Ted Ryan of the Burlington Free Press has been named the recipient of the prestigious Joe Concannon Media Award.
He becomes the first Free Press writer to win the award.
The prestigious honor, named in 2001 in memory of longtime Boston Globe sportswriter Joe Concannon, is bestowed annually upon a member of the media who “has demonstrated a superior body of work in covering and promoting the Hockey East Association over an extended period of time,” according to a Hockey East press release
“Ted and I go back to Vermont’s ECAC days, so I have observed him up close for a while,” said Hockey East commissioner Joe Bertagna in a statement. “His work and personal traits make him a fitting addition to the prestigious list of past recipients of this award.”
Ryan has covered collegiate sports in the state of Vermont for over 45 years, beginning his career at the Rutland Herald before moving to the Free Press in 1975. He served as sports editor of the Free Press until 2008, but continues to cover sports and Vermont hockey for the paper as a correspondent.
The veteran reporter has been the primary beat writer for Vermont’s hockey team for over 40 years, covering the men’s program through its rise in the ECAC Division II in the 1960s and 1970s through the program’s first Division I season in 1974 and during its move into Hockey East in 2005. While covering the men’s program extensively, Ryan has also covered the women’s Catamounts program, while also serving multiple other schools throughout the state of Vermont.
For his efforts, Ryan has been recognized with numerous awards, including the Vermont Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association State Sportswriter of the Year four times in 1974, 1978, 1985 and 1998. Ryan removed himself from the ballot after 1998, so other writers could also be honored with the award. Ryan was also bestowed with the Norwich University Athletics Media Award in 2005 and was inducted into the Vermont Principal Association Hall of Fame in May 2006.
Throughout his career, Ryan also has served as a voter for several national awards and polls, including all divisions of college hockey, the Hobey Baker Award, the Heisman Trophy and the New England Hockey Writers awards.
