WESTERVILLE, Ohio --  Retired Baldwin Wallace University Director of Athletic Communications and Public Relations Kevin Ruple is the fourteenth recipient of the Ohio Athletic Conference's Bill Nichols Media Award. The Bill Nichols Award was created to recognize a member of the media who has demonstrated an understanding and passion for amateur athletics, while covering the students and programs of NCAA Division III and the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC). 

For more than 30 years, Bill Nichols worked at the Cleveland Plain Dealer. He served as an adjunct lecturer at Baldwin-Wallace University and John Carroll University, as well as several other institutions. 

Ruple becomes the fourth former OAC Sports Information Director to earn the award joinging Lenny Reich of the University of Mount Union (2022), Chris Wenzler of John Carroll University (2018) and Ed Syguda of Otterbein University (2016.)

He was named the Sports Information Director at BW on March 1, 1983. Ruple was then promoted to Director of Athletic Communications and Public Relations in October of 2016 and served in that capacity until his retirement in June of 2020. During his 37 years, Ruple promoted thousands of student-athletes and was a key advocate of the student-athlete philosophy. He also mentored countless assistants, interns and student-assistants over his career - many of which currently or have worked in athletic communications, media relations or sports information in all levels of collegiate athletics and professional sports. 

Ruple was an active member of the College Sports Communicators, previously known as CoSIDA. He was a member of the Board of Directors as a College Division representative from 1994-98. Ruple was also a member of the Academic All-America committee from 1997-2017 and served as the national chair for the football and at-large programs. 

In addition, he served as the national coordinator for the Football Gazette Division III All-American committee for 13 years. Ruple was the President of the Ohio Athletic Conference Public Relations Task Force and on both the Sports Media Association of Cleveland and Ohio (SMACO) and the Cleveland Touchdown Club Charities, Inc. Board of Directors. 

The Bill Nichols Media Award joins Ruple's mantle of awards that he received during his career. He was recognized by his colleagues with the CoSIDA Lifetime Achievement award in 2021, the Warren Berg Award in 2004, inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame in 2008 and was the Lester Jordan Award in 2011.

A native of Ashtabula, Ruple earned a Bachelor of Arts in speech communications and public relations from The College of Wooster. He was a member of the baseball team for three years.