After presiding over the annual Frank Deford and Aaron Pinsky ’06 Student Broadcasting awards honoring 13 students for their outstanding contributions covering varsity teams at Williams, Sports Information Director Dick Quinn was surprised to receive an award of his own—the Ephraim Williams Medal.

Quinn, who is retiring in June after 36 years of service, is only the 16th person to receive the prestigious medal, created in 1984 to recognize non-Williams graduates who have demonstrated exceptional service and dedication. 

“Stories about Williams athletics have raised the college’s national visibility and prominence and helped people across the world come to know the Purple Cow,” Williams President Maud Mandel said in her remarks to an audience that filled Griffin Hall for the event on May 15. “Our newest medalist is the storyteller behind it all.”

Mandel went on to describe highlights of Quinn’s career, including the roles he played in getting The New York Times to cover “The Biggest Little Game in America,” bringing ESPN to Weston Field to broadcast College GameDay, and helping to land 49 Williams athletes, alumni and coaches in Sports Illustrated magazine’s “Faces in the Crowd.” 

“But what’s most special about his contributions is the way he’s done it all with and through students,” Mandel said, citing his mentorship of generations of assistants who have worked as writers, statisticians, photographers, videographers and broadcasters. “It’s not hyperbole to suggest that the Williams Sports Info Mafia rivals the Williams Art Mafia in terms of alumni influence, and he is its beloved don.”

It was high praise for someone who, at the start of the awards night, confessed to being “terrified of students” when he first came to Williams and began hiring them to cover varsity teams. Quinn created the Deford Award in 1990 and Pinksy Award in 2009 to honor their achievements. Today, legions of his sports info “alums” are part of a global network in and around sports that Quinn regularly taps as he helps connect students to internships and jobs.

Jason Hehir ’98, featured speaker at this year’s Deford-Pinsky awards, described how that network changed his life. A student broadcaster for Quinn, Hehir began his career in finance but knew his calling was documentary filmmaking. Quinn connected him with TV producer Sam Flood ’83 at NBC Sports, which led to a job with commentator Bob Costas at HBO. Hehir went on to form his own production company and direct documentaries including André the Giant, about the wrestler, and The Last Dance, focused on Michael Jordan’s last season with the Chicago Bulls. His 2024 docuseries Murder in Boston: Roots, Rampage and Reckoning won an Emmy Award and included among its production credits Rebecca Kuo ’22, who got an internship and then a job with Hehir after Quinn connected the two.

The day after the Deford and Pinsky awards, Quinn received news of another honor for his work—a Lifetime Achievement Award from College Sports Communicators. Among the many testimonials written by coworkers at Williams and colleagues at other institutions was this statement from Williams Athletics Director Lisa Melendy that sums up Quinn’s career: 

“What sets Dick apart is that he isn’t just a storyteller—he’s our biggest fan. His genuine pride and joy in sharing the accomplishments of Williams students have always shone through in his work. His enthusiasm is infectious, and his deep commitment to celebrating others is evident in every word he writes and every event he supports.”

Watch a video of this year’s Frank Deford and Aaron Pinsky ’06 Student Broadcasting awards. 

At top: Williams Sports Information Director Dick Quinn (back row, center) poses with recipients of the Frank Deford and Aaron Pinsky ’06 Student Broadcasting awards.