West Orange HS Alum Earns ‘Legacy Award’ For Sports Journalism

WEST ORANGE, NJ — The following news release comes courtesy of the West Orange Public School District. Find out how to post announcements or events to your local Patch site.

West Orange High School Class of 2012 alumna Molly Rich has received the 2025 Peter King Legacy Award, given at the Write on Sports Evening of Champions on Oct. 16 at Hudson House in Jersey City.

King, a legend in the sports broadcast world, has supported the Write on Sports program since its inception 20 years ago. The award, recognizing his legacy, is given to honor an individual who has made significant contributions to the Write on Sports program and highlights people who have helped foster literacy through sports. Locally, Write on Sports offers programs for middle school students ages 11–14 and holds a summer camp at Montclair State University for rising seventh, eighth, and ninth grade students. West Orange, a longtime participant in Write on Sports, conducts a Write on Sports after-school program at Edison Middle School, and programs at Liberty and Roosevelt are expected to be up and running shortly.

“I attended Write on Sports in 2007 at West Orange High School after an assembly piqued my interest at Roosevelt Middle School,” began Rich.

“At that time, I already had dreams of working in sports, especially growing up as a big baseball and Yankee fan. During the two-week camp, I utilized many different forms of writing, on-camera reporting, and interviewing. It solidified my desire to work in sports media and, from there, I had tunnel vision on my path to get where I am. I also returned to Write on Sports as an intern during my four college summers after graduating from high school (2012-2015) at the Montclair State camps. I was able to work with students on their writing and video projects, and provided a unique perspective as someone who was a former camper while also pursuing a journalism degree at Rutgers,” she explained.

While at West Orange High School, Rich took journalism classes with Mr. Ehrlich in ninth and tenth grades and attended broadcast journalism classes in junior and senior years (TV-36/WOHS News) with Ms. Thomassie, Mr. Kale, and Mr. Marmo. Rich was the sports anchor on WOHS News for both junior and senior year, and was the executive producer of the "Senior Show" in 2012. She also played varsity softball with Mr. Galioto.

Rich attended Rutgers University from 2012-2016, earning her degree in Journalism and Media Studies with a specialization in Sports Journalism. At Rutgers, she worked at the RU-tv Network sophomore through senior year (2013-2016). She also interned with the New Jersey Film Festival, played club softball, and interned/freelanced for a sports/event streaming company called The Strive Network (now called Play by Play Productions).

With the experience gained through West Orange High School, Write on Sports, and Rutgers, Rich landed a job with the MLB/NHL Network in Secaucus following graduation. She is currently a Supervisor with the Media Operations team (formerly Media Management).

“The impact Write on Sports has is immeasurable,” continued Rich.

“It gives students the opportunity to write about something that interests them during the summer months. It gives them a voice and lets them know that their stories matter. For me and others who pursued journalism and media fields, it was a jump start to obtain skills required to be comfortable giving interviews, reading a teleprompter, and writing in a style very different from school. Right after I attended the camp in middle school, I started my own Yankee blog based on the blog I started at camp, which soon turned into creating videos in the early days of YouTube. I taught myself basic video production and editing skills, which I then developed in high school and college,” she went on to say.

“The advice I would give to fledgling sportswriters would be to challenge yourselves to develop any and all skills you can in the media space, whether that be writing, video editing, photography, camerawork, etc. Any additional skills you can bring to the table will make you that much more valuable. And sometimes these are things that you can't do in a classroom, so you have to go out and either do it on your own or find an extracurricular to learn. The media landscape is ever-changing, and it's important to keep yourself ready to embrace it,” she offered.

“I’m honored to have been given the Peter King Legacy Award at the @writeonsports Evening of Champions,” she added.

“Between attending WoS in 2007 and interning during my four college summers, the camp has always had a place in my heart. It helped solidify my desire to work in sports from a young age, and gave me confidence that there would be a spot for me in the media someway, somehow. Thank you, Write on Sports!” Rich concluded.

To find out more about Write on Sports, go HERE. West Orange middle school students should speak to their principals about participating in the program.

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