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Contact – Tim Stried, Director of Communications, [email protected]

 

 

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The officers of the Ohio Prep Sportswriters Association (OPSWA) have announced the 2019 OPSWA Hall of Fame induction class, which includes Southwest Ohio native Bill Begley and Northwest Ohio’s Pat Magers, who still writes for the Tiffin Advertiser-Tribune.

 

They will join 65 sports writing greats previously enshrined in the OPSWA Hall of Fame during ceremonies on Saturday, March 23 at the OHSAA boys basketball state tournament at the Schottenstein Center.

 

Biographical information for Begley and Magers is below. The OPSWA inducted its first Hall of Fame class in 1983. The complete list is posted at: https://www.ohsaa.org/news/OPSWA/HOF

 

The OPSWA was created in 1972 to support, promote and recognize the coverage of high school sports across Ohio. More information is available at: https://www.ohsaa.org/news/OPSWA

 

Judging for the annual writing and photography contest will take place in March and includes entries that were published from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2018. The postmark deadline for entry is Feb. 15, 2019. There are four divisions based on circulation size, with categories including investigative/enterprise, news story, feature story, column, game story, action photograph and portrait photography. The entry form, which includes divisional breakdowns, is posted at: https://www.ohsaa.org/news/OPSWA/contests

 

The annual OPSWA statewide meeting will be held Thursday, April 25 at the OHSAA office (4080 Roselea Place). The results of the annual writing and photography contest will be announced, officers will make announcements, new officers will be elected and future initiatives of the OPSWA will be discussed. A complimentary lunch will be served. Please RSVP to Tim Stried. There is no cost to attend the meeting for OPSWA members.

 

Bill Begley began his sports writing career at the Dayton Daily News in 1984. He then served as sports editor at the Beavercreek Daily News, the Xenia Gazette, the Troy Daily News and the Lima News. He moved to Texas in 2006 and became the assistant managing editor at the Kerrville Daily Times and then the managing editor of the Killeen Daily Herald. In 2009 Begley left the newspaper business to become the News and Media Coordinator for the City of Fort Worth, Texas. In 2014, he became the Public Information Officer for the Houston Airport System, where he serves as the media spokesman for George Bush Intercontinental Airport, the William P. Hobby Airport and the Ellington Airport/Houston Spaceport.

 

Begley is a 1979 graduate of Dayton Stebbins High School and was named an Outstanding Alumnus in 2017. He lettered in three sports in high school and went on to graduate from Eastern Kentucky University in 1983. In addition to high school sports, he has covered Major League Baseball, the NFL, NBA, college football, college basketball, professional golf and auto racing. He accumulated 58 awards from the OPSWA, the Associated Press and United Press International.

 

Pat Magers is in his 50th year of covering high school sports in Northwest Ohio. He started at the Fostoria Review-Times in in the fall of 1969 and continued there for 23 years, including 12 as sports editor. Magers then worked six years as sports editor at the Tiffin Advertiser-Tribune. He made a career change in 1998 but stayed on staff at the Advertiser-Tribune as a part-time sports writer. During his 50 years in sports writing, Magers has won many writing awards from the Associated Press and the Ohio Prep Sportswriters Association, including first place articles for game story, news story, feature story, column and headline writing. He was an OPSWA Writer of the Year in 1991.

 

A native of Fostoria, Magers is a graduate of St. Wendelin High School. He attended The Ohio State University and then graduated from Bowling Green State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism. Magers was member of the Tiffin Columbian Athletic Hall of Fame selection committee and the Associated Press Northwest District Board, while also serving as a statewide poll voter for football and basketball for 18 years. He has covered state tournaments in 13 boys and girls sports, including every boys state basketball tournament since 1992.

 

Magers and his wife, Teresa, a retired postmaster, reside in Fostoria.

                 

 

 

 

Office: 614-267-2502, ext. 124

Fax: 614-267-1677

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