Highlights from Mike Gore Big South Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

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Big South Official Release/Video

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HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. - Already in the UNC Asheville Athletics Hall of Fame, longtime Bulldog Sports Information Director Mike Gore was inducted in the Big South Conference Hall of Fame on Thursday, May 31, at The Marriott Resort.

Check out the video above for highlights from the special evening.

Former Campbell's men's soccer player Juha Miettinen, former High Point men's track & field athlete Taylor Milne and former Winthrop softball player Janiva Willis joined Gore among the elite to earn a place in the Big South Hall of Fame.

The Big South Hall of Fame, created in 2003 as part of the League's 20th Anniversary celebration, now totals 69 former Big South Conference student-athletes, coaches, administrators and contributors with the addition of this year's class.

"This is an extremely well-deserved honor for our own Mike Gore," UNC Asheville Director of Athletics Janet R. Cone said. "Mike means so much to UNC Asheville, and I know that his enshrinement into the Big South Hall of Fame will mean a great deal to so many as well because Mike has always been and continues to be a true Bulldog champion and leader."

Gore is "honored and humbled to be selected to the Big South Conference Hall of Fame."

"I am grateful to Janet R. Cone and Terri Brne for nominating me for this special honor," Gore said. "I was incredibly lucky to work at a great institution like UNC Asheville for 30 years where I worked with some of the best coaches, administrators and student-athletes around. I was also honored to be a part of a great conference like the Big South, which truly does things the right way. I couldn't have done this without the support of my family and my wonderful wife Lisa."

Gore is honored in the Significant Contributor category for his 29 years of service as the longest tenured Sports Information Director in Big South Conference history.

A College Sports Information Directors Association (CoSIDA) Lifetime Achievement Award & 25-Year Award recipient, he received the 2016 WNC Mountain Athletic Club Ochsenreiter Award for Lifetime Achievement. The first Sports Information Director to be inducted into the Big South Hall of Fame, Gore served Asheville as Associate Athletics Director of External Affairs, Sports Information Director and Interim Athletics Director (2003-04), among other roles during his time with the university.

For three decades, he exhibited unwavering commitment to his duties and the student-athletes he encountered, and helped guide the athletics department through the transition to Division I and the numerous changes that ensued. Gore oversaw media coverage of the Bulldogs' athletics programs with exemplary dedication as the department's media liaison, and handled all media-related activities.

He meticulously compiled statistics for women's sports by longhand before required by the NCAA. His long-standing media efforts around Asheville athletics propelled him as a longtime contributor to the Asheville Citizen-Times, Hendersonville Times-News and Blue Ribbon Basketball Magazine. He has served as the voice of the Bulldogs on radio, handling play-by-play and analysis for most of his career for Asheville men's basketball, and recently for women's basketball, and never missed a home basketball game during his time at Asheville.

Gore served as the Host Media Coordinator for several Big South Conference Championships, including a total of six Men's and Women's Basketball tournaments -- two of which were combined events for the first time. He attended and covered the first 29 Big South Men's Basketball Championships, and assisted in an array of game day media operations roles -- notably as postgame interview moderator.

He has served as Chair of the Big South Hall of Fame Committee since the inception of the conference's Hall of Fame in 2003.

Gore joined Asheville's staff on July 1, 1986, as the Sports Information and Promotions Director. He was named Assistant AD in the summer of 1993, advancing to Associate AD in 1996, and elevated to his final title of Associate AD of External Affairs in 2007. In 2005, UNC Asheville's athletics department created the Mike Gore Bulldog Service Award, and named him the first recipient.

Gore also was appointed Head Softball Coach for the program's final season in 1992, and was voted Big South Co-Coach of the Year as the team led the nation in stolen bases.

He was inducted into UNC Asheville's Athletics Hall of Fame in October of 2015.

2018 Big South Hall of Fame Class: http://bigsouthsports.com/news/2018/4/10/general-big-south-announces-2018-hall-of-fame-

University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics

Highlights from Mike Gore Big South Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

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