Jeff Harrison

  Jeff Harrison was a member of the sports media for more than four decades, including 18 years at The Times Leader in Martins Ferry, 19 years at The Daily Jeffersonian in Cambridge and four years at The Journal-Leader in Caldwell, serving four years as Communications Director of the Noble Local School District before retiring at the end of 2023.

   He originated the concept of the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference Hall of Fame in 2004; is a member of the selection committee and handles production of the program for that event. He's also served as a member of the OVAC Softball Committee and OVAC Coach of the Year Selection Committee and handled publicity for the OVAC Rudy Mumley All-Star Football Game for seven years.

Harrison was also the catalyst behind the formation of the District 12 Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2008, serving as Chairman of the Hall of Fame Selection Committee and handling publicity; and was a member of the Martins Ferry High School Athletic Hall of Fame Selection Committee, serving as the primary researcher/biographer for that group starting in 2014.

   He was s a member of the East District Selection Committee for football/boys' basketball/girls' basketball, serving as chairman from 2009-2023; an AP state poll voter; a member of the Ohio High School Athletic Association Media Advisory Committee and a member of the Ohio Prep Sportswriters Association. He was the 2006 recipient of the Eastern Ohio Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association's Media Award; District 12's selection for the Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Honor in 2015 and has won several OPSWA writing contest awards. He was inducted into the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference Hall of Fame in 2017, the Ohio Prep Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame in 2018 and the Martins Ferry Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019.

   A 1977 graduate of Martins Ferry High School who attended Ohio University Eastern, he authored the book Holding Court: The Gene Ford Story (2005), the biography of the legendary Cambridge High School boys' basketball coach; and 700 Victories and Counting: The History of Martins Ferry Football (2017).

   He's also served as public address announcer at several venues over the years, including Martins Ferry football and boys' basketball, Meadowbrook girls' basketball and the District 12 All-Star Basketball Classic; and was a youth baseball/softball coach for 22 years in the Martins Ferry Civics Athletic Association and the Guernsey Valley Baseball Association.