DATE: Sunday, November 9, 1997              TAG: 9711070302

SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS     PAGE: 12   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JAY LIDINGTON, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   82 lines

HALL OF FAME NARROWS LIST TO SIX

Six media professionals with connections to Virginia recently were selected as finalists for the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame Media Awards. A maximum of three winners will be announced by hall officials next month.

Finalists included:

Eddie Crane: A high school sportswriter in Northern Virginia, Crane worked for both the Alexandria Gazette and The Washington Star. He helped recruit and train stringers at more than 80 Northern Virginia high schools while at The Star, which closed in 1981.

Robert ``Bob'' McLelland: McLelland was a sportswriter and editor for The Roanoke Times and World News from 1949-80. He was inducted into the Virginia High School League Hall of Fame in 1992.

Frank Soden: A New Jersey native, Soden was employed by radio stations in Richmond and Hagerstown, Md. He was the WRNL voice of Richmond Virginians, the Richmond Braves AAA team and U.Va. and Virginia Tech football programs in the 1950s and 1960s.

Marty Brennaman: The radio and cable television voice of the Cincinnati Reds, Brennaman began his career in High Point, N.C., and covered Virginia Squires and Tidewater Tides games for WTAR radio in the early-'70s. Brennaman also was the play-by-play voice of Virginia Tech football for a year before moving to Cincinnati.

Bill Brill: A writer for newspapers in Virginia and North Carolina, Brill was the first active writer installed into the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame in 1990. He was named Virginia Sportswriter of the Year in 1991.

Jennings Culley: A native of Newport News, Culley was a sportswriter for Virginia newspapers for more than 55 years. He worked for The Daily Press as a 16-year-old high-school student and later worked for radio station WSLS. He has won awards from the Virginia Press Association and was twice named sportswriter of the year by the National Association of Sports Writers and Sportscasters.

Other media representatives were considered for induction included:

Herb Carneal: The Minnesota Twins' radio announcer, Carneal got his first broadcasting job at WMBG in Richmond shortly after graduating from high school. He did radio broadcasts for the Baltimore Orioles for five years in the 1950s and 1960s, teaming with mentor Ernie Harwell before joining the Twins organization in 1962.

Jim ``Carroll'' Colston: Colston came to Roanoke and worked for 35 years for WROV radio until his retirement last year. He held various job titles there and was the voice of the Roanoke Buckskins football team and worked Roanoke College and Radford games in the 70s and early-80s.

William C. Deekens: Deekens was a sportswriter for the Richmond News Leader for 41 years. He was named Virginia Sportswriter of the Year in 1964 and was president of the Virginia Association of Sportswriters and Sportscasters of the International Baseball League Writers Association.

Calvin Jacox: Jacox was former sports editor and columnist for the Norfolk Journal and Guide for 25 years. He is known nationally and around Virginia for his column, ``From the Pressbox,'' which spearheaded the newspaper's attacks on racism and discrimination in scholastic, collegiate and professional sports.

Bill Leffler: A retired sportswriter and bowling columnist for The Virginian-Pilot and the paper's Portsmouth insert, Currents, Leffler was named Sportsman of the Year for 1987 by the Portsmouth Sports Club.

Robert F. Moskowitz: Moskowitz was a sports writer for the Yorktown Crier in York County and The Daily Press, as well as the sports information director for the Newport News Shipbuilding Apprentice School from 1988 to present. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JAY LIDINGTON

The Yankee jersey of former ODU athletic director Bud Metheny is

exhibited it the Sports Hall of Fame.

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