By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
After more than 20 years of service to Missouri Western athletics, senior associate athletic director for external affairs Brett Esely is ready to take on a new challenge.
Starting January 3rd, he'll become the director of development at the St. Joseph Convention and Visitors Bureau while also becoming director of the St. Joseph Sports Commission. Missouri Western made the announcement late last week.
Esely helped revive the St. Joseph Sports Commission in recent years, becoming chair of their board. He also led efforts to create the St. Joseph Area Sports Hall of Fame, which conducted its inaugural induction ceremony on Sept. 19.
"We were hopeful that it would one day turn into an opportunity for someone to lead that every day," Esely said of the sports commission. "That became a little bit of a reality late this summer that if our commission was going to go like this and continue this upward climb, it needed somebody that was able to focus on it on a day-to-day basis."
Esely's last day at Missouri Western is November 7. While he's excited to start a new chapter, he looks to finish strong in his last few weeks on campus, remaining thankful that he got to work at the University he went to and that he loves dearly.
"I love St. Joe," he said. "Was born and raised here. Don't ever have any plans to leave. As an alum of the institution, Missouri Western is a special place and always will be. The opportunities I've had at Missouri Western and the impact on my life have been unbelievable."
Esely started at Western as a student assistant men's basketball coach in July 2000. He moved into administration in 2003, overseeing NCAA compliance and ticketing before taking on the external affairs role in 2007.
He oversees the athletic department's marketing, advertising, public relations, corporate partnerships and event management. Esely has led event operations for Chiefs Training Camp, helped run many MIAA conference and NCAA championship events and has served as public address announcer and color commentator on Griffon radio broadcasts.
While he'll miss certain parts of his current job, Esely is thankful that he's not leaving his hometown of St. Joseph, and he looks forward to opportunities to still work closely with the University in the future.
"I'll still be around events," Esely said. "I'll still have the great chance of being an alum, because I graduated from the institution. Whereas this kind of closes one chapter of my life and another one opens, I'll still be here. I'm excited about the chance to impact our community in a way that has tremendous room for growth."
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