Bob Ley, an ESPN Sports Center coanchor, will serve as master of ceremonies for the NCAA honors dinner January 9 in San Diego.

Ley, who joined ESPN on the network's third day of existence in 1979, appears on the 6:30 p.m. (Eastern time) weeknight version of the network's sports news program and presents the show's "Cover Story" segment.

A 1976 magna cum laude graduate of Seton Hall University, Ley also serves as host of ESPN's "Outside the Lines" series, which focuses on sports issues beyond the competition arena and has captured seven Sports Emmy Awards for Sports Journalism and three CableACE Awards for Sports Information Series. SportsCenter also has received six Sports Emmys and two CableACE Awards.

Ley has hosted two ESPN Town Meetings, including "Race & Sports: Running in Place?," a live national television discussion on the issue of race in sports among panelists that included President Clinton.

Ley's efforts earned him Northeastern University's 1995 Excellence in Sports Journalism Award from the Center for the Study of Sport in Society, together with the university's school of journalism.

Ley handled ESPN's NCAA basketball tournament studio show from 1980-89. He has covered several NCAA Men's Final Fours, hosted live special events for ESPN, and done play-by-play commentary for college basketball, boxing, soccer, and Continental Basketball Association basketball.

Before joining ESPN he worked for three years at Suburban Cablevision (East Orange, New Jersey) as director of sports/public affairs.

During that stint, the station won four local CableACE Awards for both sports and overall programming.