Dan Biser, sports editor of The News Reporter for more than two decades, was recognized as the Media Representative of the Year at this morning’s annual award presentations of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association.

The 2006 NCHSAA awards program was held at the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts in Raleigh.

Biser, a native of Beaumont, Texas, and a 1972 journalism graduate of the University of North Texas, has covered high-school sports in Southeastern North Carolina since 1974 when he joined The News Reporter staff as a news/sportswriter. He was elevated to the sports editor position in 1980 following the semi-retirement of longtime area sports publicist Vernon “Jiggs” Powers.

From 1988 to 1991, Biser was a member of the sports staff of The Wilmington Star-News. He returned to his previous position at The News Reporter in 1991. He has won several North Carolina Press Association Awards for sports writing, sports columns and sports coverage.

Prior to moving to North Carolina, Biser had worked as a writer and desk man for the sports department of the Tampa (Fla.) Tribune. While in college, he served as assistant sports editor of The North Texas Daily and as a sports stringer for the Dallas (Texas) Morning News.

Biser got his start in sports writing when he was an athlete at South Park High School in Beaumont, Texas. During his junior and senior years, he was sports editor of South Park’s bi-weekly newspaper, The Greenie Gusher.

Biser and his wife, the former Jo Anne Barefoot, reside in Hallsboro and are the parents of Julianna Blake Brookshire of Durham, Jonathan Blair Biser of Cary and Jennifer Marie Biser, a rising senior at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Other 2006 NCHSAA state award winners are Eva Patterson-Heath of Red Springs (Female Coach of the Year), Burton Cates of Eastern Randolph (Male Coach of the Year), Vicki Hamilton of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (Athletic Director of the Year), Jimmy Tillman of Wilson Fike (Principal of the Year), Ed Sadler of Gaston County (Superintendent of the Year) and Mary Broos of Greensboro (Athletic Trainer of the Year).

The award presentations were held in conjunction with the spring meeting of NCHSAA Board of Directors.