Kyle Klingman sent this in.
Wade Keller to receive Jim Melby Award
WATERLOO, Iowa—One of professional wrestling’s most successful journalists will receive the Jim Melby Award from the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Dan Gable Museum. Wade Keller will be recognized during the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame induction weekend.
The 2015 George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame weekend will take place July 10-11.
The Jim Melby Award recognizes excellence in professional journalism. The award is named in honor of Jim Melby, a professional wrestling historian and journalist who set the highest standard within his profession.
“I am honord to be recognized by an organization as prestigious as the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Dan Gable Museum,” said Keller. “My work covering the pro wrestling industry for the last 27 years has been a thrill, as unpredictable a job as I can imagine.
“My job has taken me from New York City’s Madison Square Garden to a bull ring in Tijuana, Mexico, to a small bar in Fridley, Minn., to a courtroom in Uniondale, N.Y. Adding accepting an award at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Waterloo, Iowa, to my list of travels, and to share the stage with other greats whom I have covered over the years, will be a memory I will cherish and take in pride in.”
Keller has been a leading pro wrestling reporter and analyst since launching the Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter in 1987 when he was 16 years old. He is the founder, owner, and editor of the Pro Wrestling Torch, PWTorch.com, and the PWTorch App. Keller is also the host of the PWTorch Livecast, pro wrestling’s only live daily call-in talk show.
PWTorch.com, along with the PWTorch App, is among the most read sources of pro wrestling news, interviews, and commentary in the world. The daily PWTorch Livecast is the no. 1 most downloaded and listened to journalist-hosted pro wrestling talk show in the world.
The Class of 2015 includes three Distinguished Members (two living, one posthumous) along with recipients of the Lou Thesz Award, Jim Melby Award, Frank Gotch Award, and the George Tragos Award.
All-access passes to the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Hall of Fame induction weekend are available for $100. They can by contacting the Dan Gable Museum at dgmstaff@nwhof.org or by calling (319) 233-0745.
A full schedule of events will be released on a later date.
2015 Hall of Fame induction class
Lou Thesz Award—Brian Blair
Jim Melby Award—Wade Keller
Frank Gotch Award—Beth Phoenix
George Tragos Award—Matt Lindland
Distinguished Member (living)—Greg Wojciechowski
Distinguished Member (living)—TBA
Distinguished Member (posthumous)—Jim Londos