Bio

The Shawnee State Athletic Department has hired Ben Spicer, a video and content creating veteran who has nearly a decade's worth of experience, as its Athletics Media Coordinator at Shawnee State.

Spicer, who presently works as a content creator for DR Sportz covering various flag football tournaments across the United States from the youth level all the way up to high school, primarily in Texas, Florida, and Georgia, will assist in Shawnee State's video efforts in his new role for each sponsored sport at Shawnee State, particularly with creative video content. Ben's first official day with Shawnee State Athletics was Jan. 6.

In a short period of time, Spicer has already enjoyed overnight success which has been the case at essentially every stop through the Tri-State Area native's career. His video on Shawnee State senior guard Tre Beard and Beard's Road to 1,000 points has enjoyed massive success as that video, alone, has gotten over 12,950 views on Instagram. Each of his three highlight reels on Instagram following Shawnee State men's basketball victories have averaged 2,616 views. Personally, Ben has produced TikTok videos to a high degree of popularity as well, with three of his videos reaching over 500,000 views.

"I'm excited to be working with Shawnee State Athletics and my guy (Shawnee State Sports Information Director) Kevin Colley," Spicer said in a social media post. "A bit of a homecoming for me as I spent two years in college at Shawnee State. I love what Shawnee State Athletic Director Gerald Cadogan is building and looking forward to being a part of the team!"

"This is as much of a home run hire as home run hires get," Colley said. "Ben is one of the great ones. He is as good in his field as legendary athletes like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Dale Earnhardt were in theirs.  Just so proud of Ben's growth as a person since meeting him back in 2013 when I was a college sophomore and him a college freshman. He is the epitome of what never giving up on a dream, persistence and a positive attitude can do for a person. His mother, Mistie, is so proud of what he is accomplishing right now and the experiences and opportunities that he has given many student-athletes to shine. The things that we talked about in Melody Sands' News Reporting and Writing class and Ann Linden's classes are also beginning to come together. It is truly amazing how God works. We're grateful for Shawnee State Athletic Director Gerald Cadogan, Shawnee State President Dr. Eric Braun, the university Board of Trustees and the entire university's support in this. Gerald's and Eric's collective vision in desiring for better things for SSU has shown time and again and that is certainly evident with this move as well."

Spicer, who has worked for DR Sportz for nearly four years, also has experience working for Warchant, which is the On3 affiliate for Florida State Athletics coverage. There, Ben conducted interviews and wrote game recaps, including an interview with current Florida State head football coach Mike Norvell, while living near the Florida State campus in Tallahassee, Fla.

Prior to those experiences, Ben elevated the status of MyTown TV in Ashland, Ky. from Jan. 2018 to Nov. 2020, working with MyTown and key individuals such as Jeromy Sutherland and Andrew Goble to help establish a firm blueprint in Northeastern Kentucky that has seen MyTown thrive with Spicer's assistance at the outset. Ben shot video highlights, hosted his own weekly video show, Spicin' Up Sports, and broadcasted games across Northeastern Kentucky and Southern Ohio. Later, Ben joined Kool Hits TV, and worked with James Collier as the duo proceeded to build a visual presence to match up with the commanding audio presence that Kool Hits had through its 105.7 radio station. Ben also helped as a stringer with the Ashland Daily Independent, producing feature stories and content as requested from them.

Ben also worked two jobs simultanously to begin his career in sports media in Portsmouth -- broadcasting games for Hometown Broadcasting (WNXT) and working as a full-time sports reporter for the Portsmouth Daily Times. He covered the 2017 Wheelersburg High School football program's perfect 15-0 season as the Pirates went on to win a OHSAA Division V State Championship, the school's second state title in the sport.

Spicer attended his first three years of high school at nearby Greenup County High School before completing his final year at Estill County High School in Irvine, Ky., where he graduated from in 2012. Spicer attended Shawnee State University for two years -- writing for the Shawnee State University Chronicle while at SSU -- before transferring to the University of Louisville, where Spicer graduated with his bachelor's degree in 2017 in communications. He interned for WLKY-TV (sports reporter), The Louisville Cardinal (writer/reporter), and MetroTV (video production) and volunteered as a broadcaster for ACC Network Extra for Louisville softball games as well as a video producer for Louisville City FC.

Spicer currently resides in Portsmouth. His mother, Mistie Cook Spicer, was a Shawnee State University employee, worked as a radio personality at WNXT, and was a writer and columnist for The Scioto Voice as well as the Greenup News-Times. In his spare time, Ben produces content on his YouTube channels, Spiced Up Productions and Spiced Up Gaming -- which are at 2,370 and 2,110 subscribers, respectively.