SALISBURY, NC-- Dave Pasch, Bill Roth and Steve Hyder have been named "Sportcasters of the Year" in their respective current home states, by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. All three men have previously worked as sportscasters in Syracuse.
Although the list of winners was released in January, it was just this week brought to our attention by a CNYRadio.com / CNYTVNews.com reader.
Pasch is the Arizona Sportscaster of the Year, working primarily as radio play-by-play host for the NFL's Arizona Cardinals since 2002. Outside of that schedule, Pasch works for ESPN, calling college football, college basketball (men's and women's) and NBA games.
Pasch worked at Syracuse University's WAER during all four years he attended the University, until graduating in 1994. He then worked in Chicago and Detroit before returning to Syracuse to become the radio voice of Syracuse University football and basketball from 1999 until he left for Arizona.
Just days after NSSA announced Roth's 10th win as Virginia Sportscaster of the Year, the Association shared the news that Roth is being inducted to the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. Roth was recognized by the Virginia State Legislature last month, and will be officially enshrined at the Hall of Fame's induction ceremony in April.
Roth worked at WAER during his time at Syracuse University's Newhouse School, and won the prestigious Robert Costas Scholarship in 1986. He graduated in 1987, joined Virginia Tech as the "Voice of the Hokies" the very next year, and has been there ever since -- calling football, basketball and baseball games. Roth has also been selected to call several NCAA men's basketball tournament games, along with major college football bowl games including the Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl and the Gator Bowl.
Looks like it might be a bittersweet win for Hyder, who resigned in December after nine years as radio voice of Triple A baseball's Pawtucket Red Sox. In a December article on boston.com, Hyder says calling baseball "kind of lost its luster," going on to explain that he was sick of "playing second-fiddle" in the broadcast booth to a string of announcers over the years.
Prior to joining the PawSox, Hyder was the radio voice of the Syracuse Chiefs baseball club.
Hyder, Roth and Pasch will be honored -- along with sportscasters and sportswriters from every state in the nation -- at the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Awards Weekend in June, in Salisbury, North Carolina.