The National Lacrosse League has announced the creation of an annual award to be given to the league’s most outstanding newspaper writer or columnist. The award will be known as “The Tom Borrelli Award”, named in honor of the Buffalo Bandits beat writer for The Buffalo News. Borrelli has been the team’s beat writer since its first season in 1992, and continues to serve in that role. The 47-year old native of Tonawanda, New York has covered the Bandits and professional indoor lacrosse for the past fourteen seasons, the longest tenure of any journalist in the league today.
“This is a wonderful surprise, and a great honor to have the league name this award after me”, said Borrelli. “It’s the greatest honor I’ve received in my 25 years as a journalist. I’ve covered every sport in my career, and the game of lacrosse is the most enjoyable to cover by far. The players, coaches and everyone involved with this game are the best fraternity of people you could ask for—they all go out of their way to be accessible and to do what they can to promote the game.”
Borrelli had his first lacrosse experience while working at the student newspaper at Buffalo State University in 1979. “I was sent to cover a Buffalo State road game at Slippery Rock (Pennsylvania). There was no bus available, so the players, coaches and I rode down in five or six cars. I had never even seen a lacrosse game before this one. It was an incredible game--Buffalo State won the game in double overtime. I loved lacrosse right from the start.” Following stints at newspapers in Ohio and West Virginia, Borrelli returned to New York as a sports reporter for the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin, where he covered collegiate lacrosse at Cornell, Cortland State, Hobart and Syracuse. The Western New York native later returned home as a sports reporter and copy editor for the Buffalo News, and started covering the Bandits from the start of their expansion season of 1992. Borrelli has witnessed every Bandits home game in team history, and frequently covers the team on the road. The veteran writer also serves a contributing writer to Lacrosse Magazine, covering the NLL and all levels of lacrosse.
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