GREENWOOD, Ind.- On Thursday afternoon, College Sports Communicators announced the 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award and 25-Year Award recipients. College Sports Communicators concluded its week-long announcements of the 2026 Special Award recipients by honoring 15 former and current members with Lifetime Achievement Award honors and 25 with 25-Year Awards for a quarter century of full-time service (or more) in the college sports communications profession. With this year's honorees, CSC will have honored 267 all-time Lifetime Achievement Award winners and 564 honorees who spent at least 25 years in the profession. Newman Alum, J.D. Campbell was one of 15 recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award. 

The CSC Lifetime Achievement Awards are presented to members for distinguished career service who have served at least 25 years in the profession and who are retiring, have retired, or are leaving the athletic communications profession.

While at Newman, J.D. was a part of the baseball program. He earned All-American honors in 1985. He also met his wife, Kerri, at Newman. Campbell himself majored in communication with the intent of becoming a sports anchor but ended up in the field of collegiate media relations instead. He graduated with his bachelor's degree in 1986 before getting into the industry. For the past 37 years, he's worked in intercollegiate athletics as he has managed strategic communications for five universities. 

Read more about J.D.'s accomplishments below, written by Jeff Hodges, University of North Alabama / CSC Special Awards Committee Chair. 

For 37 years, J.D. Campbell shaped and influenced intercollegiate athletics as he managed strategic communications efforts for five institutions and helped bolster the image of student-athletes, coaches, administrators and institutions he served. 
            He spent 16 years overseeing all communications activities for the Indiana University men's basketball program.  More than 30 of his students, interns or full-time assistants have been active in CSC and many are running their own operation at various schools or organizations.  Forty of the students he taught are currently employed in various positions throughout the sports industry.
            With the Hoosiers, he worked with coaches Kelvin Sampson, Dan Dakich, Tom Crean (2016 Big Ten Coach of the Year), Archie Miller and Mike Woodson.  IU won Big Ten Championships in 2013 and 2016, made its only three appearances in the Sweet Sixteen since 2003 (2012, 2013 and 2016) and was the top ranked team in the country for most of the 2012-13 season.
            Campbell arrived in Bloomington after spending seven years at Bowling Green State University, where he served as Assistant Athletics Director for Communications and also oversaw the University's licensing program.
            A native of Las Vegas, Nev., Campbell received a degree in communications from Kansas Newman in 1986, and his master's degree in sports administration from Xavier in 1994. He was an All-American baseball player at KNC in 1985 and also played two seasons at Taft (Calif.) College leading them to the California JC State Championship Tournament in 1983.  He was the 1982 Nevada American Legion Baseball Player of the Year.
            Campbell went to BGSU from Emporia State, where he was Director of University Public Affairs and Marketing (2000) for one year and SID for six years (1993-99). Campbell began his career as the SID at Johnson County CC from 1986-89 and was sports information and promotions coordinator at Northern Kentucky from 1989-93.

Read the full release here.