John Heisler Position: Senior Associate Athletics Director First Year at ND: 1978

A South Bend native, John Heisler is in his 31st year as a member of the Notre Dame athletic staff - including 15 years as sports information director at Notre Dame after spending 10 previous years as a member of the sports publicity staff. He added the title of assistant athletics director in 1995, and then was named an associate athletics director in 2001. Heisler was promoted to senior associate athletics director in October 2004.

He has administrative duties working with the men's lacrosse program, and also has responsibility in the areas of media relations, contest scheduling, broadcast properties and assists with external events including football and basketball luncheons, banquets and pep rallies. He is also a key department liaison to Notre Dame Sports Properties, the athletic marketing branch of the department, and its manager Scott Corriera. Heisler originally joined the athletic staff in April 1978 as assistant sports information director and was promoted to associate director in July 1982 under former longtime sports information director Roger Valdiserri.

Heisler helped edit a variety of award-winning publications during his career, including 25 judged best in the nation by College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) panels. He worked primarily with the Notre Dame football and basketball programs following his promotion to associate sports information director, producing nine top-ranked football media guides and four more in basketball.

He also has edited Irish football highlight films and coordinated production of various other Notre Dame video products and merchandise. He has done color analysis of Notre Dame basketball games on both radio and television.

Heisler spent four years working in the University of Missouri sports information office as a student, handling publicity for basketball and non-revenue sports. Following his graduation from the School of Journalism in December 1976, he was named the first full-time assistant to Missouri sports information director Bill Callahan, then moved to Notre Dame one year later. He helped direct research operations in Los Angeles for ABC Sports coverage of the 1984 Summer Olympics, worked with NBC Sports as an administrator of its research operation for its coverage of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and served as network liaison with ABC Sports for its coverage of the 1987 International Summer Special Olympics at Notre Dame. He also assisted Lou Holtz in the writing of The Fighting Spirit, the best-selling story of Notre Dame's 1988 national championship football season and edited Quotable Rockne, a book of Knute Rockne quotations published in 2001. Heisler collaborated with Gerry Faust and Bob Logan on Gerry Faust's Tales from the Notre Dame Sideline in 2004 and edited Echoes of Notre Dame Football, published in 2005.

Heisler served as media coordinator for NCAA men's basketball tournament games at Notre Dame in 1985 and 1988 and has worked at five NCAA Final Four events. He helped initiate the CoSIDA writing contest as part of his longtime involvement with the writing committee that promotes excellence in writing among CoSIDA members. In 2003, he was inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame, received the Heisman Memorial Trophy Excellence Award in recognition of outstanding contributions to collegiate football and the Scoop Hudgins Outstanding Sports Information Director Award from the All-American Football Foundation. In June '04, he also received the CoSIDA 25-Year Award.

In 1994, he received the Special Presidential Award from Notre Dame president Rev. Edward A. Malloy, C.S.C., and was awarded an honorary monogram by the Notre Dame Monogram Club in 1991.

Born Nov. 13, 1954, Heisler and his wife, Karen, are parents of two sons, Scott and Timothy.