HPU Adds CBS Sports’ Lead Golf Producer to Access to Innovators Program
HIGH POINT, N.C., Sept. 22, 2023 – High Point University is welcoming another industry leader to the Access to Innovators program. Sellers Shy, CBS Sports’ lead golf producer, serves as HPU’s National Television Producer in Residence and will share his decades of experience in broadcast journalism as he mentors students.
Shy joined CBS Sports full-time in 1997, becoming only the third lead producer in the network’s more than 65 years of golf coverage. Since joining CBS, Shy has been a full-time member of its golf team, serving as a replay producer, associate director and producer for PGA Tour coverage, The Masters and PGA Championship as well as for the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship and Latin America Amateur Championship. The multiple Emmy Award winner also produces NCAA basketball and the NFL on CBS.
“HPU’s Access to Innovators program continues to grow, attracting experts from a wide range of fields to work with our students and help them prepare for careers after college,” said HPU President Nido R. Qubein. “We look forward to welcoming Mr. Shy to campus and seeing the positive impact he will have as a mentor to our students.”
The Memphis, Tennessee, native was mentored by three-time major champion Dr. Cary Middlecoff, who was CBS Sports’ original 18th hole analyst and spent his latter days at Memphis Country Club. Under Middlecoff’s tutelage, Shy became a two-time Memphis high school golfer of the year and three-time Tennessee State Amateur qualifier. He played in two Junior World Golf Championships in 1987 and 1989. Middlecoff encouraged Shy to attend his alma mater, the University of Mississippi. Rather than walk on the golf team, Shy turned his focus to broadcast journalism.
Shy got an early start on his career at CBS Sports, serving as a young volunteer for what was then his hometown’s only professional franchise, the Danny Thomas Memphis Classic. Before long, he was offered decorated events too good to pass up. These opportunities included working the 1994 Winter Olympics in Norway, The Masters, the PGA Championship, SEC football, the NFL, the NCAA basketball tournament, and finally the PGA Tour, where he remains as the lead golf producer.
He served on the board of the University of Mississippi Journalism School and has an endowment in the Broadcast Journalism Honors College. He currently serves on the PGA TOUR’s FedEx St. Jude Championship board of directors.
Shy and his wife, Stephanie, live in Memphis with their two sons, Sellers Jr. and Edwin, and daughter, Gracie. Sellers Jr. was a wide receiver at Ole Miss, while his younger brother, Edwin, is a junior lacrosse player at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and his sister is a freshman at Ole Miss.
HPU’s Access to Innovators program includes dozens of global leaders, such as:
- Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak, HPU’s Innovator in Residence
- Netflix Co-Founder Marc Randolph, HPU’s Entrepreneur in Residence
- Dallas Mavericks CEO Cynt Marshall, HPU’s Sports Executive in Residence
- Domino’s CEO Russell Weiner, HPU’s Corporate Executive in Residence
- Former U.S. Ambassador and FCC Chairman William “Bill” Kennard, HPU’s Global Leader in Residence
- Former CEO of Tufts Medical Center Dr. Ellen Zane, HPU’s Health Care Executive in Residence
- ABC News’ “Nightline” Anchor Byron Pitts, HPU’s Journalist in Residence
- American Actor, Producer and Television Producer Dean Cain, HPU’s Actor in Residence
- Dee Ann Turner, former vice president at Chick-fil-A and HPU’s Talent Acquisition Expert in Residence.
To view a full lineup, visit www.highpoint.edu/accesstoinnovators.