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Kennan Timm Named Tom Butler Award Recipient

Kennan Timm Named Tom Butler Award Recipient

MADISON, Wis.- Kennan Timm, who served as sports information director at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse from 1983-85 and UW-Oshkosh from 1986-2022, has been named the 2023 recipient of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Tom Butler Award.

The Tom Butler Award has been presented annually since 1998 to a representative of the print or electronic media for outstanding coverage of WIAC athletics (former WIAC sports information directors may also be considered). The league's sports information directors select the winner. The award is dedicated to Tom Butler, who served the conference faithfully as its sports information director from 1967-96.

Upon arriving on the UW-Oshkosh campus in August 1985, Timm publicized one of the most successful athletics programs in NCAA Division III history. UW-Oshkosh captured 35 national and 120 conference titles during Timm's tenure.

Timm began his sports information career as a student assistant at UW-La Crosse in 1981. He was named the school's sports information director in 1982 and served in that capacity the following two years. Timm's term at UW-La Crosse included the promotion of four national championship teams.

Timm's 41-year association with the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference from UW-La Crosse and UW-Oshkosh is one of the longest durations in league history.

In addition to coordinating publicity, keeping statistics, managing the website and producing publications for UW-Oshkosh's 19-sport athletics program, Timm organized and chaired three major fundraising activities during his time at UW-Oshkosh, including the Titan Extravaganza Party which raised nearly $300,000 for the athletics department from 1992-2019.
 
Timm also served as the host media relations director for the finals of 31 Division III Championships, as well as nearly 50 Division III regional tournaments. In 2007, Timm became the first sports information director in Division III history to host two different national championships during the same weekend when UW-Oshkosh hosted the finals for both baseball and men's and women's outdoor track & field. UW-Oshkosh and Timm also duplicated the task in 2008.
 
Following the retirement of UW-Oshkosh Director of Athletics Allen Ackerman in 2010, Timm became the local committee chair for the Division III Baseball Championship that was held at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton from 2000-18.
 
Timm was also fortunate to watch several student-athletes grow and take their athleticism to the next level, including two Olympians (Melissa Mueller & Rod Figueroa), one National Football League Player (Tom Newberry), and three Major League Baseball players (Terry Jorgensen, Jack Taschner & Jarrod Washburn).
 
Timm has seen six of his former student assistants continue in the sports information profession. Among them are Todd Clark, former UW-La Crosse Sports Information Director and current Director of Communications for the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA); Dan Lukes, current St. Norbert College Sports Information Director; Don Stoner, current Augsburg University (Minn.) Sports Information Director; and Becky Bohm, former UW-Platteville Sports information Director and University of Minnesota Associate Sports Information Director.
 
Timm, an Oshkosh West High School graduate, was a member of the wrestling media relations staff at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles (Calif.) and worked as a radio/television spotter in the press box for Green Bay Packers preseason and regular season football games from 1993-97. Timm was the official statistician for the Wisconsin High School All-Star Football Classic at J. J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium from 1985-2021 and the official scorer the WIAA State Baseball Tournament in Appleton from 1998-2020. 

Timm, a 1990 graduate of UW-La Crosse, was inducted into the College Sports Information Directors of America Hall of Fame in 2012 and the UW-Oshkosh Athletics Hall of Fame in 2021. He was also named the winner of CoSIDA's prestigious Warren Berg Award in 2009. Timm resides in De Pere, Wis.