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Mike Keith |
Joining Gammons and Madden will be National Sportscaster of the Year Jim Nantz of CBS Sports and National Sportswriter of the Year Bob Ryan of The Boston Globe. Nantz and Ryan are winners for the third straight year. They will also be honored at the NSSA Awards Banquet, along with 106 winners of State Sportscaster and Sportswriter of the Year Awards.
In Tennessee, Mike Keith, the voice of the Tennessee Titans, is the Sportscaster of the Year and Brent Hubbs, of VolQuest.com, is the Sportswriter of the Year. This is Keith's eighth Sportscaster of the Year Award. It is Hubbs' second Sportswriter of the Year Award.
Like Ryan, Gammons cut his teeth at The Boston Globe. In fact, the two started work as interns at The Globe on the same day in 1968. Gammons went on to revolutionize the way baseball was covered. His Sunday Notes column often filled an entire page. After leaving The Globe, Gammons went on to a successful career at Sports Illustrated. He won three NSSA National Sportswriter of the Year Awards between 1989 and 1993. Since then, Gammons has become well-known as a baseball expert on television. He just ended a long stint at ESPN and can now be seen on the MLB Network (he also writes for mlb.com) and New England Sports Network (NESN).
Madden won a Super Bowl as the Oakland Raiders' head coach, then embarked on a long television career that saw him become the preeminent pro football analyst of the last 30 years. Known for his colorful personality as a commentator, Madden worked for CBS, Fox, ABC and ESPN. He was the NSSA National Sportscaster of the Year in 1984. Madden parlayed his fame as an announcer into commercials and a best-selling video game. He retired in April 2009.
This is Nantz's fifth National Sportscaster of the Year Award (other wins in 1998, 2005, 2007 and 2008). Only Bob Costas (eight) and Chris Berman (six) have won more National Sportscaster of the Year Awards. CBS's lead play-by-play man for golf, college basketball and NFL football, Nantz started at CBS in 1985 after a short career in local TV sports.
Ryan has won three straight NSSA National Sportswriter of the Year Awards and four overall. He has spent his entire career at The Boston Globe, where he covered the Boston Celtics' beat for 15 years. He has been a general columnist for more than 20 years and has branched out into radio and television during that time, making frequent appearances on ESPN's The Sports Reporters.
A complete list of winners appears below.
2009 NSSA STATE AWARD WINNERS
STATE - SPORTSCASTER
AL - Chris Stewart, Tuscaloosa
AR - Phil Elson, North Little Rock
CA - Greg Papa, Oakland
CO - Drew Goodman, Denver
CT - Kevin Nathan, Hartford
DE - Scott Klatzkin, New Castle / John Sadak, Wilmington
FL - David Steele, Orlando
GA - Wes Durham, Atlanta
HI - Bobby Curran, Honolulu
ID - Dave Tester, Meridian
IL - Pat Hughes, Chicago
IN - Don Fischer, Indianapolis
IA - Larry Morgan, Des Moines
KS - Bob Davis, Lawrence
KY - Mary Jo Perino, Lexington
LA - Dave Nitz, Ruston
ME - Rich Kimball, Orono / Clem LaBree, Bangor
MD - Craig Heist, Baltimore
MA - Mike Lynch, Needham
MI - No Winner
MN - Dave Lee, Minneapolis / Mike Grimm, Minneapolis
MO - John Covington, Washington
MT - Rocky Erickson, Billings / Mick Holien, Polson
NE - Kevin Kugler, Omaha
NV - Russ Langer, Las Vegas
NH - Mike Murphy, Concord
NJ - Mike Gill, Atlantic City / Tom Williams, Ocean City
NM - Van Tate, Albuquerque
NY - Bruce Beck, New York City
NC - Woody Durham, Chapel Hill / Mick Mixon, Charlotte
ND - Rod Kleinjan, Dickinson
OH - Marty Brennaman, Cincinnati
OK - Bob Barry, Jr., Oklahoma City / Dean Blevins, Oklahoma City
OR - Joe Becker, Portland / Katy Brown, Portland
PA - Merrill Reese, Philadelphia
RI - Steve Hyder, Pawtucket / Steve McDonald, Providence
SC - Tony Ciuffo, Charleston / Mike Morgan, Columbia
SD - Al Decker, Deadwood
TN - Mike Keith, Nashville
TX - Eric Nadel, Arlington
UT - Dana Greene, Salt Lake City
VT - George Commo, Waterbury
VA - Lane Casadonte, Richmond
WA - Bill Krueger, Bellevue
WV - Steve Cotton, Huntington
WI - Matt LePay, Madison
WY - Reece Monaco, Cheyenne
NATIONAL SPORTSCASTER
Jim Nantz, CBS Sports
HALL OF FAME SPORTSCASTER
John Madden, ABC, Fox, CBS, NBC, ESPN
STATE - SPORTSWRITER
AL - Kevin Scarbinsky, Birmingham
AR - Bob Wisener, Hot Springs
CA - Bill Dwyre, Los Angeles
CO - Dave Krieger, Denver
CT - Jeff Jacobs, Hartford
DE - Kevin Tresolini, Wilmington
FL - Gary Shelton, St. Petersburg
GA - Furman Bisher, Atlanta
HI - T.V. Mott, Maui / Stephen Tsai, Honolulu
ID - Brian Murphy, Boise
IL - Dave Reynolds, Peoria / Rick Telander, Chicago
IN - Terry Hutchens, Indianapolis
IA - Rick Brown, Des Moines
KS - Kevin Haskin, Topeka
KY - Larry Vaught, Danville
LA - Randy Rosetta, Baton Rouge
ME - Peter Warner, Bangor
MD - Thom Loverro, Columbia
MA - Dan Shaughnessy, Boston
MI - Bob Wojnowski, Detroit
MN - Charley Walters, St. Paul
MO - Craig Vonder Haar, Washington
MT - Scott Mansch, Great Falls
NE - Lee Barfknecht, Omaha / Mike Babcock, Lincoln
NV - Ed Graney, Las Vegas
NH - Allen Lessels, Manchester
NJ - Brian Cunniff, Wildwood
NM - Felix Chaves, Las Cruces
NY - Phil Mushnick, New York City
NC - *Tom Berry, High Point
ND - Wayne Nelson, Grand Forks
OH - Hal McCoy, Dayton
OK - Dave Sittler, Tulsa
OR - Rachel Bachman, Portland
PA - Rich Hofman, Philadelphia
RI - Joe McDonald, Providence
SC - Ron Morris, Columbia
SD - Mick Garry, Sioux Falls
TN - Brent Hubbs, Knoxville
TX - Evan Grant, Dallas
UT - Dirk Facer, Salt Lake City
VT - Ted Ryan, Burlington
VA - David Teel, Newport News
WA - John Blanchette, Spokane
WV - Jack Bogaczyk, Charleston
WI - Gary D'Amato, Milwaukee
WY - Eric Schmoldt, Casper
NATIONAL SPORTSWRITERBob Ryan, The Boston Globe
HALL OF FAME SPORTSWRITER
Peter Gammons, Sports Illustrated, ESPN.com
About NSSA – The National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association was founded in 1959 in Salisbury, NC by a local group interested in honoring sportscasters and sportswriters for their crafts. More than 700 NSSA members from several sports media fields vote annually for State and National Sportscasters and Sportswriters of the Year. An annual banquet is held in Salisbury each spring to present the winners with their awards. In 1962, a Hall of Fame was added. Starting with Grantland Rice, more than 80 sports media legends have been inducted into the NSSA Hall of Fame.
NSSA Mission Statement -- The National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association & Hall of Fame is a non-profit organization, dedicated to honoring, preserving and celebrating the legacy of sportscasters and sportswriters in the United States – for their creativity in storytelling, their pursuit of truth and their conveyance of information – all of which helps American sports fans form lifelong connections to both participatory and spectator sports. NSSA also seeks to develop educational opportunities for those who are interested in pursuing a career in sports media, through networking, mentoring and scholarship programs.
For more information, go to www.nssafame.com, or call (704) 633-4275
