ALAMOSA — Ken Hamrick, Sports Editor for the Valley Courier, was honored with two awards this week in the Better News Media Contest sponsored by the Colorado Press Association. Both awards were for editorial with the first award for Best Column. “The column was about the 1984 Valley of the Sun Bowl which was the best ever end to a football game,” Hamrick says.  

Hamrick’s second award was in the Best Sports Story category. “That story was about Aundre Chavez, a wrestler at Centauri High School who placed at the state tournament after battling leukemia for a few years.”

Hamrick may be the somewhat quiet guy on the sidelines of the field or the court, but that’s only because his reporting does the talking for him. And he’s had a long career in reporting.

Born in Springfield, Illinois – “the home of Abraham Lincoln”, he says – Hamrick grew up in Phoenix.

“My first reporting job was as a stringer for the Arizona Republic in Phoenix. I did that at the same time I was the sports information director at Phoenix College.

“I also worked for Basketball Congress International,” he adds, “where I saw NBA players Mike Bibby, Stephon Marbury and Jason Terry, among others while they were still in high school.”

Hamrick got his first full time sports job as the sports editor at the Canon City Daily Record. “I later was the sports editor for the La Junta Tribune-Democrat from 2004-06, the Sheridan Press in Sheridan, Wyoming, from 2006-10, and again at La Junta from 2010-21 before coming to Alamosa.”

That long resume of jobs as a reporter really adds up, as confirmed by Hamrick. “I’ve worked off and on as a sports reporter/editor for 25 years.”

When asked how he felt upon learning of the awards, Hamrick says, “I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I had won two first place awards for best sports column and best sports story. I’ve been a full-time sports editor for 25 years and have never won anything for my writing until now.”

Ken Hamrick, always reluctant to speak about himself, doesn’t add that, just a few weeks ago, he also won an award from the National Newspaper Association for his reporting.

The Valley Courier congratulates Ken Hamrick for “bringing home the gold.”