Cotton Kings Name New President
September 15, 2006 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Lubbock Cotton Kings News Release
LUBBOCK, TX: September 15, 2006 - At the end of the month, the Lubbock Cotton Kings of the Central Hockey League (CHL) will move their offices across town and with the move will be new front office personnel who have recently joined the Kings front office. This offseason, the Cotton Kings have welcomed new team President Dave Groulx, Business Manager Rick Maddox, Box Office Manager Sherhonda Ginn, Corporate Marketing Managers John Brandenberger and Jared Lacedo, Group Marketing Manager Grant Yancey and Media/Community Relations Assistant Joey Hinojosa to the organization. The Kings have also welcomed Jay Johnson as the club's new Equipment Manager, joining the team personnel.
The Kings offices will move from 1309 University to 3501 50th St., Suite 124 (zip code 79413), which is west of Market Street's Indiana and 50th Street location. Overseeing the day-to-day operations of the organization as the club's President is Welland, Ontario native Dave Groulx (grew). Groulx comes to Lubbock after serving as the General Manager of Canlan Ice Sports / Ice Sports Arena in Shawnee Kansas for the past five years. The Cornell alumnus started his career in pro sports as a player. Groulx was a standout hockey player at Cornell University (Ithaca, New York) from 1972-1976 and joined their 100-point club after posting 64 goals and 74 assists for 138 points (17th all-time), leading to a short pro career with Flint of the International Hockey League (IHL). He left hockey to serve as an industrial engineer at John Deere Welland Works. After ten years with John Deere, he went into ownership as operator of a family-owned sporting goods store, shareholder of a slowpitch softball complex in Fort Erie, Ontario and Owner of the Niagara Peninsula franchise of Sports Recruits International, Inc. From 1992-1996, Groulx was the Owner and General Manager of the Golden Horeshoe Jr. B Hockey League's Port Colborne franchise. He left Port Colborne for the Sunshine State and served as owner of the Lakeland Ice Warriors of the Sunshine Hockey League. Groulx spent an extensive time with hockey in Florida, serving as the President of the Sunshine Hockey League (1994/1995), developer of the Florida Junior Hockey League and Jen-Ice Corp (1995-1997), General Manager of Planet Ice Family Fun Center (1997-1998) and the Operations Manager for Pampano Beach based Ice Breakers Arena. Groulx's role with the organization will also be to focus on the development and structure of Lubbock's youth hockey program.
Maddox joined the organization in July after the unfortunate passing of the late Doug Anderson. As Business Manager, Maddox handles the financial business aspects and accounting roles within the organization. The Las Cruces native and longtime Lubbock resident joins the Kings after working as an Administrator at Texas Tech Health Science Center.
Sherhonda Ginn goes from standing in line at the box office to serving as Box Office Manager. The Slaton native and longtime Cotton Kings fan and season ticket holder joins the Kings offices after serving as a Teller and Administrative Clerk in the banking industry. Her role with the Kings will be to organize ticket inventory and oversee the ticket selling operations (box office sales). Also new to the Ticket Department is Group Marketing Manager Grant Yancey, who is in charge of group sales. Yancey is a Business and Administration and Marketing major from Texas Tech and joined the Kings after serving in the Texas Tech University Office of Annual Giving.
Joining the Corporate Marketing Department in the Kings organization is John Brandenberger and Jared Lacedo. The department's role is to customer service corporate sponsorships and to work with corporate sales. Brandenberger is a native of Houston and he is a Marketing and Management major from Texas Tech. Lacedo also joins the Kings for his first role in professional sports. He is from Arlington and holds a Corporate and Interpersonal Communications degree from Texas Tech, where he also worked in the Office of Annual Giving. Lacedo has also previously worked with Ford Farms and as a promoter of Lone Star Saloon in Seville, Spain.
Assisting Chris Due in Media Relations and Stacey O'Brien in Community Relations is McAllen, Texas native Joey Hinojosa. He comes to the Hub City after earning a Bachelors degree at the University of Texas Pan American (UTPA). While in McAllen, Hinojosa worked as a Media Relations assistant with both the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees (CHL) and Rio Grande Valley Dorados (af2), along as serving as a writer for the UTPA student newspaper. Hinojosa is currently in the Mass Communications Masters Degree program at Texas Tech.
Johnson joins returning Athletic Trainer Bobby Franco on the club's team personnel staff. The Wichita, Kansas native comes to Lubbock after spending the past 9 years with the Equipment and Clubhouse staff of the Wichita Thunder. Johnson was with the Thunder when Head Coach Chris Dashney was a member of the Thunder. His duties will be to oversee the equipment inventory and maintenance, locker rooms and pregame arena set-up.
A press release will be distributed in the following weeks once the Cotton Kings officially make their move to the offices on 50th Street to officially notify the dates of change and hours of operation. Media members seeking interviews with any of the staff members, including President Dave Groulx, should contact Chris Due at 806-549-4228.
The Cotton Kings are currently preparing for their eighth season of professional hockey in the South Plains. The season opener is set for Saturday, October 21st, as Lubbock hosts the Odessa Jackalopes at the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum. Season ticket and corporate sponsorship information for the upcoming season is available by contacting the Cotton Kings office at (806) 747-7825. Additional 'Kings info can be found online via their official site at www.cottonkings.com.
• Discuss this story on the Central Hockey League message board...
Central Hockey League Stories from September 15, 2006
- Scorpions work with Milwaukee on Reid - New Mexico Scorpions
- Cotton Kings Name New President - Lubbock Cotton Kings
- RiverKings introduce half-season ticket plan - Mississippi RiverKings
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
