Courtesy Evansville Courier and Press

(October 14, 2010) After more than 17 years with WEHT-NEWS25, longtime sports director Lance Wilkerson surprised Tri-Staters late last week with the news that he's leaving television for a new job at the University of Evansville.

Wilkerson will become UE's new director of development for athletics, where he will work with each head coach and help raise funds for the Aces' athletic department. He also will handle play-by-play announcing on the radio for the Purple Aces men's basketball team and host coach Marty Simmons' radio show.

So how did this come about? It started with a phone call.

"(Men's basketball head coach) Marty Simmons called me about the opportunity," he told me. "It was a surprise."

Wilkerson joined NEWS 25 as a news photographer in August 1993, and has been the station's sports director since July 1998. Since then, he has been honored numerous times for his work at Channel 25, receiving the Indiana High School Athletic Association's Distinguished Service Award, Indiana Interscholastic Athletic Administration Association and the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches' Association's Outstanding Media Award.

But Wilkerson doesn't take credit for NEWS 25's sports successes such as the new NEWS 25 Sports Channel, weekly football game telecasts and so forth. "The true credit goes to the fiercely loyal co-workers who were driven to put on the best product as possible," he said. "For that, I sincerely thank all of them."

"I never thought I would leave NEWS 25," he explained. "I will miss the relationships I have built both with my co-workers and all of the great people I have gotten to know over the years in our community."

"The viewers were my boss, and I always kept my focus on the person on the other end of the TV."

Wilkerson says he shares the vision of UE's new president, Dr. Thomas Kazee, which is to take the Aces' athletic program to another level. "I am thrilled to now be a part of it, he said. "I know the great tradition of the past, and I look forward to doing my part in elevating Aces athletics in the future."

I know I speak for many viewers when I say, "Thanks for everything, Lance, and good luck!"

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