He's 'always on call' with Brown University sports

Chris Humm loves his work as director of athletic communications at Brown

BY MANUEL C. “MANNY” CORREIRA
Posted 8/7/17

He’s the man with all the facts and figures for Brown University athletics, and maybe even more.

Chris Humm joined the Brown University athletic staff in July 1988, as director of athletic …

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He's 'always on call' with Brown University sports

Chris Humm loves his work as director of athletic communications at Brown

Posted

He’s the man with all the facts and figures for Brown University athletics, and maybe even more.

Chris Humm joined the Brown University athletic staff in July 1988, as director of athletic communications and head golf coach after holding similar positions at Hofstra University for eight years. He stepped down as golf coach at the end of the 1993 season.

At Brown, he’s responsible for the implementation of a media relations program, including the publication of media guides/interactive magazines and programs, social media, video streaming, and the daily maintenance of the Brown Athletics website, brownbears.com, for Brown’s 38 varsity athletic teams. He also ran three major fund-raising golf tournaments — football, men's ice hockey and women's athletics — for the Brown Athletic Department for 12 years.

“My job is never the same, with the advent of video and social media,“ said the still youthful 62-year-old while watching a little of the British Open Golf tournament recently in the downstairs rec room area of his Paquin Road home. “Everything is a little different. I enjoy what I do. It’s been a challenge, but everyone has been great.”

Speaking of golf, arguably his best sport to participate in, Chris, a native of Baldwin, N.Y., idolized his late father, John Humm, who was an incredible amateur player during his day.

“He certainly was a lot better than I ever was,” Chris said. But in all honesty, Chris Humm is no slouch on the fairways. “I love playing golf,” he continued.

A 1977 graduate of Hofstra University, Chris has held positions with both IBM and British Airways. As an undergraduate at Hofstra, he was editor-in-chief of Nexus, the University’s yearbook, and a four-year member of the varsity golf team, the last two years as captain.

He also worked as director of media relations for the 1987 Can-Am Pacific Games for the Physically Challenged and as the assistant director of media relations at the 1985 World Games for the Deaf in Los Angeles. He is a member of CoSIDA, and the United States Basketball Writers Association, and is a former president of the Ivy League Sports Information Directors.

He was inducted into the Words Unlimited Hall of Fame in Feb. 2013. Founded in 1945, Words Unlimited is Rhode Island's organization of sportswriters, sportscasters and sports publicists that honors those individuals who make extraordinary contributions to the state's sports scene.

In 2010 and 2016, Chris worked as the moderator for all press conferences at the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball first and second round games played at the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence. Each year, he moderated 24 press conferences in four days, including pre-game and post-game press conferences. 

He also served as the moderator for the 2013, 2015 and 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey East Regional first and second round games at the Dunkin Donuts Center, and was also the media/public relations coordinator for the 2016 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse quarterfinals at Brown Stadium.

In 2006, Chris was honored by the All-American Football Foundation with the Scoop Hudgins Outstanding SID Award at its 81st annual Banquet of Champions. He also successfully nominated four NCAA Silver Anniversary Award winners at Brown, Steve Jordan '82, Lisa Caputo '86, George Pyne '89 and Bernard Muir '90, and an NCAA Top VIII Award winner, Nick Hartigan '06.

“That’s always been one of my greatest thrills,” he said, with a smile. “To nominate those four individuals was very special to me.”

In 2004, Chris was honored by the University with a Brown Appreciation Award for his work on the 125th Anniversary of Brown Football. He also won the Jay Barry ‘50 Service Award in 1990, and the Robert F. Hall ’66 Recognition Award in 2003.

He was the master of ceremonies for the Brown All-Sports Banquet for six years, and the Brown Athletics Senior Banquet for the last four years. He has also been the master of ceremonies and panel moderator for several Black Coaches Association/Fritz Pollard Award dinners honoring the Black Coaches Association Coach of the Year.

'A great community'

Chris Humm loves living in Barrington...plain and simple.

“This is a great community.” he offered.  “It’s a wonderful town. My family loves it here. Both of my sons (Robert and Steve) graduated from Barrington High School and were athletes there.”  

Robert, 34, is also a 2004 Brown graduate and 2008 Roger Williams University Law School graduate, and Steven, 30, is a 2008 graduate of Providence College. 

Chris, and his wife, Debbie, will celebrate their 39th wedding anniversary in September. They also have two grandchildren, Reese (4) and Bowen (2).

Chris has been active in the local community. He is a former coach for the Barrington Little League, the Barrington Youth Soccer Association, and the Barrington YMCA Basketball Travel League.

Being from New York, Chris Humm’s sports heritage lies primarily with the old New York Knick teams of Willis Reed and Walt Frazier, and the New York Mets. And, as he so aptly added, “I’m still a pathetic Mets fan.” His idol growing up was legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus.

When asked what excites him about his job at Brown, Chris immediately responds, “The things we do now are incredible. We do a lot of TV production. We’re involved a lot with ESPN3 athletics, and we’re the official replay for basketball.”

He continued, “Now, it’s all about video. You’ve got to get peoples’ attention. We’ve grown by leaps and bounds. We’ll also be producing events for local TV.”

Chris is also counting the days before Brown’s first college football game since the early 1920s at Boston’s historic Fenway Park.

“Everyone is getting excited,” he said. “It’ll be broadcast by NBC Sports TV.”

Being as active as he is, Chris Humm looks at his job from a practical point of view.

“I never count the hours,” he explained. “You can’t. You’re always on call.”

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A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.