Sports

Central feature named national story of the year

Story Links Central’s DeRocher: Just as good, if not better From homeless to heavyweight: Miranda finds a family at Central PELLA— A Central College feature on baseball slugger Colton DeRocher was cited as the College Division National Story of the […]

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PELLA— A Central College feature on baseball slugger Colton DeRocher was cited as the College Division National Story of the Year by College Sports Communicators in its Fred Stabley Sr. Writing Contest.
           
The story was authored by athletics senior editor Larry Happel. It’s his second CSC National Story of the Year Award winner. His profile of Central wrestler Jaime Miranda, “From Homeless to Heavyweight,” was cited in 2017.
           

Larry Happel
Larry Happel

This year’s winner, “Central’s DeRocher: Just as Good, if Not Better,” featured the Dutch outfielder who was born with a congenital defect on his left hand, yet broke Central’s career home runs mark. Happel earlier received the 2024 Fall NCAA Division III and Division III Sports Information Directors of America (D3SIDA) Recognition Award for the DeRocher story.
           
The story was also the CSC contest winner in the Athlete Profile category. Nearly 500 entries were submitted in seven categories in the contest. Each category was first judged on the district level, with the winners then advancing to national consideration. All national category winners were considered for National Story of the Year.
           
Five of Happel’s entries received CSC College Division District 7 awards this year. The College Division includes NCAA Division II and III institutions as well as NAIA schools and two-year colleges. Jerry Price of Princeton University won the top University Division award with “Of Love, Sorrow and Cancer,” a feature about three Princeton women’s soccer players dealing with cancer.
           
The awards will be presented at the CSC Convention June 8-11 in Orlando, Florida, where Happel will receive the organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award                                             
           
Happel spent 45 years as Central’s athletics communications director and continues to serve in a a part-time role. He has received 24 CSC writing awards overall as well as two from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. He’s also received more than 35 CSC publication awards and was inducted into the CSC Hall of Fame in 2010 after receiving the CSC Warren Berg Award in 2006. He’s a former CSC board member and past D3SIDA president.
 



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