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By Tom Gaffney, Beacon Journal sportswriter
POSTED: 12:35 p.m. EST, Dec 27, 2007
Cedrick Middleton might not qualify as being one in a million, but he definitely was 130 out of 3,500.
Those latter figures refer to the number of internships at ESPN last summer compared with the number of applications.
Middleton, a senior guard at the University of Akron, was one of the fortunate 130 college students who had 10-week paid internships at ESPN facilities around the country in 2007. He was one of 30 interns at ESPN's headquarters in Bristol, Conn.
Middleton, 22, a Chicago Heights resident, worked in the human resources department at the sports network and also spent time observing other areas of the operation.
''It was a great experience,'' said Middleton, who is third on the Zips in scoring (11.8) headed into a game Saturday at Austin Peay. ''I saw how they do things. I watched the taping of the radio show, saw the TV studio, saw how they got information out, and saw a taping of Outside The Lines. I almost got into a commercial they did with Shaq (Shaquille O'Neal) one day.
''They had me doing a lot of different things. I got a lot out of it.''
One of the benefits of the internship was that it forced him to begin thinking of the future. He is on track to graduate in 2008 with a degree in communications. He intends to look into a professional basketball career abroad but realizes that will not last forever.
''It (the internship) got me prepared for life after basketball,'' said Middleton, who was the Mid-American Conference's Sixth Man of the Year in 2006-07. ''I knew that I had to face that some time, but this really got me thinking about it. I have to start getting ready to make an adjustment sooner or later to life without playing basketball.''
Middleton was at ESPN from early June until mid-August. He was housed in an apartment complex in Hartford, Conn., with the other interns.
His work in human resources centered on three areas: college relations, event planning and recruiting.
It opened his eyes to a whole new world in an unusual way.
''I didn't know what to expect because I never worked in an office before,'' he said. ''I have never experienced anything like it in my life. Here I am in an office and with my own cubicle. That was crazy for me.''
Middleton worked in a department run by Milton Anderson, who was then ESPN's vice president of human resources. Anderson has since become vice president of digital media operations.
Anderson played basketball at Lorain Admiral King High School and Oberlin College. He also is a former assistant coach at UA and a friend of Zips coach Keith Dambrot.
The Anderson contact helped Middleton get noticed for the internship but was not the primary reason he got it.
Anderson said: ''I talked to Keith and Scooter Taylor (at the time UA's coordinator of academic support for the basketball team) about Cedrick. But I also called other people who knew him, other coaches. He got it (the internship) because I heard so many good things about him.''
Middleton then spent the summer living up to that promise.
''He was exposed to a lot of different parts of the business, and we were very pleased with his work,'' Anderson said. ''He worked hard and showed a high level of professionalism. He had everything you would look for in a student-athlete.''
Middleton did not have the chance to meet any of the high-profile, on-air personalities at ESPN, but that was not why he was there.
''I saw some of the news anchors in the cafeteria. That was about it,'' Middleton said. ''I think I did the best I could with what they gave me to do. I thought I handled it pretty well.
''I learned a lot and made some contacts with people in different departments. It was a positive experience.''
Cedrick Middleton might not qualify as being one in a million, but he definitely was 130 out of 3,500.
Those latter figures refer to the number of internships at ESPN last summer compared with the number of applications.
Middleton, a senior guard at the University of Akron, was one of the fortunate 130 college students who had 10-week paid internships at ESPN facilities around the country in 2007. He was one of 30 interns at ESPN's headquarters in Bristol, Conn.
Middleton, 22, a Chicago Heights resident, worked in the human resources department at the sports network and also spent time observing other areas of the operation.
''It was a great experience,'' said Middleton, who is third on the Zips in scoring (11.8) headed into a game Saturday at Austin Peay. ''I saw how they do things. I watched the taping of the radio show, saw the TV studio, saw how they got information out, and saw a taping of Outside The Lines. I almost got into a commercial they did with Shaq (Shaquille O'Neal) one day.
''They had me doing a lot of different things. I got a lot out of it.''
One of the benefits of the internship was that it forced him to begin thinking of the future. He is on track to graduate in 2008 with a degree in communications. He intends to look into a professional basketball career abroad but realizes that will not last forever.
''It (the internship) got me prepared for life after basketball,'' said Middleton, who was the Mid-American Conference's Sixth Man of the Year in 2006-07. ''I knew that I had to face that some time, but this really got me thinking about it. I have to start getting ready to make an adjustment sooner or later to life without playing basketball.''
Middleton was at ESPN from early June until mid-August. He was housed in an apartment complex in Hartford, Conn., with the other interns.
His work in human resources centered on three areas: college relations, event planning and recruiting.
It opened his eyes to a whole new world in an unusual way.
''I didn't know what to expect because I never worked in an office before,'' he said. ''I have never experienced anything like it in my life. Here I am in an office and with my own cubicle. That was crazy for me.''
Middleton worked in a department run by Milton Anderson, who was then ESPN's vice president of human resources. Anderson has since become vice president of digital media operations.
Anderson played basketball at Lorain Admiral King High School and Oberlin College. He also is a former assistant coach at UA and a friend of Zips coach Keith Dambrot.
The Anderson contact helped Middleton get noticed for the internship but was not the primary reason he got it.
Anderson said: ''I talked to Keith and Scooter Taylor (at the time UA's coordinator of academic support for the basketball team) about Cedrick. But I also called other people who knew him, other coaches. He got it (the internship) because I heard so many good things about him.''
Middleton then spent the summer living up to that promise.
''He was exposed to a lot of different parts of the business, and we were very pleased with his work,'' Anderson said. ''He worked hard and showed a high level of professionalism. He had everything you would look for in a student-athlete.''
Middleton did not have the chance to meet any of the high-profile, on-air personalities at ESPN, but that was not why he was there.
''I saw some of the news anchors in the cafeteria. That was about it,'' Middleton said. ''I think I did the best I could with what they gave me to do. I thought I handled it pretty well.
''I learned a lot and made some contacts with people in different departments. It was a positive experience.''
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