Malin to Receive Media Award

Monday, June 20, 2005

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Noted soccer broadcaster Seamus Malin has been named recipient of the Colin Jose Media Award for his outstanding career contributions to the game.

With a career in broadcasting spanning almost 40 years, Malin is the second media member to receive the Colin Jose Media Award, joining inaugural 2004 honoree Jerry Trecker.

Malin’s broadcasting career began back in 1966, calling soccer games for Boston public television station WGBH on “College Sport of the Week.” He would move on to become the radio voice of the NASL’s Boston Minutemen, and in June 1978 he was hired by the New York Cosmos, where he called games until the team folded in 1985. It was his sterling performance in the broadcast booth with the Cosmos that led to his eventually working numerous FIFA World Cups and Olympic Soccer Tournaments for various networks. In his long career in the booth, Malin has called games for each of the big three networks (ABC, CBS & NBC), as well as ESPN. To this day, Malin still calls major European matches for ESPN International.

“To receive an award named after my friend Colin Jose and to be the second honoree after my friend Jerry Trecker is truly the highlight of my career,” said Malin upon being notified of the honor. “The Hall of Fame has worked very hard to celebrate and preserve the history of the game. It is beyond imaging that I have been chosen to be included in that history.”

A graduate of Harvard, Malin played collegiately for the university, where he was the team’s leading scorer and an All Ivy League selection in 1960. He would eventually become an assistant coach for the school and has served them in various administrative capacities for more than 40 years.

"I am absolutely delighted in the selection of Seamus Malin this year,” said Colin Jose, for whom the award is named. “Seamus has been an important voice of soccer in the United States for almost 40 years and his commentaries and analysis of games during that time have always been of a consistently high standard."

"As I approach almost 50 years of soccer involvement in this country, I can think of no greater honor than being recognized by the National Soccer Hall of Fame as a Colin Jose Award recipient,” added Malin. “I am thrilled and deeply moved to be chosen. I have been privileged to witness and play a small part in the exciting growth in the USA of the game we love and share with the world. It is profoundly gratifying, to a degree more than I can express, to be acknowledged in so special a manner for whatever I have been able to contribute. Advocating for, explaining about and urging appreciation of our game over the decades has not exactly been an effortless endeavor, but the exultation and buoyancy felt on a day like this makes it seem a stroll across the pitch."

Hall of Fame President/CEO Will Lunn noted, “The Selection Committee made an outstanding choice in Seamus. His informed commentary helped networks look good and soccer gain a foothold on television in the U.S. On a personal note, he’s been an unwavering supporter of the Hall of Fame for years and I can’t wait to see him at the podium accepting the Colin Jose Media Award.”

About the Colin Jose Media Award
The Colin Jose Media Award was created by the National Soccer Hall of Fame to honor members of the media who specialize in communications with respect to soccer in the United States. It is awarded to those whose career contributions in the field are deemed to be of exceptional and sustained quality. The Award is presented during the annual Induction Weekend.

The award honors Colin Jose, a dedicated researcher and author, who was appointed the official historian of the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1997. His painstaking research and writing over a period of 40 years has resulted in a body of work acknowledged to be the definitive history of soccer in North America. He has written for every major English language soccer publication and has authored numerous books on the history of soccer. Colin is recognized internationally as the preeminent authority in the field.