the College Sports Information Directors of America (now College Sports Communicators) Hall of Fame in 2010 and received the organization's Warren Berg Award for outstanding achievement in the college division sports information field in 2006. He has received more than 35 national publication and writing awards. His feature on former homeless youth Jaime Miranda, a Central wrestler, was named the National Story of the Year in the 2017 CoSIDA Fred Stabley Sr. Writing Contest. He served a three-year term on the CoSIDA board of directors and also spent six years on the Division III Sports Information Directors of America (D3SIDA) board, including a two-year term as president. He was the first to serve as the organization's vice president. He spent three years on CoSIDA's College Division Management Advisory Committee, served on the organization's Writing Contest Committee, Allied Organizations Committee and Membership Services Committee, and has been a member of the CSC Special Awards Committee since 1999. He was on the Hewlett-Packard Division III Football All-America Team Selection Committee from 1991-2000, the Host Communications-NCAA Championships Program Advisory Committee from 2005-09 and since 2006 has served on the D3hoops.com Women's Basketball Ranking Committee.
At Central, he helped lead the processes to create and implement the college's current institutional and athletics graphic identities and he coined the promotional tag Forever Dutch®. He served as host SID for numerous NCAA Division III playoff events, including the NCAA Championships for men's golf in 1980 and 1989, softball in 1992, women's basketball in 1993 and volleyball in 2000.
While on sabbatical from Central in 2003-04, Happel spent more than 10 months as a visiting assistant in the athletics media relations office at the University of Tennessee, which he terms a personal and professional life highlight. He's also served on the media relations staff for multiple NCAA Division I and Division III Championships events as well as for Southeastern Conference and Missouri Valley Conference championships.
During his tenure, Central has won 10 of the school's 11 NCAA Division III team championships and all 36 of its NCAA individual championships, as well as claiming 157 of its 187 conference championships, all 73 of its CSC Academic All-America® awards, 24 of its 26 NCAA postgraduate scholarships and 487 of its 498 all-America awards. The Dutch have played 473 football games and more than 2,000 men's and women's basketball games in that span. Happel has worked Central games and meets in 24 states, including three treks with the men's basketball team to Hawaii, as well as Spain, and he has authored more than 20,000 news releases.
"Larry has been an unbelievable ambassador for Central College," said athletics director Eric Van Kley. "He's meant so much more to us than just serving as a sports information director. He's been a tremendous friend to every student-athlete who has ever been here, and a friend to every coach and staff member who has been a part of this. His legacy is unparalleled in representing the best of what Central College is and we wish him nothing but the best on this next chapter."
Following the expansion of P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium, Central's national champions trophy case was named in his honor in 2019. He received the college's Presidential Service Standard Award for Energy in 2009.
He was the adviser for Central's Habitat for Humanity campus chapter for 14 years and has served on the board for the Pella CROP Walk for world hunger for the past 20 years. He's also active with Pella's Second Reformed Church.
