The 2024-25 school year is season No. 58 for the New York State Sportswriters Association and its coverage of scholastic sports. In our first four-plus decades, the NYSSWA consisted of much more than just members of the media. Although virtually every newspaper and many radio and TV stations in the state were paying members, other groups were represented:

• High school coaches, administrators and athletes.
  
• College coaches from all levels and from across the northeast.
  
• Parents of players and supporters of school sports programs

    In the summer of 2012, the NYSSWA converted from a subscription/newsletter model to an entirely online presence relying upon ad revenue and contributions via PayPal.

What does the NYSSWA do?
    The biggest undertaking is weekly rankings and season-ending all-state selections in a variety of sports, formerly delivered in the eight-page weekly newsletter.

    The NYSSWA also has been known to play another role -- the conscience for prep sports in New York. Beholden to no one because of its independent status and long reign as a reliable source of information, the NYSSWA has taken strong, influential stances over the years.

    Longtime newsletter editor Neil Kerr in Syracuse was an early proponent of adding state tournaments in several major sports. When the New York State Public High School Athletic Association stopped inviting New York City's public and the state's Catholic schools to compete at season-ending championships in the 1990s, NYSSWA members from across the state were quick to challenge the logic and helped pressure the NYSPHSAA to reverse itself.

    In October 1998, several NYSSWA members met with NYSPHSAA officials to discuss ways to speed up the flow of results and information from state championship events. With The Associated Press having abandoned coverage of N.Y. high school sports, this alliance was a valuable step toward cooperation in subsequent years. The NYSPHSAA has steadily improved the flow of news to the media, resulting in more information being available to the public.

Who's in charge?
    Former Syracuse Post-Standard reporter Neil Kerr, who died in March 2023, was the dean of scholastic sports writers in New York and edited the weekly newsletter from his home in Syracuse.

    The president is John Moriello, who covered high schools for Rochester's Democrat and Chronicle in the late 1980s, and helped launch DemocrtandChronicle.com.

    Steve Grandin in Saratoga Springs has taken on much of the work that Kerr handled until 2020, compiling weekly rankings and all-state teams in several sports.

More about us
    Founded in 1967, the New York State Sportswriters Association has long been regarded as an authoritative voice and the leading source of information about scholastic athletics. Begun by sportswriters Larry Serrell of the Schenectady Gazette and Chuck Korbar of the Buffalo Evening News, NYSSWA membership grew from a mere 12 in 1967 to 246 in 1971 and more than doubled that figure a decade later. Larry died in 1983 and Chuck passed away in 1998, but they built the foundation of an organization that included hudreds of reporters, coaches, administrators and assorted fanatics who received 50 annual issues of the newsletter.

    Today, prep writers and editors from numerous newspapers and other media outlets in New York -- many of whom contribute countless hours compiling rankings information and statistics -- supply information that appears on this website.

Contacting us
Send e-mails to John Moriello.

Updated Aug. 5, 2024