SANDY GHOLSTON HONORED AS AVCA MEDIA AWARD FINALIST

Big Rapids Pioneer Sports Reporter Earns Print Category Designation

Click Here For The Complete AVCA Release

The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) recently selected Sandy Gholston, a sports reporter and assistant sports editor for The Pioneer newspaper in Big Rapids, Mich., as a finalist for the 2004-05 AVCA Grant Burger Media Award.

The AVCA expanded the award’s scope this season by having a finalist in four different categories: broadcast, print, web and sports information. Gholston, who serves as a regular beat writer for the Ferris State University women's volleyball program, was chosen as the finalist in the print category after being nominated by the FSU Athletics Department.

Scott Robbs of KKEA Sports Radio, who covers the University of Hawaii men’s and women’s volleyball programs, won the broadcast category and was selected as the overall winner.

Gholston covers Bulldog volleyball year-round and regularly writes articles about recruits, alumni and various feature stories. His coverage has been instrumental in the school's ever-increasing home match attendance over recent years. Gholston has also been a fixture at various league and national tournament events involving the Ferris State volleyball team. This past season (2004), he provided on-site coverage during Ferris State's run in both the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) and NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional Tournaments. He has won several awards for his coverage of FSU, which included the 2003 GLIAC Media Service Award and the 2002 United States Tennis Association’s Fred Burns Journalism Award.

“Sandy has aided the Ferris State volleyball program with consistent media coverage throughout the year to the level expected for sports such as football and basketball,” AVCA Senior Director of Communications, Awards and Technology Bill Kauffman said. “His writing style brings the reader into the story and provides the casual volleyball fan details that they can understand, which brings about a higher retention rate for Ferris State volleyball attendance and general awareness.”

A native of Detroit, Mich., Gholston has covered Ferris State athletics for over nine years. He started covering Bulldog athletic events as an undergraduate student at FSU in 1996, working as a sports reporter for the campus' student newspaper, The Torch.

Gholston began his career in May 1997 with The Pioneer. Since that time, he has won several awards for his coverage of FSU Athletics including a first-place Associated Press Award for "Sustained Coverage of a Single Sports Event" in his reporting on the tragic death of a Ferris State Football student-athlete in the fall of 2002.

Gholston is also active in his community, serving as co-head coach of the Reed City (Mich.) eighth grade boys' basketball team along with officiating at Ferris State summer basketball camps.

The AVCA's mission is to advance the development of the sport of volleyball by providing all coaches with educational programs, a forum for opinion exchange and various recognition opportunities.

Here are the AVCA Grant Burger Media Award finalists and overall winner:

Broadcast - Scott Robbs
(KKEA Sports Radio-University of Hawaii men’s/women’s volleyball)

Print - Sandy Gholston
(Big Rapids (Mich.) Pioneer-Ferris State University women’s volleyball)

Web - CSTV.com
(College Sports Television - national coverage of men’s/women’s volleyball)

Sports Info - D.C. Koehl
(The Ohio State University-men’s/women’s sports information)

Winner - Scott Robbs
(KKEA Sports Radio-University of Hawaii men’s/women’s volleyball)