BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- Ed Alsene, who earned national Hall of Fame honors as the director of publicity and sports information at Illinois Wesleyan University from 1965 to 1988, passed away at 12:45 a.m. on Sunday, July 17, 2016, at Martin Health Center in Bloomington. Alsene was 92.
 
There will be a visitation from 5-7 p.m. Wednesday (July 20) at Calvert & Metzler Memorial Home, 1115 E. Washington St., Bloomington, as well as from 10-10:30 a.m. at the church on Thursday. The funeral service will be at 10:30 a.m. Thursday (July 21) at Wesley United Methodist Church, 502 E. Front St., Bloomington, with Reverend Vaughn Hoffman officiating. Interment will be in Park Hill Cemetery in Bloomington.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Illinois Wesleyan University Athletic Department or to Wesley United Methodist Church, or the Westminster Village Foundation.
 

 

In 1986, Alsene was elected to the Hall of Fame of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), at the time becoming only the second person from a small, private school to be so honored.

"It's amazing, but not surprising, how many former athletes remember Edgar for the work he did at Illinois Wesleyan," said former IWU athletic director and basketball coach Dennie Bridges. "He was a tireless promoter of the school and helped get IWU known beyond just locally, working with great coaches like Jack Horenberger, Don Larson and Bob Keck."

Alsene is a member of the Illinois Basketball Association Hall of Fame (1982) and the Springfield, Ill., Sports Hall of Fame (1996). Alsene received the Iowa Bowling Proprietors Association's first Harold Teachout Award in 1958 for service to bowling by someone outside the industry, and won third place in Bowling Magazine's writing contest in 1959.

In November 2015, the Sports Information Director office at Illinois Wesleyan was named in honor of Alsene, thanks to a generous anonymous donation by an IWU alumnus. Go here for complete story on that dedication.

"One of Ed's greatest accomplishments was to get Illinois Wesleyan a foothold in the national Academic All-American program," Bridges said. "He was always ahead of being a champion for true student athletes." From 1979 to 1989 Alsene served as men's district coordinator for the CoSIDA Academic All-America Committee, supervising the nominating and voting process for four states and two Canadian provinces. In 1998 Alsene won the organization's Lester Jordan Award for his contributions to the Academic All-America program.

Alsene's Illinois Wesleyan men's basketball brochures twice were rated second in their category in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and his publications finished as high as third in CoSIDA national competition.

Alsene began his journalism career in 1942 when he was employed by the Bloomington Pantagraph, working on the sports and state department staffs. In 1954 he moved to the Des Moines Register as a sports copy editor and, in 1959, became the sports editor of the Illinois State Journal in Springfield.

Edgar Samuel "Ed" Alsene was born January 2, 1924, in Bloomington to Carl Peter "Ben" and Selma Thorsland Alsene. He is a graduate of Normal Community High School, served in the Navy during World War II, and is a 1950 graduate of Illinois State University with a degree in English.

He married Donna Rae Swan on April 18, 1953, in Bloomington. She survives.
Also surviving are his four children, all of whom attended Illinois Wesleyan - Judy (Steve) Bute of Bloomington, Becky (Ron) Paulsen of Macomb, Ben (Tammy) Alsene of Bloomington, Debbie (John) Lazarski of Cary, Ill.; nine grandchildren, Katie (Tim) Dawson, Kristi (Eric) Piersol, Ryan (Ashley) Riggins, Amanda Riggins, Lauren (Joe) Belville, Darrelynn Dunn, Jason Alsene, Maddie Lazarski, Annie Lazarski, and five great-grandchildren, Grant Piersol, Brady Piersol, Maggie Dawson, Piper Riggins, and Riley Riggins.

Over his life, Ed also touched the lives of his step-grandchildren.