OVC Media Award Winners  |
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – On Tuesday the Ohio Valley Conference announced that Mike Bradd, radio voice for Eastern Illinois for over 30 years, has been named the winner of the 2014-15 OVC Media Award given to a media member currently covering an OVC beat, while Mark Maloney, who covered Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State for the Lexington Herald-Leader until his recent retirement, was bestowed the OVC Media Lifetime Achievement Award given to a media member who formerly covered the OVC.
The awards were established in 2010 as a way to recognize the media members who provide publicity for the Conference, its member institutions and intercollegiate athletics, perform their jobs in a fair, consistent and accurate manner, provide all-around coverage for a variety of sports and demonstrate the ability to go above and beyond their normal beat or job description.
"The OVC has a lot of great stories to tell and we are fortunate to have an outstanding group of media covering our schools, which was evident in the great candidates we had for the awards again this year," said Kyle Schwartz, OVC Assistant Commissioner for Media Relations. "It is great to have an award that recognizes media members who have made significant contributions in covering the OVC and its member institutions."
Bradd has been a part of Eastern Illinois athletics for 32 years, serving as a color commentator for football and men's basketball for four years before taking over play-by-play duties for men's basketball which he has done for the past 28 years. This upcoming year will be his 17th year covering EIU football; during that time he has seen the Panthers make nine FCS playoff appearances including seeing quarterbacks Tony Romo and Jimmy Garoppolo win the Walter Payton Award as the top player in the nation in the subdivision.
In addition to his time as the Voice of EIU Athletics he also works on campus in the communications studies department teaching sports broadcasting. In that capacity he has provided students to help in the announcing and production of sports on the web for the OVC Digital Network and for internet radio broadcasts for EIU baseball and softball. Bradd has also created an on-campus sports production/broadcasting class that will now work with the OVC Digital Network as its primary focus as both a learning and professional development tool.
Bradd has been elected to the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame as a broadcaster.
Maloney covered the Ohio Valley Conference from 1977 until his retirement this past summer. Although retired from the newspaper business he will continue to tell stories of the OVC through a partnership with Morehead State to produce feature stories for MSUEagles.com during this upcoming school year.
For the past seven years Maloney's assignment was the "beat" for both Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State, which allowed him to cover a high number of games in-person and saw him produce unique and interesting content on student-athletes from each institution.
Maloney was honored by the Kentucky Press Association with first-place awards for "best sports feature" and "best sports story" in addition to winning numerous honorable mentions in those categories. He has also won a "women's sports media" accolade from the Women's Sports Foundation.
Maloney, a 1973 graduate of Akron, has also covered many Olympic sports throughout his career, having the opportunity to cover many Kentucky state high school championships in softball, baseball, swimming and diving, tennis and cross country/track and field.
