Sports Information

Sports Information Director Jay Stancil | Assistant Sports Information Director John Gatto

Jay Stancil
Sports Information Director
(Carson-Newman, 1994)

Jay Stancil has served as Union College's Sports Information Director since August of 1999.

In 2010, Stancil received the Clarence "Ike" Pearson Award, which is the NAIA-SIDA's highest honor and recognizes its honoree for accomplishments and service performed over a career. He is the 34th person to earn this distinction.

Throughout his career, Stancil has received numerous awards, earning 45 NAIA-SIDA Publication Awards including three first-place honors and one Best Cover. In addition, he placed first in the NSCAA Writing Contest in the Deadline/Game Story Division in 2005 and third place in the CoSIDA's Fred S. Stabley Sr. District IV Writing Contest in 2006 and 2007.

Over the years, Stancil has served as the media coordinator for numerous postseason tournaments, including the 2001 NAIA Region XI men's soccer tournament, the 2002, 2003 and 2009 Appalachian Athletic Conference women's soccer tournaments, the 2002 NAIA Region XII women's soccer tournament, the Appalachian Athletic Conference baseball tournament in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 and the 2007 NAIA Super-Central Super Regional baseball tournament. He also served as a member of the gameday staff for the 2006 and 2007 NAIA Football National Championship game. In March of 2007, Stancil served as a member of the media relations crew for the first and second round games of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship tournament in Lexington, Ky.

As Union's SID, Stancil has had 12 student-athletes earn CoSIDA Academic All-America District IV honors with four receiving CoSIDA Academic All-America Team honors. Additionally, he has had one student-athlete receive the Woody Hayes National Scholar-Athlete Award while another was featured in Sports Illustrated's "Faces in the Crowd" section.

Stancil is a member of the NAIA-SIDA - the NAIA's Sports Information Directors Association, College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). For six years, he served on the NAIA-SIDA Publications Contest Committee. Stancil also served on the CoSIDA Publications Contest Committee for three years and has served on the CoSIDA Academic All-America Committee since 2007. In 2010, he ibegan serving on the CoSIDA New Media/Technology Committee. 

In addition to serving at Union, Stancil was the NAIA Region XII Information Director from 2005-08 and was elected twice as an At-Large Representative on the NAIA-SIDA Board of Directors, spending four years in the capacity. In 2009, he was elected as the First Vice President of the NAIA-SIDA Board. Stancil is also a member of CoSIDA's College Division Management Council.

Prior to coming Union, Stancil spent five years as a sports editor/reporter at two southeastern Kentucky newspapers. In 1994, he began his professional career as a sports reporter for the Corbin Times-Tribune in Corbin, Ky., and was named the newspaper's sport editor in the fall of 1995. In March 1997, Stancil was hired as the sports editor at the London-Laurel News Journal in London, Ky., serving there until the summer of 1999. While at the News Journal, Stancil won eight Kentucky Press Association awards, including first place for Best Sports Column.

A 1994 graduate of Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tenn., Stancil received his B.A. in communication arts with emphases in broadcasting, journalism and public relations with a minor in business management.

Stancil is married, and he and his wife, Genople, have two children - a son, Jayson, and a daughter, Haylee. The Stancils are active members of Poplar Grove Baptist Church in Corbin, Ky.

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John Gatto
Assistant Sports Information Director
(Bloomsburg, 2008)

John Gatto joined the Union sports information staff in October of 2010.

Prior to coming to Union, Gatto worked at Georgia Tech for the last year as an assistant in the sports information office. There, he was the media contact for men's and women's cross country, swimming & diving and track & field squads, handling all media relations responsibilities for those sports. Gatto also assisted in publicity efforts for the Institute's nationally-ranked football, men's  basketball and baseball programs and  in media operations at home football, men's and women's basketball, baseball, volleyball and softball contests.

Gatto worked at several NCAA championship events hosted by Georgia Tech, including the 2010 Atlanta NCAA Softball Regional (where he served as official scorer and public address announcer), the 2010 Atlanta NCAA Baseball Regional and the 2010 NCAA Southeast Golf Regional. Gatto also assisted media relations staffers at the 2010 FedEx Orange Bowl in Miami, Fla. and  served as the media coordinator for the 2010 NCAA Zone B Diving Championships.

Before his time at Georgia Tech, Gatto served as an Assistant Director of Media Relations at the College of Charleston from August of 2008 to September of 2009. In Charleston, Gatto was the media contact for the school's soccer, tennis, cross country and track & field programs and was the secondary contact for the College's men's basketball and baseball programs. Gatto also served as the P.A. announcer at all soccer matches and select volleyball and baseball contests and was the official scorer at all  CofC home baseball games during the 2009 season.

Gatto graduated from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania in May of 2008 with a degree in Mass Communications. At Bloomsburg, Gatto worked in the sports information office for four years.

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