LEHIGH VALLEY SMALL COLLEGE BASKETBALL ORGANIZATION TO NAME PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARDS
AFTER PETE NEVINS

BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Lehigh Valley Small College Basketball Organization will honor longtime East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania Sports Information Director Peter Nevins, who passed away on January 6th after a brief battle with cancer, by naming its Player of the Year Awards after Nevins at the February 13, 2007 luncheon.

The Lehigh Valley College Basketball luncheons began in 1994-95 as an opportunity to get the head men’s and women’s basketball coaches and student-athletes from East Stroudsburg, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, DeSales University, Moravian College, Muhlenberg College, Lafayette College and Lehigh University more media attention during the season. Nevins was very involved in getting the organization going as well as getting the media to attend.

Beginning in 1999-2000, Lafayette and Lehigh wanted to begin their own luncheons so the organization with Nevins at the forefront invited to Cedar Crest College and Delaware Valley College to join the group. These seven schools have come together three times a year since to meet with the Lehigh Valley media outlets.

Each month there is a Team of the Month selected of one student-athlete per school. December’s Team of the Month is the school’s best player to date while the January Team of the Month is a Scholar-Athlete Team, which features the top academic student-athletes being interviewed on the stage at Starters Pub, host of the luncheons since 2000-01, instead of the coaches. The luncheon in February has the Team of the Year and during the luncheon, the coaches, sports information directors and media in attendance vote on a male and female Player of the Year Award.

Nevins, 68, retired in the summer of 2002 after 33 years as the sports information director at East Stroudsburg University and 38 years total in the sports information profession. That is not to say he forgot about the Lehigh Valley Small College Basketball luncheons. Nevins began writing a weekly column title College Corner for The Pocono Record and continued to attending the luncheons as a media member. He had planned on attending this year’s luncheons as well before his health turned in early December.

“We felt as a group that this was an outstanding way to honor one of the best in our profession, and someone who made these luncheons possible to begin with,” stated Mark Fleming, sports information director at Moravian College and coordinator of the Lehigh Valley Small College Basketball luncheons. “We had the opportunity to tell Pete’s family three days before he passed away of our intention to name the Player of the Year Awards after him. They were happy with the news and knew Pete would be too.”

The first Pete Nevins Lehigh Valley Small College Player of the Year Awards will be presented on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 at the organization’s final luncheon of the season at Starters Pub in Bethlehem at 11:30 a.m.