Release courtesy of Bob Stewart, Publicity Chairman, The Sporting Stew
CANTON, Ohio – Dell Robinson, the commissioner of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC), will speak to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Luncheon Club, Monday, Oct. 15, 2012.
The famed luncheon club, in its landmark 50th season,
continues to be held at Tozzi’s on 12th, 4210 12th St.
NW, Canton. Lunch is served starting at 11 a.m., with the program
beginning at 12:10 p.m., concluding at 1 p.m. ,
The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC), where
Malone and Walsh will begin their NCAA Division II play, was
founded in 1972.
The GLIAC made history in 2009 when it hired Dell Robinson as
Commissioner. Robinson became the first ethnic minority to
serve as D-II commissioner of a non-historically black college or
university conference when he began his duties July 1, 2009.
Robinson spent his previous 10 years at the
Mid-American Conference (MAC) as the Associate Commissioner for
Legislative and Compliance services.
Robinson has experience on the national level as well, having been the MAC’s representative on the NCAA Management Council. He is the former chair of the Selection Review Committee which placed administrators on NCAA Committees, and has served on the NCAA Sportsmanship Committee.
In addition, Robinson was selected to serve on the 2002-03 NCAA Leadership Institute for Ethnic Minority Males. He served on the NCAA Administrative Cabinet and was a member of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Learfield Director’s Cup Committee.
A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Robinson was assistant commissioner for compliance from 1996-99 at the Western Athletic Conference in Denver.
Robinson has a bachelor's degree in sports management from Ohio University in 1988, where he was a walk-on to the Bobcat football team, and played from 1984-88. Robinson earned his master's degree in sports administration from Iowa State University in 1992.
The league now includes, in addition to Malone and Walsh, Ashland, Ferris State, Findlay, Grand Valley State, Hillsdale, Lake Erie, Lake Superior State, Michigan Tech, Northern Michigan, Northwood, Ohio Dominican, Saginaw Valley State, Tiffin and Wayne State. Affiliate Members are Indianapolis, Lewis, and Notre Dame of Ohio.
The charter members of the GLIAC were Ferris State University, Grand Valley State University, Lake Superior State University, Northwood University (then Institute), and Saginaw Valley State University.
The Conference expanded on July 1, 2010 when Lake Erie College of Painesville, Ohio, and Ohio Dominican University, located in Columbus, joined the GLIAC. The League then expanded on July, 2012 when Malone University and Walsh University, become the 15th and 16th GLIAC members.
The cost of the luncheon club memberships remain the same as last year at $35, and the membership includes a year’s free admission to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, in addition to admissions to all athletic contests at Malone University and Walsh University .
The price of the Monday meals also remains the same, $12 for members and $22 for non-member guests of members. It is the sixth straight year the luncheon costs have stayed the same.
The club’s future speakers include: Scott Stricklin, the Kent State baseball coach who took his team to the College World Series for the first time in the school’s history this year, Oct. 22; Don Nehlen, the Canton Lincoln High School grad and former head football coach at Canton South and McKinley High Schools and Bowling Green and West Virginia Universities, Oct. 29; Sam Bourquin, Sports Director of radio station WHBC, Nov. 5; Larry Kehres, head football coach at Mount Union University, Nov. 12; Mike and Sharon Hargrove, the former Cleveland Indians manager and wife, Nov. 19; Dan Ross, Ohio High School Athletic Association Commissioner, Nov. 26; and Dirk Hayhurst, author and former major league pitcher, Dec.3.
The club also continues to provide all members of the U. S. Armed Forces home on leave and in uniform free weekly admissions. The club meets on Mondays from now through mid-May of 2013, when the annual golf outing and dinner conclude the season’s sessions.