National Sports Media Association

"[5] The Hall of Fame opened officially on May 1, 2000 in the two-story, 10,000-square-foot former North Carolina Federal Savings and Loan building at 322 East Innes Street in Salisbury.

When Claude Hampton became NSSA director, he was told the Hall of Fame was nothing more than a desk drawer with folders in the Chamber of Commerce building.

He wanted an actual building and considered Catawba College as a location, but when he saw the branch of the failed bank in 1990, he made an offer which was accepted.

With the Hall of Fame open, visitors could hear Babe Ruth's called shot, Hank Aaron's 715th home run, the Ice Bowl, the 1992 Duke-Kentucky game, and young Tiger Woods on The Mike Douglas Show.

[6][7][8] On November 1, 2005, Community Bank of Rowan (later part of Yadkin Financial) purchased the Innes Street location, opening its headquarters there in 2006.

This required the NSSA to move to a temporary location on North Main Street in Salisbury, but visitors would not be allowed.

The warehouse only included a few items such as shoes autographed by Ralph Sampson and a football signed by Berman; the rest remained in storage.

Four new NSSA Hall of Fame members were inducted: baseball writer Hal McCoy, basketball commentator Bill Raftery, sportswriter and sportscaster Lesley Visser and, posthumously, author, journalist and television personality Dick Schaap.

In April 2017, after 57 years in Salisbury, the National Sports Media Association moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

The Award was named in honor of longtime Alabama coach Bear Bryant after he died of a heart attack in 1983.

The NSMA established the Clarence "Big House" Gaines College Basketball Coach of the Year Awards in 2010, with the first presentation occurring in 2011.