Hugh Bernreuter
Hugh Bernreuter’s take on local sports has been must-read material since he put pen to paper in 1981. He was born in Saginaw and raised in Frankenmuth, a community in which he still resides. During his high school years, he played basketball and was named to the Tri-Valley Conference and Saginaw News basketball Honorable Mention lists for his efforts in the 1980-81 season. After graduation from Frankenmuth High School in 1981 he continued his education at Delta College and graduated in 1983 before transferring to Michigan State University and finishing his education in 1985. Although he started writing about sports in 1981, it intensified when he began studying journalism at MSU. Hugh was able to cover the men’s basketball squad during the 1984-85 season for The State News, their student newspaper. He also spent time working for the Lansing State Journal.
Bernreuter was hired by another inductee, Jim Buckley, in 1986 to be a full-time part of the sports team. Since those early years, he has won forty-eight writing awards from the Michigan Associated Press, Michigan Press Association, and United Press International. He has also been honored many times from the Mid-American Conference Media Association. The awards have come in many different formats including sports feature, column, sustained coverage, and news features.
There is not much that Hugh has not covered. Minor league baseball? Check – he covers the Great Lakes Loons. Minor league hockey? Check – he covers the Saginaw Spirit. Hugh has worked at the Super Bowl, college football bowl games, the NBA playoffs, MLB playoffs, LPGA events, and even horse racing. Hugh put the time and work in, so he is well known and respected by coaches and players of all kinds and ages.His work does not end when he submits his articles. He gives his time to the community and state at large. Bernreuter volunteered as a youth baseball coach for multiple years. Hugh is a member of the Detroit Lions High School Coach of the Week panel, which chooses a weekly winner during the high school football season here in Michigan. They are currently in their 27th season and have awarded more than $490,000 to Michigan high school football teams. He also sits on the committee for the Harry Hawkins Award. The Hawkins award is the Saginaw County equivalent of the Heisman Trophy for the best senior high school football player in our county. When the Saginaw County Sports Hall of Fame first began, Hugh helped the organization get things up and running. Hugh Bernreuter continues the long tradition of high-quality sports writers that have devoted their lives to what happens on the field of athletic competition in Saginaw County and beyond.