Reed, a member of the CoSIDA Board of Directors and a regular ESPN.com volleyball columnist, was honored for his dedication to the sport. Among the four finalists for the Grant Burger Media Award was Concordia University (St. Paul, Minn.) SID Melissa Wolf. CoSIDA Board member and Elizabeth City State University SID April Emory was a regional winner.
photo: Dave Reed (center) pictured with Colorado College director of communications, Jane Turnis, and Colorado College President Richard F. Celeste.
online: see
full AVCA Grant Burger Media Award release with all the regional media relations winners who cover men's and women's volleyball at all NCAA and NAIA levels.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The
American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) is proud to announce that
Dave Reed, Colorado College Associate Director of Athletic Media Relations, has been selected as recipient of the 2009-2010 AVCA Grant Burger Media Award. In addition to his Colorado College duties, Reed also writes a regular national NCAA Division I volleyball column for ESPN.com.
There were four finalists for the national media award, including
Melissa Wolf, sports information director at Concordia (Minn.). Among the regional winners was CoSIDA Board member
April Emory of Elizabeth City State University who earned top honors in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Division for women's volleyball.
The AVCA Grant Burger Media Award is an honor intended to recognize members of the media who have been involved in the advancement of the sport of volleyball, whether it be through consistent coverage in all mediums (sports information, print, broadcasting and web content), production of volleyball-specific publications or extensive radio and/or television exposure.
The AVCA expanded the media award’s scope in 2004-05 by having a finalist in four different categories: broadcast, print, web and sports information/athletic communications. Further, the finalist for the sports information/athletic communications category came from region winners from each of the NCAA divisions, as well as the NAIA.
AVCA Grant Burger Media Award Finalists
Category/Finalist/Affiliation
Sports Information: Melissa Wolf Concordia University, St. Paul
Broadcast: Herm Elenbaas KURL/KMZK Radio – Billings, Montana
Print: Vinne Lopes The Ball State Daily News
Web: Phil Brozynski Chicago Sun-Times/Prepvolleyball.com
Dave Reed
Reed, an 11-year member of the Colorado College athletic staff, is the primary contact for all 15 of the Tigers’ NCAA Division III programs, including volleyball. He also is the primary overseer of the athletic department Web site (
www.cctigers.com). In addition to his sports information duties at Colorado College, Reed writes a regular national NCAA Divison I volleyball column for ESPN.com. His weekly columns showcase not only the elite programs in the country, such as his entries in 2009 featuring programs by the likes of Penn State and Texas, but also shine a light on smaller programs such as Tulane and UC Irvine. In addition to his volleyball column,
Reed reports for ESPN’s SportsTicker, covering the Colorado Avalanche.
"In our quest to make volleyball a mainstream sport, voices like Dave's are critically important," said AVCA Executive Director Kathy DeBoer. "His writing makes our sport interesting and accessable to the general sports fan who may not yet have discovered our passion."
“Dave’s contributions to Colorado College athletics have been invaluable for more than a decade,” said Dave Moross, Colorado College director of athletic media relations. “His work with volleyball, the sport that he probably loves the most, is exemplary year after year as he goes far beyond the call of duty. He’s a great choice for the Grant Burger Award, and I’m very proud and happy on his behalf.”
Reed also has been the public address announcer Tiger Volleyball for the last 10 years and was behind the microphone when the U.S. Women’s National Team played host to top-ranked Brazil in a three-match series that proved to be a preview of the Gold Medal showdown at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.
“This is a great and well deserved honor for Dave,” said Rick Swan, head volleyball coach at CC. “He has given countless hours behind the scenes to help make our volleyball program as professional as it can be. From sending out press releases, running our stats program, helping with our tournaments and even being our announcer, Dave has done it all. He has been a great asset to our program and we are very proud that the AVCA has honored him with the Grant Burger Media Award."
Before his days at Colorado College, Reed served in athletic media relations at the University of Dayton (1989–91), The Ohio State University (1992–93) and the University of Notre Dame (1993–96). He has held the role as media coordinator for several Big East, Midwestern Collegiate Conference and NCAA Division I championships.
Reed left Notre Dame in 1996 to join the staff at USA TODAY.com, where he served as a content editor/stringer manager for three years. He was part of an 11-member team that specialized in the coverage of collegiate athletics, with an emphasis on basketball, football, ice hockey and volleyball.
Reed graduated in 1991 from University of Dayton with a degree in communications. He is a native of Piqua, Ohio. He and his wife, Gerri Anne, were married in May 2005 and are the parents of a son,
Jackson.
Melissa Wolf
Melissa Wolf came aboard the Concordia University, St. Paul sports information staff in July of 2008 and is the primary contact for the majority of CSP’s women's sports programs, including volleyball, soccer, women's basketball and softball.
Throughout her years of work at NCAA Division II institutions, including Concordia-St. Paul, Wolf has worked numerous conference and NCAA tournaments. She has been the media representative for three NCAA quarterfinal teams and hosted the media and provided coverage for both the 2008 and 2009 NCAA Division II Women’s Volleyball Championships. Not only has Wolf’s daily responsibilities gained the team local university-wide recognition, her work with the three-time defending national champion Golden Bears volleyball has earned the team a presence in a major national media market - Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Wolf completed a bachelor’s degree from St. Cloud State in 2003, where she was a student-athlete for the Huskies’ volleyball team from 2000-02. She completed her master's courses in sports management in 2006. Wolf has coached Junior Olympic volleyball for nearly 10 years.