DALLAS (NCBWA) – Kevin Kugler,
whose voice has been synonymous with the NCAA Division I Baseball
World Series since 2004, is the 47th annual NCBWA Russell
D. Anderson/Wilbur Snypp Award recipient for national contributions
to college baseball.
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Kugler |
"Kevin Kugler has been identified with the College World
Series and college baseball for most of his broadcasting career,"
NCBWA executive director Bo Carter said, "And he has been a great
promoter of the game as well as providing exciting coverage of so
many games going back to his college days at Nebraska. Congratulations
to Kevin for this excellent honor, and it is a pleasure to have
his acquaintance. His baseball voice is familiar to thousands of
college baseball fans."
The award, first given in 1975 to National Collegiate Baseball
Writers Association founder Wilbur (Bill) Snypp of Ohio State, also
memorializes the cherished Russell D. Anderson – treasurer and associate
executive director for the NCBWA for three decades from 1996-2021
before passing away April 5, 2021. Anderson was awarded the top
honor given by the NCBWA in 2002 for his sterling efforts.
"I have been so fortunate to have worked college baseball
and the World Series with such people as John Bishop for many years,"
Kugler explained. "As a native Nebraskan kid growing up in
Lincoln, you go to as many World Series games as possible as a fan
and dream of doing the broadcasts some day.
"I also am deeply honored to receive this award from the
folks who cover college baseball on a daily basis and know the amount
of hard work and preparation that goes into every game. This is
truly memorable, and I am appreciative."
Kugler joins a number of distinguished national baseball broadcasters
such as Mike Patrick and Kyle Peterson of ESPN, the late Tom Price,
Bill Little, Fred Gerardi and Jim Ellis, among others.
The Nebraska native has been busy year round with NCAA football
and basketball telecasts as well as the Westwood One Radio Game
of the Week in the National Football League.
He began daily coverage in broadcasts and sports talk for the
NCAA World Series in 2000 and has been part of dozens of historic
contests since the series moved to Omaha, Neb., in 1950 – actually
before his birth. During his days with SportsTalk Radio 1620 in
Omaha, he was onsite virtually every day with live remote coverage
and guests from all walks of college baseball life.
Kugler also has been on the radio calls for the NCAA Men’s Basketball
Final Four® since 2008 and handles football and basketball telecasts
for FOX Sports and the Big Ten Network.
The eight-time winner of the Nebraska Sportscaster of the Year
traces his broadcast roots to being a student announcer for Nebraska
Huskers baseball games and features, and he was the television play-by-play
voice for the first NCAA Regional game ever played in Lincoln, Nebraska,
when the Huskers hosted Rice in 1999.
ALL-TIME RUSSELL D.
ANDERSON/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
2021 Kevin Kugler, Broadcaster |
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