DALLAS (NCBWA) – Malcolm Gray,
a regular staff member at the NCAA Baseball World Series, longtime
NCBWA officer/board member and president of NCBWA in 2016-17, has
been chosen as the 46th 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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Gray |
Vital to the organization as co-editor of the annual NCBWA directory
with Liberty's Ryan Bomberger, compiler of all-star teams and NCBWA
Top 30 poll voter, Gray is a 1996 graduate of East Carolina and
has worked as baseball publicist for the Pirates, secondary football
media contact and ECU golf contact for 21 years.
He works daily with Pirates head baseball coach Cliff Godwin,
ECU players and assistant coaches while serving as the primary day-to-day
liaison with the media. He coordinates interviews, oversees production
of baseball publications, is press box supervisor, and assists with
various other baseball publicity items, game-day operations, and
numerous other aspects of the baseball program in the media relations'
realm.
His media services operation at Clark-LeClair Stadium has been
recognized and lauded by national publications and regional sports
information outlets. The Greenville, N.C., native also worked as
a summer press officer with USA Baseball, which included stints
with the 2010 Collegiate National Team that finished with a 16-3
overall record and a second place finish at the V FISU World University
Championships in Tokyo, Japan.
In 2011, he ran the press services at the USA Baseball National
Training Complex in Cary, N.C., for the Tournament of Stars and
18U National Team Trials, which captured gold at the COPABE 18U/
AAA Pan American Championships in Cartagena, Colombia. During two
summers, Gray worked with Major League Baseball's Advanced Media
and the United States Olympic Committee while serving as the primary
day-to-day liaison with the media.
Gray had many memories of days on the diamond and in the press
boxes after learning of this honor.
"I'm very humbled and honored to be selected for such a prestigious
award as the Wilbur Snypp," Gray stated. "As the national pastime,
baseball has given me more than I could every repay. Being a Greenville
native, I grew up watching East Carolina baseball essentially in
my own back yard and I never thought I would have the opportunity
to work at my alma mater and interact with so many amazing coaches,
student-athletes, colleagues and media in the communications field.
It has been a privilege to work with the National Collegiate Baseball
Writers Association in promoting such a great game and I thank them
for allowing me to serve this great organization."
"Honestly, it is hard to describe the many ways that Malcolm
Gray has been an advocate and true friend to college baseball for
three decades," said NCBWA executive director Bo Carter. "He is
very deserving of this top honor from the NCBWA, and he has worked
with hundreds of baseball coaches, student-athletes, media members,
and sports communications professionals with true class and a willingness
to assist in any way possible. Congratulations to Malcolm for this
well-deserved award."
Gray is the latest to join the ranks of Wilbur Snypp Award winners,
national journalists and college administrators as the 2019 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
2019 Jim Ellis, Mississippi State
2020 Malcolm Gray, East Carolina |
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