A Humber Hawks legend had his banner raised to the rafters of the North campus gym last week.
For Jim Bialek, who served as the college’s sports information director for 40 years, the emotional moment was all about the team.
“This is the highest level you can attain at this institution,” he said. “It’s more than me if you look up there. I get this, sitting next to my mentor Doug Fox, who’s my best friend, my boss, my coworker, my colleague. My mentor for all that time, and now I get to be next to him for an eternity.”
Fox was the athletic director during Bialek’s time at Humber. They worked as a team with coaches and other athletic staff to change sports at Humber Polytechnic.
“You can’t build a program unless you got great coaching, great support, the financial ability to develop a good schedule, the ability to recruit," he said. "So, it was stripped down, and at that point, it became a winning culture.
“He [Doug Fox] stripped down all of athletics, we had like 17 teams [he] stripped it down to four teams and then rebuilt the program,” said Bialek, who retired in 2019.
Fox retired in 2013. Unfortunately, bad weather kept Fox from attending the banner ceremony for Bialek on Nov. 27.
Bialek looked back at his career at Humber and said he is forever grateful to his family.
“The whole Humber thing is family,” he said. “You don’t love, you don’t succeed, you don’t progress, you don’t without family.”
Bialek said he met his wife, Evelyn, at the college, and his son later attended daycare at Humber. His daughter grew up here, and all his friends are here. Humber holds a special place in his heart, and being immortalized in the gym means everything to him.
Brian Lepp, who succeeded Bialek as sports information director, described his impact on Humber’s athletic department.
“Jim had a significant impact on the department. However, his most important impact, in my opinion, was on Humber Athletics' external perception,” Lepp said.
He said Humber Sports Network, social media and the Humber Hawks website showcased their dominance and brought in more recruits and better fan engagement.
Bialek set the standard for Humber athletics and will be forever remembered as a legend at Humber.
“Jim set the standard for marketing and communications across the country. He was the first to implement a live stream for every sport at Humber. Baseball, soccer, softball, and rugby,” Lepp said.
“Jim, along with former AD (athletic director) Doug Fox, developed a strong family culture within the department, which led to the Hawks Family slogan and the annual Hawks Family Night celebration. His creation of SOAR magazine highlighted the success of many,” he said.
