RiverDogs co‐owner gives CGC commencement address

CHARLESTON, SC – May 7, 2011 – Charleston RiverDogs’ co‐ownerGene Budig will deliver the commencement address to The Citadel Graduate College Class of 2011 at 5 p.m. Saturday, May 7 in McAlister FieldHouse.

“We’re delighted that Gene Budig is this year’s CGC commencementspeaker,” said Brig. Gen. Samuel Hines, provost and dean of the college. “As a former president of three major universities and president of the American League, he has the perfect blend of education, business andsports experience to make him an inspiration to our graduatingstudents.”

Budig earned a degree in journalism in 1962 from the University ofNebraska‐Lincoln. He earned his master’s a year later and his doctoratein 1967. While attending college Budig was also a member of the AirNational Guard. A retired major general, his last assignment wasassistant to the chief of the National Guard Bureau.

For 23 years Budig served in higher education as an educator and aspresident of three major state universities—Illinois State University,West Virginia University and the University of Kansas. In 1994, he leftthe University of Kansas to become president of the American Leaguewhere he oversaw the operations of 14 clubs and the construction of $2.2 billion in new ballparks. After serving at the American League for sixyears, he became the senior adviser to Major League Baseball, a position that he continues to hold today.

Budig is now a distinguished professor and senior presidentialadviser at the College Board in New York City and the author of TheInside Pitch, And More, A Game of Uncommon Skill and the recentlyreleased Grasping the Ring. He chairs College Ed, a national programfunded by the Gates Foundation to increase college attendance. He haswritten essays for the Kansas City Star, The New York Times, USA Todayand the Associated Press, and he is a frequent contributor to The Postand Courier.