West Virginia Press Association
Jim Workman, a Winfield native and longtime journalist and publisher of Wally’s & Wimpy’s Sports Digest, has been named executive director of the WVSWA. Workman will serve in the same role as Doug Huff, who retired earlier this year as secretary-treasurer, a tenure which began in 1981. Workman is the ninth person to serve in the association’s lead role, a list that includes Huff, Mickey Furfari, and A.L. “Shorty” Hardman.
“It’s a tremendous honor to represent this amazing organization,” Workman said. “The ones that came before me, especially Doug Huff, are significant in our state’s journalistic history. They’re media legends.”
Since being established in 1934, the WVSWA has served “as the voice of sports writers around the state. The organization’s principal objectives are to honor deserving high school and college athletes and coaches and serve as the sole sponsor of the West Virginia Sports Hall of Fame while preserving the history of athletics in the Mountain State.”
The WVSWA selects All-State teams in football, volleyball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, boys and girls basketball. Its members also vote on the Kennedy Award, which goes to the state’s top high school football player and is among the most prestigious prep athletic honors. Its oldest honor is for amateur athlete of the year – known as the Hardman Award since 1983. The first winner was Wheeling golfer Fritzi Stifel Quarrier, who was honored in 1934, the same year the WVSWA was established.
“We are looking at ways to provide more services to the public and our members,” Workman said. “Our website, WVSWA dot org, continues to provide information not available elsewhere from all-state teams to game records. We anticipate much more growth in the coming months.”
The WVSWA hosts its annual Victory Awards Dinner, at 78 years it has become the oldest statewide sports awards fete in the nation, according to Huff. “The WVSWA is the voice of sports journalists in the state and Jim Workman has taken the leadership baton to continue the effort in its growth and a changing media landscape,” Huff said.
Workman is a member of the Football Writers Association of America as well as the National Football Foundation and the U.S. Basketball Writers Association. In a career covering more than three decades, the Putnam County native has served in roles with the State Journal, Beckley Register-Herald and Charleston Gazette. He founded WVSPN in 1998, becoming the first website to do live updates from state tournament events in West Virginia. Workman served as the public address announcer for the Charleston Wheelers, a Class A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, during its 1990 South Atlantic League championship season.
Members who have led the WVSWA as Secretary-Treasurer or Executive Director:
Jim Workman, 2025-current
Doug Huff, 1982-2025
George Springer, 1964-81
Eddie Barrett, 1956-63
Mickey Furfari, 1955
George Holbrook, 1947-54
Charley Hylton, 1946
A.L. (Shorty) Hardman, 1945
Darrell Harless, 1944
