photo by: Nick Henthorn

Kim North, pictured with his 2026 West Virginia Wrestling Coaches Association Snyder-Miller Media Person of the Year Award. This year was the third such time North has won the award.

WHEELING — With a 40-plus year sports reporting career dotted with Hall of Fame inductions and honors, Kim North received another feather in his cap this past week, honored as the 2026 West Virginia Wrestling Coaches Association Snyder-Miller Media Person of the Year Award, the third such time North has won the award.

North, a sports writer for The Intelligencer, Wheeling News-Register and Times Leader with a career spanning from 1983 to this day, also received the award in 1990 and 2017.

“I was totally shocked when I received a phone call from Ryan Asbury, head coach of John Marshall,” North said. “I was driving home from a basketball game in Cadiz when my phone rang. I was wondering why Ryan was calling me. He said, ‘We just had our West Virginia Wrestling Coaches Association meeting and they were looking for nominees for the West Virginia Sportswriter of the Year Award, so I nominated you and you won.’

“Very, very unexpected, but I am truly humbled to be honored for covering a sport that I have a lot of love for.”

Asbury said that the award was well-deserved for the longtime reporter.

“Kim’s done a great job for a really long time,” Asbury said. “Anytime that we have a big match, he’s always physically at the match reaching out to us, making sure that wrestling and John Marshall receives some recognition in the paper. I’m just very grateful that he takes the time to do that.”

Asbury nominated North, and was the one to deliver the award to him on Monday.

“Kim always makes sure that when we have big tournaments coming up, especially the OVACs, the regional, and the state — he reaches out not just to John Marshall but to all the teams in the area to make sure that those kids get some recognition in the paper,” Asbury said. “You know, wrestling isn’t as popular of a sport as some of the other ones, so I just really appreciate the kids having a chance to get their name out there and show people what they’re doing because they work pretty darn hard during the season. Kim does a really nice job of representing those kids.”

The Snyder-Miller Media Person of the Year Award is named after two heralded sports writers, Jim Snyder, who was a pioneer wrestling sportswriter in the 1950s, and Dr. Timothy Miller, whose website ‘WVMat.com’ continues to be an integral piece of wrestling reporting since its debut in 1996.

Bill Van Horne, late sports editor of The Wheeling News-Register, also won the Snyder-Miller Media Award three times (1980, 1982 and 1987).

Jim Cochran, also deceased, won the award as a member of the Wheeling News-Register in 1999.

North’s work in covering wrestling and sports of every season has earned him plenty of recognition throughout his long career. North was inducted in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame — West Virginia chapter in 2018, and was a part of the OVAC Hall of Fame class of 2024. He was USA Wrestling’s Sports Writer of the Year in 1990 and 2018, and was also the Eastern District Media Person of the Year in 2018.

North continues dedicated coverage of sports across the Valley to this day.