Terry Foster, Dick Enberg return to Mount Pleasant for sports management conference

Central Michigan alumni Terry Foster and Dick Enberg will be keynote speaker at the Sports Management Association during its second Professional Development Conference inside the Education and Human Services building this weekend.

The conference runs from 1:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday and 8:30 to 2:45 p.m. Saturday. Registration for students has closed for this event.

Foster is expected to conclude Friday’s session from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. and Enberg will close out the conference from 2 to 2:45 p.m. Saturday.

Foster, a Detroit News sports columnist and radio host on Detroit-based 97.1 The Ticket, will give his thoughts on the journalism industry.

“Even though we’re fact-gathering and in the media, it’s a people business as far as getting a job, keeping a job, being good at your job and progressing at your job,” Foster said. “I think sometimes people forget that.”

Enberg, a play-by-play announcer for the San Diego Padres, has been a broadcaster on NBC, CBS and ESPN.

Nathan Kopp, the former president of SMA, helped come up with the idea for a SMA conference.

“The idea snowballed when we were able to secure Kelly Skinner, Team Leader of Sport Performance for the United States Olympic Committee as our keynote speaker last year,” Kopp said. “The success of last year’s conference prompted us to turn it into an annual event.”

Students from universities such as: Michigan State, Ohio, Northwestern, Western Michigan, Grand Valley State, Northwood, and Aquinas College are scheduled to attend the conference, along with CMU students.

Representatives from the Detroit Pistons, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cleveland Cavaliers, minor league sports teams, communications organizations and universities will all be presenting.

Foster said it was an easy decision to come back as long as it didn’t interfere with his two jobs.

He hasn’t been back to Mount Pleasant since he was inducted into CMU’s Journalism Hall of Fame in 2009.

“I’m always happy to come back,” he said. “It’s where I got my education. One thing I always look for when I come up here is what’s going to be different? The campus is more exciting and bigger than when I was there. I’m going to get up there early and maybe walk around and see what’s new. I guess I’m going to be a tourist for the day.”