The Official Website of Catawba Valley Athletics

Cody Dalton enters his eighth year at Catawba Valley Community College in 2024-25 where he serves as the school's Sports Information Director, Esports head coach and Tarlton Complex Coordinator.

Dalton serves as a media contact for all of CVCC’s sports teams, including baseball, softball, men’s and women’s basketball, bass fishing and Esports, and he also manage the school’s athletic website — www.gocvcc.com — and all athletic social media accounts — all of which he helped create. He has been a member of the College Sports Information Directors of American (CoSIDA) and Two Year Sports Information Directors of America (2YSIDA) since 2019.

Whether interviewing our student athletes about their accomplishments, creating graphics online to highlight accomplishments, putting together highlight videos and taking photos of our teams or even serving as PA announcer for our athletic events, Dalton has prided himself in making sure that the junior college athletic experience at CVCC is one remembered by all Red Hawk student athletes.

During his tenure as SID, 32 CVCC student athletes have earned weekly honors from the NJCAA, including the first-ever honorees in men’s and women’s basketball and softball. In 2021, the Red Hawks earned their first Academic All-America honor from College Sports Communicators when baseball player Chandler Blackwelder was awarded. In August 2021, 2YSIDA honored Dalton as its Sports Information Department of the Month.

In July 2019, Dalton was tabbed to lead the new Red Hawk Esports program - establishing the first junior college esports team in North Carolina. Since that time, more than 90 student athletes have been involved in the program.

Under Dalton’s leadership, the Red Hawks Esports team has won six NJCAAE championships, including back-to-back national championships in 2023-24, a Fall 2023 NACE Open Plus title in Valorant and 53 Red Hawk esports student athletes have earned All-Academic status (3.5 GPA or higher). The Red Hawk Esports program was also nominated for two Scholastic Esports Awards with Dalton winning national two-year Director of the Year in 2025. In the summer of 2022, the Red Hawk Esports program also won an NJCAAE Brand video contest and was featured twice on regional television networks.

On Jan. 13, 2023, Dalton was voted as the chair of the NJCAAE's Sportsmanship committee after serving on the committee for the previous two semesters. Dalton also serves in several other leadership roles across his various positions, including the Catawba County Sports Hall of Fame committee, Assistant SID for Region 10, College Sports Communicators (CSC) Two-Year Cabinet and Voice of Intercollegiate Esports (VOICE) Directors Advisory Council.

He's be awarded several times for his writing work, including being named District 3 Runner-Up in the 2024 College Sports Communicators Fred Stanley Jr. Writing Contest and receiving first place in the 2024 2YSIDA Publications Creative Writing Contest. Dalton has also been nominated twice for the Catawba Valley Community College Staff Excellence Award.

In 2020, Dalton created the first-ever Catawba Valley athletic podcast "Let's Talk Hawks," which highlights current and former student athletes and coaches.

Prior to his arrival at CVCC, Dalton spent the previous 6.5 years as the sports editor for The Observer News Enterprise (O-N-E) newspaper in Newton, N.C. During his time at The O-N-E, Dalton was responsible for coverage of high school, college and professional sports. He covered numerous major sporting events, including Super Bowl 50, two of golf's major championships — the U.S. Open and PGA Championship — and the NASCAR All-Star Race in Charlotte, N.C.

He was a part of five North Carolina Press Association (NCPA) awards at The O-N-E, including two for his sports columns in 2014-15.

A 2008 graduate of the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, Dalton started his print journalism career with The Coalfield Progress in Norton, Va.

During his decade-plus involvement in journalism, Dalton also had stints at various news publications, including The Roanoke Times in Roanoke, Va., The News Messenger in Christiansburg, Va., The News Journal in Radford, Va. and The Southwest Times in Pulaski, Va.

A published author, Dalton also penned the book “Sideline Warriors: The Greatest Sports Coaches And Managers of All-Time” during his time in college.

The son of Thomas and Darlene Dalton and a native of Pulaski, Va., Dalton currently resides in Newton, N.C. with his cat Ozzie.