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Former Lincoln Journal Star sportswriter Mark Derowitsch is Nebraska Wesleyan’s Spirit of the Plainsman Award recipient for 2007. Derowitsch covered NWU athletics for 14 years and played an important role in the program’s growth by sharing the stories of many small college student-athletes with local readers.
He first started as the Journal Star’s beat reporter for Nebraska Wesleyan in the fall of 1990 and retained that position until he left the newspaper in February of 2004. Derowitsch covered football and men’s basketball games, as well as track and cross country meets, and wrote many feature stories over the years.
According to Derowitsch, one of his best memories was covering the 1996-97 Plainsmen basketball team, which reached the NCAA Division III National Championship game. “Mitch Mosser hit a game-winning three-pointer at Snyder Arena to send NWU to the Final Four,” Derowitsch said. “Seeing Snyder Arena packed for national tournament games was tremendous.”
He also enjoyed covering men’s basketball games in Taylor Gym, NWU’s home court before Snyder Arena was built. “There was no better venue to watch basketball in Nebraska during the 1980s and early 1990s than Taylor Gym, especially when Doane came to Lincoln,” Derowitsch said.
Former Nebraska Wesleyan Sports Information Director Jim Angele worked with Derowitsch from 1991-98. “Mark was excellent at his job,” Angele said. “His stories always accurately reflected the game, and he was accurate with his quotes of athletes and coaches. I never had a coach complain about Mark covering a Wesleyan event. For his efforts as a reporter, I know that Mark is very deserving of the Spirit of the Plainsman Award.”
In addition to his coverage of NWU while with the Journal Star, he also served as the beat reporter for the Lincoln Stars and Lincoln Saltdogs. Derowitsch is currently the public relations manager at the Arbor Day Foundation.
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