DALLAS (NCBWA) – Kyle Peterson,
one of the most recognizable personalities among college baseball
media through his work with ESPN, has been named as the 44th recipient
of the prestigious Wilbur Snypp Award, presented
annually by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association
for outstanding contributions to college baseball.
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Peterson |
"Kyle Peterson epitomizes all the great things about college
baseball," said NCBWA executive director Bo Carter. "He has been
a scholar student-athlete at Stanford and Creighton Prep, standout
collegiate pitcher on the field, Major League player and a wonderful
proponent of college baseball and the game on every level. His accomplishments
make him very deserving of this national honor from NCBWA."
Peterson, the leading figure in the re-launch of popular collegiate
website D1Baseball.com in 2015, has been active in college diamond
circles throughout the country since signing with Stanford as a
top-flight pitching prospect in 1995 out of Omaha (Neb.) Creighton
Prep.
He later was a first round draft selection of the Milwaukee Brewers
and was Pacific-10 Conference Pitcher of the Year in 1997. The right-hander
made his Major League debut in 1999 with the Brewers. Arm challenges
forced the Elkhorn, Nebraska, native and former Omaha high school
standout out of baseball in 2003.
That might have been a fateful career move for the personable
Peterson as he joined the ESPN broadcast team in '03 and became
a face personifying college baseball telecasts. His award-winning
work has included the NCAA World Series, hundreds of regular-season
MLB and college games, the MLB Playoffs (youngest analyst for these
in ESPN history), and one of his favorite assignments – the annual
Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
Also along that path he has served on the Nebraska Make a Wish
Foundation, the CWS of Omaha Organizing Committee and the Omaha
Sports Commission. He has played an active role in the College Baseball
Hall of Fame, as well as the NCAA World Series Hall of Fame.
"College baseball means the world to me," he said, "and I am
honored to receive the Wilbur Snypp Award. The game of college baseball
has given me so much over the course of my life. It's exciting to
see its continued growth, and I look forward to witnessing that
growth moving forward."
One of the most astute business people in the Midwest along with
his baseball roles, he joined Colliers International in 2005 in
the advisory services group and became President/CEO of the Nebraska
office in 2013. He been involved in $500 million-plus of investment
sales and leasing transactions with special emphasis on sales and
leasing of commercial office and investment properties.
Peterson reflected on his decades of baseball experience and
coverage this week after being informed that he was the 2018 Snypp
Award recipient.
The 2006 Colliers International Rookie of the Year also received
the 2009 Colliers Broker of the Year and was named to the 2009 Midlands
Business Journal's 40 under 40 group.
Peterson is the latest to join the ranks of Wilbur Snypp Award
winners, national journalists and college administrators as the
2018 winner. The honor memorializes longtime Ohio State sports information
director and NCBWA founder, the late Wilbur (Bill) Snypp. Snypp
was a noted contributor to the writers' organization, which was
initiated in 1962, as well as an officer in the group. The Wilbur
Snypp Award yearly honors a professional for contributions to the
sport of college baseball. Voting is conducted by a panel of previous
winners, who include past NCAA College World Series directors, College
Sports Information Directors of America Hall of Fame members, decorated
media members, and others.
ALL-TIME WILBUR SNYPP AWARD
WINNERS |
1975 Wilbur
Snypp, Ohio State 1976 Bill Esposito, St. John's 1977 Phil Langan,
Cornell 1978 John Geis, Southern Conference 1979 Hank Schomber, Georgia
Southern 1980 Bob Culp, Western Michigan 1981 Lou Pavlovich Sr., Collegiate
Baseball 1982 Tom Price, South Carolina 1983 Bob Bradley, Clemson
1984 Robert Williams, Omaha World-Herald 1985 Jerry Miles, NCAA 1986
Larry Keefe, Seton Hall 1987 Tom Rowen, San Jose Mercury-News 1988
Fred Gerardi, KESY Radio, Omaha 1989 Jim Wright, NCAA 1990 Steve Weller,
SIU-Edwardsville 1991 Bill Little, Texas 1992 Kirk Bohls, Austin American-Statesman
1993 Bo Carter, Southwest Conference 1994 Lou Pavlovich Jr., Collegiate
Baseball 1995 Steve Pivovar, Omaha World-Herald 1996 Gary Johnson,
NCAA |
1997 Dave Wohlhueter,
Cornell 1998 Allen Simpson, Baseball America 1999 Alan Cannon, Texas
A&M 2000 Jim Callis, Baseball America
2001 Dick Case, USA Baseball
2002 Russ Anderson, Conference USA
2003 John Manuel, Baseball America
2004 Dana Heiss Grodin, USA Today
Sports Weekly 2005 Dennis
Poppe, NCAA 2006 Mike Montoro,
Southern Miss 2007 Barry
Allen, Alabama 2008 Mike
Patrick, ESPN 2009 Al Chase,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin 2010
Lou Spry, NCAA 2011 Jeremy
Mills, ESPN/D1Baseball.com
2012 Eric Olson, Omaha World Herald
2013 J.D. Hamilton, NCAA
2014 John Sullivan, Rice
2015 David Feaster, Dick Howser
Trophy 2016 Ralph Zobell,
BYU 2017 Aaron Fitt, D1Baseball.com
2018 Kyle Peterson, ESPN |
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