Central receives athletics communications writing award Central receives athletics communications writing award

PELLA-Central College had an athletics story cited as the College Sports Communicators' (formerly CoSIDA) Fred Stabley Sr. Writing Contest college division district awards were announced.

The story was written by athletics senior editor Larry Happel. Entries were considered in seven categories.

Central, which was honored for five entries honored last year, shared second place in CSC College Division District 7 for Athlete Profile with "Van Gorp reaching new heights for Central men's basketball," a feature on Dutch men's basketball all-America honoree and Pella Christian High School alumnus Joshua Van Gorp during a record-setting season which saw him lead Central to an American Rivers Conference tournament title and NCAA Division III tournament berth.

The entries were judged in the College Division that include NCAA Division II and III institutions as well as NAIA schools and two-year colleges. District 7 includes colleges and universities in Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Saskatchewan and Alberta.

Happel spent 45 years as Central's athletics communications director and now serves in a volunteer role. He previously won the CSC Fred Stabley Sr. Writing Contest National Story of the Year Award in 2017 and 2025 and has now received 25 CSC writing awards overall as well as four from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.