PEORIA, Ill. – Dave Snell, who is in his 34th season as the radio voice of Bradley Basketball, will be presented the John Sanders 'Spirit of The Valley' Award during a pregame ceremony Tuesday night at Carver Arena.
The Missouri Valley Conference presents the 'Spirit of The Valley' Award to honor a student-athlete, coach or university administrator who exemplifies the spirit of the late John Sanders, the former MVC assistant commissioner for operations. Criteria includes, but is not limited to, passion for the Conference, strong work ethic and sense of humor.
MVC Commissioner Doug Elgin will present the award to Snell at midcourt immediately before the performance of the national anthem and the MVC Sportsmanship announcement.
A 1976 Bradley graduate, Snell took over as the Bradley Basketball play-by-play announcer for 1470 WMBD to start the 1979-80 season. Since taking over the position, Snell has participated in all 1,032 WMBD regular-season and postseason game broadcasts of Bradley Basketball.
A member of the Bradley Athletics Staff as Assistant Director of Communications, Snell is the popular emcee for Bradley Athletics events, notably the Braves Club Gameday Luncheons, presented by Herget Bank. Before joining the Bradley University staff, Snell was the longtime sports director at Peoria CBS television affiliate WMBD.
The league began presenting the award in 2005 when former Indiana State director of athletics Andi Myers became the first recipient. Since then, Missouri State director of athletics Bill Rowe (2006), MVC television personality Mitch Holthus (2007), Southern Illinois radio play-by-play voice Mike Reis (2008), former MVC coordinator of men's basketball officials Johnny Overby (2009), former Missouri State women's athletics administrator Mary Jo Wynn (2010), Drake radio broadcaster Dolph Pulliam (2011) and Evansville equipment manager Daryl Buente (2012) have been honored.
In addition to the MVC award, Snell last week was named the Illinois Sportscaster of the Year for the second time in his career by the National Sportcasters and Sportswriters Association.
