Edwin Pope Orange Bowl Vanguard Media Award

The Edwin Pope Orange Bowl Vanguard Media Award was first presented in 2007. The annual Award honors a member of the sports media who has made significant contributions to college football and impacted the Orange Bowl and/or the South Florida community.

The award is named for the legendary Miami Herald writer and columnist who reported on everything significant that happened in South Florida sports for more than half a century. Pope, who joined the Herald in 1956, covered the Miami Dolphins franchise from the start (recommending in 1970 that the team hire Don Shula as head coach), reported on the first 47 Super Bowls and was an unabashed supporter of the Orange Bowl. The press box in Hard Rock Stadium is named in his honor.

2025 Edwin Pope Award Winner

BOB TRUMPY

The late Bob Trumpy, a former Cincinnati Bengals tight end who became a prominent football voice on national television, has been named the 2025 recipient of the Edwin Pope Orange Bowl Vanguard Media Award, honoring those who have made significant contributions to college football and impacted the Orange Bowl and South Florida. After a decade in the NFL from 1968 to 1977, Trumpy joined NBC Sports as an analyst in 1978 and, through the 1980s and ’90s, served as a national voice on major college and pro football broadcasts. He called multiple Orange Bowls, including the 1986 national championship between Oklahoma and Penn State, the 1988 national championship between Miami and Oklahoma, and the 1994 Bowl Coalition title game alongside Dick Enberg. Trumpy’s broader body of work earned the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award in 2014. A two-time AFL All-Star (1968, 1969) and two-time NFL Pro Bowler (1970, 1973) with Cincinnati before entering the booth, he brought a player’s insight and a national platform to South Florida’s New Year’s tradition. Trumpy joins an esteemed list of Edwin Pope Orange Bowl Vanguard Media Award honorees, including Don Criqui, Susan Miller Degnan, Jim Mandich, Bernie Rosen, Hank Goldberg, Chris Fowler, Ivan Maisel, Tony Segreto, Greg Cote, and, of course, Edwin Pope.