The Official Website of Catawba Valley Athletics

Cody Dalton enters his sixth year at Catawba Valley Community College in 2023-24 where he serves as the school's Sports Information Director, Coordinator of the Tarlton Complex and Esports head coach.

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.

During his tenure as SID, twenty-three 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 CoSIDA when baseball player Chandler Blackwelder was awarded. In August 2021, 2YSIDA honored Dalton as its Sports Information Department of the Month.

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.

In July 2019, Dalton was tabbed to lead the new Red Hawk Esports program. Since that time, more than 50 student athletes have been involved in the program. In the spring of 2021, three Red Hawks made the NJCAA All-Academic team (3.5 GPA or higher) — the most of any college in the nation and five were nominated for awards through the PlayVS competition platform.

Under Dalton’s leadership, the Red Hawks had their most successful Esports season to date in the fall of 2021 with the program’s first-ever NJCAAE playoff qualifiers in Devante Moore and Ethan Palmberg. Five Red Hawks were also named NJCAAE All-Academic.

Through the 2022 spring season, the Red Hawks Esports program has 14 NJCAAE All-Academic selections and 13 NJCAAE playoff qualifiers. The program also won an NJCAAE Brand video contest in the summer of 2022 and was featured on two regional television networks.

The Red Hawk Esports program continued its momentum under Dalton during the fall 2022 season, finishing in the top eight in three game titles nationally, including a national runner-up finish by the program's VALORANT team, and winning 11 playoff games. Five more members of the program also made NJCAAE All-Academic, bringing the total number to 19 students.

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 on the Catawba County Sports Hall of Fame committee.

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 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.