Dan Roche, Joe D'Ambrosio & Ken Bell Among 2014 NSSA Sportscasters of the Year

The National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association has announced that Bill Raftery, Dick Schaap, Hal McCoy and Lesley Visser are part of the largest class of inductees in the organization’s 56-year history.

Thw honorees will be enshrined during the NSSA’s annual awards banquet, June 8, 2015 in Salisbury, NC.

Joining the Hall of Fame quartet as honorees at the banquet will be 2014 National Sportscaster of the Year Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick and 2014 National Sportswriter of the Year Tom Verducci, along with more than 100 state sportscasters and sportswriters of the year from 48 states and the District of Columbia.

Among the local winners of Sportscaster of the year are:

Dan Roche, WBZ-TV CBS 4, Boston, MA

Dan Roche is an award-winning sports anchor and reporter for WBZ-TV News and myTV38 (WSBK-TV).

He is a reporter for WBZ-TV’s and The New England Patriots’ flagship programs “Patriots All-Access” and “Patriots Gameday” and is a host of “Patriots 5th Quarter” post-game show. Roche is a contributor to WBZ Newsradio 1030AM as well as 98.5-FM The Sports Hub where has has filled in as a host.

Prior to joining WBZ-TV in September of 1999, he worked as a radio sports talk show host; anchor, reporter and Boston Bruins game host for sister station WBZ Newsradio 1030AM. In addition to WBZ Radio, Roche has worked at WHDH and WRKO Radio in Boston where he hosted Boston Red Sox pre-game and post-game programming. He began his career at Curt Gowdy Broadcasting WCCM/WCGY radio in Lawrence, MA.

Roche is a graduate of Syracuse University and North Andover High School. He was born in Methuen, MA and currently resides in Andover with his wife and two children.

This is Roche's first win for NSSA Sportscaster of the Year

Joe D'Ambrosio, WVIT-TV NBC 30, Hartford, CT

Joe D'Ambrosio has been a sports anchor at NBC Connecticut since 1990. He has been the radio voice of UConn football and basketball on WTIC Radio since May of 1992 and also broadcast women's game from 1995 through 1998 and 2000 through 2006.

He and Kevin Nathan host SportsTalk on WTIC Radio weekdays at 6:10 p.m.

D'Ambrosio is also heard nationally as a host on ESPN Radio, working on both Sunday Night Baseball and the Countdown to Kickoff during the NFL season.

Joe began his career on WLIS radio in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, where he worked as a DJ and hosted the popular oldies show "Twilight Time." He was also their sports announcer and started broadcasting for the Huskies while with WLIS.

D'Ambrosio is a Hartford native.

This is D'Ambrosio's 8th win for NSSA Sportscaster of the Year.

Ken Bell, WLNE-TV ABC 6, Providence, RI

Ken Bell has been the sports director at WLNE since 1982, an impressive 32 years at one television station.

Bell always loved sports but had a back problem that would not allow him to play after Little League. He became fascinated by sportscasting but was very shy. It wasn't until he was forced to take a speech course in the 8th grade that he discovered a hidden talent. His junior and senior high school speech teachers had the greatest impact on his life.

Bell really enjoys covering sports in Rhode Island. He says it's great to have the Red Sox, Patriots, Celts and Bruins close enough to cover closely. However, it's great to have our own identity with PC, URI, Brown, the P-Bruins and the PawSox to cover. It's nice to be able to cover players who one day play for the Red Sox and Bruins.

Bell says the best moments of his career were in 2004 and again in 2007 when he covered the Red Sox winning the World Series.

He had been there for all the heartache. He was at Fenway in 1978 when Bucky Dent hit the home run. He was at Shea Stadium for game 6 of the 1986 World Series when the ball went through Bill Buckner's leg. He was there in 2003 when Aaron Boone hit the 11th inning homer to beat the Sox at Yankee Stadium. That made covering the World Champion Red Sox that much more meaningful. Covering the Patriots Super Bowls has also been memorable. And he was there when the Celtics last won an NBA title in 2008.

This is Bell's 2nd win for NSSA Sportscaster of the Year.

The nominees and honorees are chosen by the organization and members of the NSSA, but mostly by peers in the business.

The New England winners were:

CONNECTICUT SPORTSCASTER
Joe D’Ambrosio, WTIC /UConn Radio Network, Hartford
CONNECTICUT SPORTSWRITER
Jeff Jacobs, Hartford Courant, Hartford

MAINE SPORTSCASTER
Don Shields, Black Bear Sports Network/Learfield, Orono
MAINE SPORTSWRITER
Mark Emmert, Press-Herald, Portland

MASSACHUSETTS SPORTSCASTER
Dave Goucher, WBZ-FM/Bruins Network, Boston
Dan Roche, WBZ-TV, Boston
MASSACHUSETTS SPORTSWRITER
Nick Cafardo, Boston Globe, Boston
Kevin Paul Dupont, Boston Globe, Boston

NEW HAMPSHIRE SPORTSCASTER
Bob Lipman, UNH Sports Network/Learfield, Manchester
NEW HAMPSHIRE SPORTSWRITER
Tim O’Sullivan, Concord Monitor, Concord

RHODE ISLAND SPORTSCASTER
Ken Bell, WLNE-TV, Providence
RHODE ISLAND SPORTSWRITER
Brendan McGair, Pawtucket Times, Pawtucket

VERMONT SPORTSCASTER
Rich Haskell, WCPV-FM 101.3, Colchester
VERMONT SPORTSWRITER
Alex Abrami, Burlington Free Press, Burlington
Anna Grearson, Times Argus, Barre

The full list of winners is available here.

Congrats to Dan, Joe & Ken!

Bio's (c) WBZ, WVIT & WLNE