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news
Schroeder has
no regrets about move west
By Jeanne Hoffa
On-line Forty-Niner
Shayne Schroeder
cannot remember the exact moment he decided he was leaving
the Midwest for Southern California.
He is not sure
if it was the 100th time he shoveled snow off of his parent's
porch in the bitter Illinois cold, or if it happened slowly
over time, as he listened to the Beach Boys sing, "I
Wish They All Could Be California Girls."
Maybe the idea
seeped into his subconscious while he watched Rose Bowl games.
January in California. Sunshine. Those people on the television
are not breathing fog.
He is not sure
when, or how, the only thing he was sure of was where he was
going.
Cal State Long
Beach's public information specialist developed, along with
a disdain for the cold, a mild obsession with sports.
Schroeder burned
the midnight oil in college, editing the Northern Illinois
University Newspaper until he earned a degree in journalism
and public relations.
He promptly snagged
a job reporting for The Illinois New Sun. He dashed off stories
and stashed away paychecks, and after a couple of years a
friend had an idea.
"'You know,
you'd be good as a sports information specialist," Schroeder
said. "And I thought, yeah, it kind of combines everything
that I'm doing."
He sent out stacks
of letters but only two returned. One from a coach at Fullerton
College.
"'Don't get
in the business. It's a tough business, kid." Schroeder
repeated.
The other letter
was from Terry Ross, the sports information director at Cal
State Long Beach. Ross interviewed Schroeder over the phone
and made a job offer.
"All he had
was a graduate assistant's job - $200 a month. I thought,
you know, I could stay at my job here for the rest of my life
and always wonder, or I could go. I remember getting off the
phone. I walked downstairs and told my mom. They had no clue
I was serious."
Schroeder's folks
were stunned. His father warned him he would be back in six
months.
With enough cash
saved to last him for a year, Schroeder packed his bags and
headed west. That was Aug. 18, 1980.
Arriving in
California
It is an interesting
image - the mild-mannered Schroeder, whose voice is so mellow
it is almost hypnotic, making his way along side screaming
coaches and sometimes egotistical players.
As he toiled away,
scraping by on his meager salary for four years, writing stats,
compiling data, calling the media, somebody noticed he had
the right stuff. In 1984, Schroeder was asked to take over
Ross' job as sports information director.
"Athletics
is a great training ground [for public relations]. You work
a lot of hours. Nights, weekends. You travel. You're doing
stuff in airplanes and hotel rooms...writing, updating stories.
"I went to
Hawaii 10 times. But for every Hawaii there's an Akron, Ohio,
or Fresno, California," Schroeder said. "I've spent
Thanksgivings in the middle of nowhere. I've spent Christmas
in Birmingham, Ala."
He described the
hours as grueling.
"If there
was a game, your supervisor expected you to be in at 8:00
that morning, work all day, then be at the basketball game
that night. Then you're there until 10:30 when the game is
over - I had to go back to the office, update all my stats,
or call the media and tell them something. And then I had
to be there the next day. It was a tough schedule."
From athletics to the whole university
University public
relations is a big change, Schroeder said, just as interesting,
but much more sedate.
"If I went
from this job, to that job, I don't think I would have lasted.
This job is more normal, more structured."
He was taken aback
at the mass exodus that took place at 5:00 in the evening.
Employees went home at five. It was culture shock.
Anybody who scans
the Cal State Long Beach Web site sees Schroeder's work. There
is a wealth of information accessible at the touch of a finger,
and it is Schroeder that keeps it fresh.
He not only writes
press releases, he developed the Web site's experts guide,
an easy-access guide to CSLUB professors and their areas of
expertise, accessible by topic, subject or name.
It literally takes
seconds to enter a topic, (there are hundreds of choices,
from internet marketing to intimacy to international relations,)
and up pops professor's names, their specialty and contact
number and e-mail addresses.
A Web design class
taken a few years ago made Schroeder savvy enough to handle
the job, and while Doug Cox, the CSULB Web master set up the
site, Schroeder maintains it.
"We want to
keep it fresh, always tweaking it," Schroeder said. "The
first thing I do when I get in here is update our site. After
a day has passed, it's already out of date.
"One of my
bug-a-boos, I hate Web sites that you read them and, you know,
they're a year out of date. I wonder, why don't you just get
rid of it?"
Schroeder says
the Web has transformed PR work. Now information is instantly
accessible to the media.
"Journalists
don't like being scooped. 'Why did you tell the L.A. Times,
but not us?' So the saving grace is the Web site."
While Schroeder
marvels at the relative tranquility of the Public Affairs
Department, but admits there are hectic times.
Commotion and excitement
shook up CSULB when the universtiy hired legendary football
coach George Allen, who worked for the Washington Redskins
and the Los Angeles Rams.
Schroeder said
they set up press conferences at the Marriot, where hundreds
of media people wanted a piece of the coach so they would
set up press conferences at the Marriot. After ordering food,
hauling equipment and finding enough seating, they would have
to parcel out pieces of their new employee.
"We had Channel
2 wanting to talk to George Allen and Channel 4, then the
Los Angeles Times, and everybody else. And I had to sift out
the most important ones."
Schroeder had to
bring order to the chaos, and introduce the coach to the reporters,
but he said Allen was an old pro, he's been in the spotlight
before. Schroeder said it was exciting, being ready for the
world-wide media.
Schroeder loves
the variety that comes with the job he has held for nine years.
"When you
work in athletics, there is no other world. There is no other
part of the campus.
"When you
work in public affairs, one day we're dealing with a political
thing. The next day it's aerospace. It's always something
different. This job has really expanded my horizons.
"Did you see
the Press Telegram story about us having the best Web site?
There was a survey of 400 guidance counselors, who rated college
Web sites for stuff like ease of information and relevant
information," Schroeder said, and then lowered his voice
a bit, as if telling a secret "We could have gotten third
or forth or 50th, but we finished first. I was pretty excited
about that.
"No matter
what you do, somebody is always gonna complain. But at least
now, we can hold this up and say, 'Hey, man, we're the best.'"
As for Schroeder's
parents, as he approaches his 21st year in California and
at Cal State Long Beach, they must have resigned themselves
to their youngest son's big adventure.
"Well,"
Schroeder admitted, "Now they think it's the best thing
I ever did."
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