No limit to love of sports

Published 6:50 am Tuesday, June 9, 2015

People in Salisbury-Rowan are avid —sometimes rabid — sports fans, just like folks in a lot of other places. But there’s a difference. Here, sports fans revere not only the athletes who play, but also the writers and broadcasters who cover them.

How else can you explain the fact that the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association has its Hall of Fame and annual convention here in Salisbury? And each year Salisbury rolls out the red carpet for them.

Members and winners were in town over the weekend for a full schedule of activities, a tradition that started back in the 1950s. Local restaurant owner Pete DiMizio came up with the idea of honoring the journalists who helped make athletes famous but often received little attention themselves. He died before his dream was realized, but Dr. Ed McKenzie followed through with the idea. Countless community supporters and organizers have kept it going ever since.

It’s a weekend of wining, dining, playing golf and swapping stories for the NSSA honorees. This year’s activities included a new event open to the public, a Sunday afternoon sports festival at Waterworks Visual Arts Center. It included a Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibit, a sports photography exhibition, book signings and artifact displays.

The 56th Annual NSSA Awards Ceremony was held Monday night at Catawba College, which has formed a new relationship with the association. In the works is a building to house both Catawba’s new sports communications program and headquarters for NSSA that would include a Hall of Fame museum.

Big names get attention. NSSA has honored some of the best, with names like Dizzy Dean, Red Smith, Howard Cosell, Harry Caray and Dick Enberg hanging on the walls of its Hall of Fame. By also naming a winning sportscaster and sportswriter for each state, NSSA recognizes the less famous practitioners of the craft — men and women who give as much importance to high school football as the NFL.

Sports journalists may not be revered on their home turf. Fans get angry when a story or broadcast doesn’t give their team the glory they think it deserves. But sportswriters and sportscasters keep at it anyway, translating their love of sports into a devotion to getting the story right, whether it’s the score of a high school golf match or a Jordan Spieth quote at the end of the Masters.

So thanks for coming to Salisbury, NSSA honorees. And thanks for the energy, accuracy and heart you put into your work.