Monmouth University football play-by-play announcer and basketball color analyst Matt Harmon (’96, ’04) has been named National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association New Jersey Sportscaster of the Year, the association announced recently. This year, Harmon and Tom Williams of Prime Events tied for the NJ Sportscaster of the Year award.
Harmon has served as MU’s play-by-play announcer for football on The Shore Sports Network (1160 AM/1310 AM) for four years but has been doing high school football play-by-play announcing on SSN for 16 years. He is also the color analyst for the Hawks men’s basketball program. This year marks the fourth time that Matt has won the award.
As a full-time faculty member in the Department of Communication, Harmon teaches classes such as Announcing, Media Ethics, Public Speaking, Sports Broadcasting, History of Sports & Media, Performance in Radio, and Issues in Sports Media.
Each spring, the NSSA hosts an awards weekend that culminates with an Awards Banquet and Hall of Fame induction. A Sportscaster of the Year and Sportswriter of the Year from each state are honored, as well as a National Sportscaster and Sportswriter of the Year. The first NSSA NJ Sportscaster of the Year was awarded to Bryan Field of CBS in 1959.
The National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that was founded in 1959 in Salisbury, NC. Growing out of the North Carolina Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association that was started by Salisbury restaurant owner Pete DiMizio, NSSA is the only American organization that honors excellence in sportscasting and sportswriting. It also serves as the American arm of AIPS, the International Sports Press Association. For more information on NSSA, go to nssafame.com.