Cullowhee, N.C. – Steve White, a fixture around Catamount Athletics for over half a century in a variety of communication roles and a member of the Western Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame, is to be enshrined in the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Hall of Fame, the organization announced today.
 
The distinguished group of six, honored communication professionals, is comprised of two former CSC Presidents and Board of Directors members, Sam Atkinson (Gallaudet University) and Kevin Trainor (Arkansas); long-time CSC members Kelly Bird (Linfield University) and Jerry Emig (Ohio State); and retirees Dee Outlaw (West Alabama) and Steve White (Western Carolina).
 
The CSC Hall of Fame class will be honored at the 2026 College Sports Communicators (#CSCUnite26) annual convention, June 7-10 at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas, Nev. CSC's 69th annual convention is held in conjunction with NACDA and Affiliates Convention Week. The six members of the Hall of Fame class will be inducted into the HOF on Monday, June 8, in ceremonies during a special CSC celebration award night.
 
The members of the 2026 Hall of Fame class represent NCAA Division I institutions (Emig, Trainor, White), NCAA Division II (Outlaw), and NCAA Division III (Atkinson and Bird). Western Carolina moved from Division II to Division I during White's tenure. Two former CSC/CoSIDA presidents are also represented (Atkinson and Trainor).
 
Outlaw and White were selected from CSC's veterans/former sports information nominees whose professional and personal deeds and accomplishments helped make possible the stature of the athletics communications profession today.
 
"The latest class of Special Award winners for College Sports Communicators showcases years of thoughtful leadership, groundbreaking successes, and service to our profession," said Patrick Crawford, 2025-26 CSC President and Purdue University Associate AD-Strategic Communications. "These individuals were able to not only diligently serve their institutions and organizations but also make significant impacts within our membership that stretches across all divisions and levels of college sports. For both our full grouping of Special Award winners and specifically the CSC Hall of Fame class, we are thrilled to be recognizing their efforts and careers at CSCUnite26 in Las Vegas in June."
 
Each of this year's six 2026 Hall of Fame inductees will join their predecessors on the CSC Hall of Fame plaques that are on permanent display at the NCAA Hall of Champions in Indianapolis. Established in 1969, CSC inducted 39 individuals in its inaugural class. A total of 260 members have been inducted to date. See CSC Hall of Fame all-time inductees.
 
"The College Sports Communicators Hall of Fame honors those whose careers have shaped not only how our stories are told, but how our profession is defined," said Jason Yaman, CSC Executive Director. "The 2026 Hall of Famers represent a standard of excellence, integrity, and service that inspires generations of communicators across all levels of college athletics. We look forward to honoring their career accomplishments and the accomplishments of all our award recipients in June."

White served as associate athletic director, sports information director, executive director of Big Cat Club – now the Catamount Club – and created and managed the Catamount Sports Network at his alma mater. White came to Cullowhee in 1962 and worked as a student in the sports information office through 1966 before returning as the Sports Information Director in 1970, serving for 28 years (1970-1998). He helped the Catamount Sports Network as a radio announcer from 1998-2014. In his retirement, White remains active with WCU's Athletics Hall of Fame committee and with the Catamount Sports Network, and serves as the WCU athletics historian.
 
"I am well into my retirement after 40 years with Western Carolina University Athletics, but I vividly remember electric typewriters, spirit master and mimeograph duplicating machines, and dial-up telephones in the 1970s and 80s," said White. "I will never forget my hall of fame mentors – Clemson's Bob Bradley, South Carolina's Tom Price, Georgia's Claude Felton, Florida's Norm Carlson, and Tennessee's Bud Ford - to name a few that impacted my career. Those (CoSIDA) pioneers taught me that one-on-one personal communication with the media was paramount. Also, they emphasized that the 'student-athlete' was why you had a job. I hope that I had the same kind of impact on my assistants, student workers, and student-athletes."
 
He added, "The sports information/communication profession is underrated in the world of college athletics, but all of us are proud to be a part of it."
 
Among his numerous honors, White was a 1999 Western Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame inductee as an athletic administrator. He received a Distinguished Service Award from WCU (1998) and the Southern Conference Distinguished Service Award in 2010. He was the Western North Carolina Mountain Amateur Athletic Club's Lifetime Achievement Award recipient in 2016 for contributions to sports in the region. A CSC (CoSIDA) Lifetime Achievement Award winner in 1996, White was a long-time member of the organization's writing committee and publications committee.
 
From 1970 until 2011, White had a string of 499 consecutive Catamount football game attendances (including retirement) and was an eight-time recipient of the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) awards for "outstanding press box service." White and his wife, Elaine, have an endowed scholarship that supports WCU student-athletes.
 
White also served on USA Olympic Festival and NCAA championship media staffs and received numerous national and regional publication awards during his tenure. He successfully helped 35 football, basketball, and baseball players attain All-America honors and mentored nine student and full-time assistants who became media relations/communications directors on the collegiate and professional sports levels. Among those former students active in collegiate athletics are Lindy Brown, Senior Associate Director of Communications at Duke University; KC Culler, Assistant Athletic Director for Communications at Pfeiffer University; Joseph Marvin, Sports Information Director at Brevard College, and Daniel Hooker, Associate Athletics Director for Media Relations with the Catamounts.
 
CSC is composed of intercollegiate athletic communications and creative professionals from colleges, universities, and athletic conferences at all divisions of competition in the United States and Canada.
 
All told, College Sports Communicators (CSC) will honor over 60 members, distinguished external colleagues, media members, and collegiate administrators with its 2026 Special Awards, the association's annual awards of distinction. The Special Awards, to be announced throughout the week of January 12-15, are presented for outstanding contributions to the organization and to CSC's mission.