Catching up with: Bob Olson

Tony Altobelli

CRAWFORD HALL - Two decades have not slowed down the enthusiasm of

UC Irvine Assistant Athletic Director of Athletic Communications Bob

Olson.

“I wouldn’t still be doing this if I still didn’t love it,” Olson

said. “Sure it has its ups and downs, just like any job, but working in a

college-based environment keeps you young. It’s very refreshing to work

with such great people.”

Olson is the main link for UCI athletics which connects the events,

coaches, scores and players with the national media.

“It’s definitely much more than just keeping stats, that’s for sure,”

Olson said. “My main job is to be the liason between the athletic program

and the media. The publicity of our sports programs is important to raise

awareness of what we’re doing around here to the people in the area.”

That awareness has taken a turn for the better following the recent

reinstatment of baseball to UCI’s catalog of athletics.

“When the students voted to help support athletics, it was one of the

happiest days I’ve had over here,” Olson said. “The willingness to

support really reinforces me staying here at UCI. It’s fantastic to see

such a strong support from the students.”

Olson’s trek to Irvine began in Fargo, North Dakota where he grew up

playing football, basketball and baseball.

After some brief success as a high school baseball player, Olson

focused on school at Southwest State in Marshall, Minn., where he majored

in hotel managment.

“My sophomore year, my roommate at the time was the interim SID

(Sports Information Director) and so I helped him out with some of the

work,” Olson said. “My junior year I became the interim SID and got

involved writing press releases and doing stats for the school. Suddenly,

my quest for hotel management started to fade. I realized I would much

rather stay in hotels and not manage them.”

His senior year, Olson transferred to St. Cloud State, one of the top

mass communication schools in the country. “I started working for the

football, baseball and basketball teams in the SID office and loved it,”

Olson said. “After I graduated, the SID resigned and I was fortunate

enough to be named the SID at age 22. Sometimes you have to be at the

right place at the right time.”

Olson remained at St. Cloud for four years, but the Minnesota climate

started to become a bother. “The winter months began to gnaw at me so I

decided to see what else was out there,” Olson said. “I found out that

UCI was interested in filling their SID position, so I started to do some

research as to where UCI exactly was. I managed to get an interview, they

made me an offer and I needed about five seconds to make up my mind.”

Now, 20 years later, Olson has seen UCI go from a 16-sport,

10,000-student population to a 23-sport Division I program with nearly

20,000 students enrolled. “I can remember when there wasn’t a whole heck

of a lot around this school,” Olson said. “But when the community began

to grow and the population started to rise, I further realized the

importance of letting people know about what was going on over here.”

That importance has been further complicated with the computer age.

“The internet has made my life easier and harder at the same time,” Olson

said. “I’m learning something new on the computer every day. The kids

coming out of college have a head start on some of us. My last year or

two in college, we were still in the typewriter age.”

A day Olson still looks back on with distaste was May 26, 1992. That

was the day UCI officially eliminated baseball, cross country and track

and field from athletic competition. “Without a doubt, it was the saddest

day in my tenure here,” Olson said. “It was a tough decision that the

administration felt they had to make. It effected not only coaches and

players here, but good friends of mine had their lives altered from that

announcement.”

Thanks to the student support, as well as support from UCI Chancellor

Ralph Cicerone and Athletic Director Dan Guerrero, the dark ages of

Anteater athletics appear to be over.

“He truly is the heartbeat of the athletic department,” Guerrero said.

“The growth we’ve experienced over the past few years is largely due to

the work Bob has been able to do for us. He’s a great source of

information and, bottom line, he’s just a great guy. He’s well respected

by everyone in the department.”

Olson has three assistants, including 13-year veteran Stacey

Shackelford. “Her hard work and effort has been tremendous throughout the

years,” Olson said. “I’m grateful to have someone like Stacey as my

right-hand person.”

Men’s basketball coach Pat Douglass knows the importance of Olson and

appreciates his efforts. “Bob is always very professional with what he

does and he definitely makes my job a lot easier,” Douglass said. “He’s

dilligent, enthusiastic and he understands what we have to do as a team

and coaching staff to perform our duties with the media. Plus, on the

road, he’s a lot of fun, too.”

All Olson has to work on is his UCI football predictions. In a Dec.

19, 1989 story, Olson told L.A. Times reporter Helene Elliott, “It’s very

possible it (football) will be here before the end of the 1990s.”

“I said that?” Olson said with a laugh. “Well, I guess I was off on

that one.”