Steve Fink Set to Retire After 21 Years with Gamecocks

Steve Fink won’t be watching sports the same way anymore. South Carolina’s longtime Senior Associate Athletics Director for Communications and Public Relations is retiring after 21 years at the school and more than four decades of working in sports. That doesn’t mean he won’t be going to games in the near future.

“It’s definitely going to be different,” said Fink, who has worked more than 1,500 Major League Baseball games, has been to around 50 football stadiums and has worked the last 265 Gamecock football games. “I’ll still go. The reason I got into this is because I love sports. People ask me if I hunt, fish or play golf. I don’t do any of those things. I watch ball, and I work! So, now I’ll still go watch ball. Fortunately, I’ve got season tickets and my wife enjoys going as well.

“Sitting in the stands for football will be different for sure. It will be strange to not have to think about how the outcome of the game will affect my job and what the next week in the office will be like depending on whether we win or lose.”

In his role at South Carolina, Fink oversaw the publicity efforts for the school’s 21 sports and served in a lead role with Gamecock football. He previously spent five years in a similar position at TCU and had also worked for the Kansas City Royals for 12 years with earlier stops in minor league baseball as well as the University of Colorado. That has resulted in a lot of great memories.

“I’ve been blessed and have been able to do a lot of fun things throughout my career,” said Fink. “I’ve worked a World Series, a Major League Baseball All-Star game, was in Cooperstown for a Hall of Fame ceremony, and went to the ESPY’s among other things.

“The one memory I keep coming back to is from 2010 with (South Carolina) baseball. We go to Omaha and lose the first game and then go on to win the whole thing. Obviously, it was a great time there on the field celebrating. The best part for me was when we came back to Columbia and the ride back from the airport to campus. People were lined up on the streets and pulling off to the side of the road to get out of their cars to wave to the bus and welcome the champions home.

“It was very special. You just know how much it meant to everybody. We had won (the national championship) with women’s track in 2002 and equestrian had won a couple titles, but this was the first of the ‘major’ sports championship in school history, and it broke that glass ceiling that we could, in fact, do it here at South Carolina. It still makes me tear up a little thinking about it. It brought the whole community together.”

The role of media relations and sports information has changed greatly during Fink’s career in a lot of ways.

“Back in 1984 there was no internet and no social media,” Fink said. “From my standpoint, you would take care of your newspapers, your TV stations, and radio. That’s all there was. Now there are so many web sites and podcasts that cover you as well as traditional media. There was always an emphasis on breaking news, but being right was just as important. Newspapers were very competitive, but the story wouldn’t show up until the next morning. The writers had time to check sources and make sure the story was accurate. Now, there is such a rush to be first whether the information is accurate or not. Everybody today with a cellphone camera or a social media account is a news breaker and unfortunately there is a lot of bad information out there.”

That being said, there is a lot he’ll miss about his job.

“I’ll miss the relationships with people,” Fink said. “I’ll also miss the games and game day. When you travel with football and you go to places like Alabama, LSU, and Georgia and you’re part of the team, it’s a lot of fun, especially when you win. I’ll miss the people I work with, the coaches, the student-athletes, the media, and all the people I’ve built a relationship with.

“One of my favorite things now is when I see former players who have come back to campus. They grow up and become real people with families and jobs. It’s cool to see. Hopefully at some point I played a little part of their success.”

Fink and his wife, Charlene, have two grown children, Lauren and Ryan, as well as three grandchildren, so he’ll have more time to spend with them. Now that he doesn’t have to be at a game, practice, or press conference all the time, he is thinking about what he’d like to do with his time. He harkens back to his high school days in Iowa when the local newspaper would do interviews with seniors about what they’re going to do after graduation.

“We had 44 in my graduating class,” Fink said. “My answer was that I was going to UNI to major in accounting. Other people would say they were going to work on the farm or the grain elevator. One person, who maybe didn’t quite understand the question, said they were going to go to Mexico for a week. We laughed at that, but that’s kind of where I’m at right now. We’re not going to Mexico, but Charlene and I are going to Greece in October. Other than that, I don’t have any great plans of what I’m going to do. I’ve always felt that God has put me in the right place at the right time. I look forward to seeing what He has in store for me.”

Fink wouldn’t rule out an occasional return to the press box if needed.

“I probably know enough people to where I could get talk my way in,” Fink said with a laugh. “I’ll gladly help out when the Gamecocks are in the playoffs. I’d also be OK working the Bahamas Bowl or something like that.”