Alex Podlogar, a 12-year veteran of the newspaper industry, has been hired as the new assistant sports information director at Fayetteville State University.

Before coming to the university, Podlogar spent the last six years as the sports editor for The Sanford Herald in Sanford, N.C. From 1998-2004, he was the sports editor for The Daily Courier in Forest City, N.C.

Podlogar has been awarded individually eight times -- with three first-place finishes -- by the North Carolina Press Association in a variety of categories, including three times for sports columns and three times for sports feature writing. He has been a staff member of a newspaper recognized by the NCPA for General Excellence in 2007 and for Appearance and Design in 2008.

Podlogar has been a color analyst for two Lee County radio stations (WFJA 105.5 FM and WWGP 1050 AM) in both prep football and professional golf, and has experience broadcasting state championship baseball. Podlogar also hosts a weekly sports talk radio show in Lee County on WDCC 90.5 FM and keeps an updated blog that covers a wide range of sports at designatedhitter.wordpress.com.

Though his focus has primarily been on the coverage of prep athletics in western and central North Carolina, Podlogar is no stranger to major sporting events. He has covered two U.S. Open major golf championships in Pinehurst as well as the U.S. Women's Open major golf championship at Pine Needles in Southern Pines, coverage that garnered the attention of the N.C. Press Association.

Born in California, Podlogar spent much of his youth living all over the United States, from Colorado to Nevada to Virginia and to South Carolina before his family settled in Southern Pines, N.C. After graduating with honors from Pinecrest High School in 1994, Podlogar earned a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication with a minor concentration in History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1998 before embarking on his professional career.

Podlogar is married to the former Rebecca Tasker, and the couple has one child, Allison.