Edinboro University Athletics

Mike Gallagher is the final inductee as the Distinguished Service Award winner.  He has enjoyed a special relationship with the Edinboro athletic department for many years, beginning as a student in the communications department from 1981-84. He served as the radio voice of the Fighting Scots and also called Gannon University men’s basketball games. For more than two decades he has produced videos and taken millions of photographs of Edinboro student-athletes. He was instrumental in the renovation of the women’s basketball locker room. For a number of years his highlight video of the year in Edinboro athletics was featured at the Hall of Fame Ceremonies. From 1984-2011 Gallagher served as a sports anchor for ABC affiliate WJET TV in Erie. He was a six-time Associated Press Sportscaster of the Year for Pennsylvania; was a five-time Pennsylvania Association of Broadcaster Award for Excellence in Broadcast Sports; and a two-time National Association of Broadcasters award winner. In 1989, Gallagher became the first Erie sportscaster to earn a National Broadcast Emmy nomination for his coverage of the death of high school football player Bemji Ramirez. His work led to extensive coverage by ESPN. Gallagher ultimately would finish third for the Emmy behind ABC’s Al Michaels and his coverage of the earthquake that rocked the 1989 World Series in San Francisco, and Bob Costas’ report on the death of baseball commissioner Bart Giamatti. In 1992, Gallagher became feature reporter for This Week in Baseball with Mel Allen. That same year he discovered 11-year-old sportscaster Maria Sansone. Sansone’s reports on the 6 pm Newscasts soon became known nation-wide, and she would travel the country as a guest on Good Morning America, Dateline NBC, and the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Today she is the host of Good Day LA in Hollywood. Gallagher is known for more than just his sports reporting. After the tragic events of 9-11-2001 he was hired by New York City mayor Rudy Guiliani to produce security videos geared at Fortune 500 companies. While working for Guiliani Partners he turned to still photography. It has become a passion that has led to his shots being featured in Sports Illustrated, along with other national publications. Among his many other accomplishments is a mini documentary about Dan Marino’s football life as he was about to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and a piece for ESPN’s 30 for 30 about Marino and fellow Hall of Famer John Elway.