East-Comm 2021 Award Winners Announced

April 13, 2021

in Awards,

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It is with a great deal of pleasure that the Eastern Athletic Communications Association (East-Comm) executive board announces the 2021 East-Comm Award winners. This group of exceptional professionals will be celebrated with an awards ceremony during the 2021 East-Comm Virtual Workshop June 22-23.

“When you look at the list of award winners that this organization honored under its former name, ECAC-SIDA, you will find many of the giants of our profession and some of the most significant contributors to the growth of collegiate athletic communications,” said East-Comm past president and awards chair Jon Holtz. “We believe this 2021 class of award winners is an excellent group to represent the first set of honorees under our newly rebranded organization, East-Comm. This group showcases the best-of-the-best in our profession and includes representatives from all three NCAA Divisions that have made a significant impact not only on their current institutions and organizations, but also on the field of athletic communications and the success of our organization.”

Below please find a brief look at our 2021 award winners. A more in-depth profile of each award winner will be posted in the buildup to the 2021 Virtual Workshop in June. More details surrounding the schedule for the Workshop and the awards ceremony will be shared in the coming weeks.

2021 Bill Esposito Memorial Award Winner – Connor Martin (Mary Washington)

The Bill Esposito Memorial Award is presented each year to a graduating senior that worked in athletic communications and plans to pursue a career in athletics.

This year's Esposito Award goes to Connor Martin, who graduated from the University of Mary Washington in December 2020 after serving as a student-worker at both Mary Washington and Assumption University from 2018-20.

Martin worked as a student assistant in sports information and as a student assistant volleyball coach during his undergraduate career at Mary Washington, where he was responsible for a myriad of tasks in the office, including announcing, keeping statistics and helping with game management tasks. During the summer breaks, Martin worked in the athletic communications office at Assumption, assisting with record books, student-athlete and coaching bios, preparing for the fall seasons and using his graphic design skills to build graphics for the upcoming seasons.

His role at Assumption expanded in 2019 and saw him handling a majority of the daily athletic communications responsibilities while the office underwent a change in leadership. His efforts helped set the office up for a smooth transition into the fall semester in 2019.

Since graduating from Mary Washington in December, Martin has been back at Assumption assisting with events this spring. He is planning to attend Smith College in the fall to work on his master's degree in exercise and sports studies, where he will also work as a graduate assistant volleyball coach and help with sports information tasks.

2021 Monahan and Wallace Media Award Winners – D2EastHoops.org (Chris Granozio and Steve Zerdelian)

The Monahan and Wallace Media Award is bestowed upon an individual or organization in either print or electronic media "for outstanding coverage of eastern intercollegiate athletics."

This year's award winners are the two men behind the D2EastHoops.org website, Chris Granozio and Steve Zerdelian.

The pair are the editors and chief content producers of the website and are both heavily involved with broadcasting and overall coverage of men's and women's basketball games in the East Region. Granozio handles the men's basketball coverage, while Zerdelian is the primary women's basketball contact. They provide daily comprehensive coverage surrounding Division II basketball in the East Region during the winter months.

Steve Zerdelian Granozio has been known to make it a point to attend at least one game in every home gym in the region each season, a task he manages to accomplish while also serving as a broadcaster at his Alma Mater, Le Moyne College.

Zerdelian has covered every NCAA Division II basketball regional for both genders since the mid 1980s, working at times as a writer and a broadcaster. He has covered the Northeast 10 Conference extensively since 1999 and was the 2007 recipient of the conference's Dick Lipe Media Award.

The work Granozio and Zerdelian pour into D2EastHoops.org is a side project for both men, born out of their passion for small college basketball. Granozio has been broadcasting Le Moyne basketball games since 1992. He also works in the production and entertainment department of the New York Yankees and has worked as an event producer for the New York Mets, the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament, Madison Square Garden and Westwood One. Zerdelian has worked for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts legislature for 30 years and has also worked as a youth baseball coach since 1993.

2021 Bob Kenworthy Award Winner – Greg Pellegrino (Holy Family University)

Named in honor of long-time Gettysburg College sports information director Bob Kenworthy, this award is presented to an exceptional person who through their actions shows the same respect for the profession, SID's, the media and community as Bob Kenworthy did during his long and successful career.

This year's award winner is Holy Family University director of sports information Greg Pellegrino.

An active participant and volunteer with the East-Comm organization, Pellegrino has been a staple at the annual Workshop throughout his career. His involvement with the organization grew to another level in 2020 when The BennettStrong Foundation started by he and his wife, Mary, was chosen as the charity recipient for the funds raised at the 2020 Shak Charity Raffle that was hosted virtually.

The BennettStrong Foundation was created by the Pellegrino family to help support families raising medically complex children. The organization is named in honor of Pellegrino's son, Bennett.

For his charitable efforts and philanthropic work, he and his wife were both recognized in 2019 by Mansfield University with the Alumni Citation Award.

The 2004 Mansfield graduate began his collegiate sports information career at the Northeast 10 Conference before accepting his current position as the director of sports information at Holy Family in 2010. He is the primary contact for all 14 of Holy Family's NCAA Division II sports.

2021 Irving T. Marsh Award Winner – John Hartrick (Binghamton University)

The Irving T. Marsh Service Bureau Award is presented annually to one or two athletic communications professionals who, in the opinion of the membership and the Executive Board, has exhibited excellence in the field of athletic communications.

The first of our two winners this year is Binghamton University associate director of athletics for communications, John Hartrick.

Hartick is in his 30th overall year working in the communications office at Binghamton, where he is the longest-tenured member of the entire athletics department. A former college soccer player at SUNY Cortland, Hartrick joined the staff at Binghamton in 1991 and has been instrumental in the growth of the athletics department from the Division III level to its current position as a Division I institution.

He was elevated to the associate athletic director position in 2007 and has served as a senior member of the athletic administration since then.

Hatrick has made a significant impact not only on the campus at Binghamton, but also with a number of young professionals in the surrounding areas thanks to a robust student-intern program he developed that provides training for undergraduate and graduate students from Binghamton and several other colleges in Upstate New York.

His efforts in regards to video production have given Binghamton a robust digital presence on the ESPN family of networks, where more than 100 BU events can be seen annually.

Hartrick has been honored numerous times by CoSIDA for publications and writing excellence and was recognized with the CoSIDA 25-Year Award in 2017.

2021 Irving T. Marsh Award Winner – Scott Guise (York College)

The second of our Marsh Award winners this year is York College director of athletic communications Scott Guise.

A former board member (2013-16) of the East-Comm organization and the 2016 Workshop host in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Guise has been intimately involved in the success of the East-Comm organization throughout his more than 25 years in the profession.

Now in his 26th year at the helm of the athletic communications office at York College, Guise oversees the communications efforts for 23 teams at the Division III level.

A 1995 graduate of Bowling Green, Guise wasted little time in jumping into the professional world when he began his tenure at York in 1995. He is currently the second-longest tenured member of the athletic department.

Guise has spearheaded the successful nomination of 15 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans during his tenure, while also significantly enhancing the athletic department website and creating broadcasting and social media outlets as the profession has seen its responsibilities boom over the last two decades.

In addition to his primary responsibilities at York, Guise has also been instrumental as an educator and mentor, training hundreds of student-workers, sport management practicum students and interns.

Guise earned the CoSIDA 25-Year Award in 2020.

2021 Pete Nevins Award for Distinguished Achievement Winner – Pete Moore (Syracuse)

The Pete Nevins Award is a prestigious honor that is not voted on by the executive board each year, but rather is voted on by the former winners of the Nevins Award. It is awarded only in years that the former winners deem a worthy candidate has been nominated.

This year's winner certainly embodies that moniker, as Syracuse University director of athletic communications Pete Moore will be honored with the award.

Moore, who was vital in the growth and success of the East-Comm organization when it was known as ECAC-SIDA, served as the organization's president in 1997-98 during his final year of a 12-year stint as the sports information director at Ithaca College. In total, Moore spent six years on the East-Comm executive board. He was honored with the Irving T. Marsh Award in 2001.

The 1981 Ashland College graduate was hired as an assistant director of sports information at Syracuse in 1998 and was elevated to the role of director in 2007. His primary responsibilities at Syracuse involve covering the renowned men's basketball program and working with legendary head coach Jim Boeheim.

A former president of CoSIDA and an 11-year CoSIDA board member, Moore was inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame in 1998 and earned the association's prestigious Warren Berg Award in 1999. He was also inducted into the Ithaca College Sports Hall of Fame in 1995 for his contributions as the Bombers' sports information director from 1986-98.

In addition to honoring the 2021 group of award winners this June, East-Comm will also have a virtual awards ceremony to recognize its 2020 award winners Wednesday evening, June 2. Stay tuned over the coming weeks for more information regarding the 2021 Virtual Workshop and more in-depth profiles of each of our 2021 award winners.

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