Sports information—challenging yet exciting career

Director of College Relations Alex Helmbrecht finished off this year’s graves lecture series with his talk, “Behind the Polo Shirt: An Insider’s Look at the World of Sports Information.”
Helmbrecht, CSC’s sports information director (SID) from 2007-2014 and the RMAC’s SID of the Year in 2014, spoke of all the time and effort it takes to be an SID. Whether it be from doing stats at a game, writing stories, or making sure everything for a sporting event is running correctly, being an SID takes a lot of time, according to Helmbrecht.
“There is a lot that goes into being a sports information director instead of just doing stats, there are a lot of other things that you have to do,” Helmbrecht said.
When Helmbrecht took over as SID, he managed one of Chadron State’s most exciting years in football history. Even though he had to replace Con Marshall, who the current football press box is named after, the team made it easy on him. Whether it be having Danny Woodhead, two time Harlon Hill Trophy Winner on the team, or the Eagles’ 76-73 triple-overtime win against Abilene Christian, Helmbrecht’s first year as an SID was a thriller.
There might not have been a more exciting year since then, but there still have been plenty more exciting moments for him.
Traveling to Texas with the softball team the first year they made it to the RMAC tourney, shoveling off approximately 513 tons of snow from the football field, or eventually being able to travel with every CSC sports team, Helmbrecht will always remember his time as an SID.
Helmbrecht wanted to show how SIDs create stats for every game. While the NCAA requires the home teams to do stats, the process is much harder than it sounds.
According to Helmbrecht, doing stats is basically “another language.”
“You have to memorize all of the abbreviations for each stat,” Helmbrecht said.
Every sport has different abbreviations, and some are much harder than others, according to Helmbrecht.
“You become very familiar with the home row keys,” he said.
In closing, Helmbrecht talked about all the friendships the job gave him.
“You get to be apart of the athletes lives, you become friends with them,” he said. “I’ve been invited to a lot of weddings and stay in contact with a lot of former athletes.”
Whether it be working with Danny Woodhead or being the RMAC SID of the Year, Helmbrecht’s career as an SID will be one to remember.