Theo DeRosa has been promoted to Mississippi State University athletics beat reporter for The Dispatch.
DeRosa joined The Dispatch staff in August 2019 as the high school sports reporter. In his new position, he will primarily provide comprehensive coverage of Bulldog athletics — from game stories and analysis to profiles, enterprise and other human interest stories.
He replaces Ben Portnoy, who has covered the MSU beat for the past two years. Portnoy is moving on to The State, the largest newspaper in South Carolina, where he will cover University of South Carolina Gamecocks football.
“I couldn’t be more excited to be taking on this new challenge here at The Dispatch,” DeRosa said. “Covering Mississippi State sports is a huge responsibility, and I’m ready for all that entails — providing strong game coverage, writing in-depth features and staying on top of breaking news. I intend to be the go-to reporter for Mississippi State coverage, and I look forward to serving the MSU and Starkville communities well.”
DeRosa is a Sacramento, California, native. Before joining The Dispatch, he completed a sports multi-platform editing internship with the Omaha (Nebraska) World-Herald through the Dow Jones News Fund program.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in sports journalism and statistics from the University of Missouri.
Managing Editor Zack Plair said DeRosa earned the opportunity to take on the MSU beat through his strong contributions covering area high school sports and MSU softball. In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, when most sports had been canceled, DeRosa even briefly stepped into a news reporting role, producing business and feature stories.
“Theo is a versatile, hardworking, brilliant reporter,” Plair said. “He’s been a great asset to our sports staff and our newsroom as a whole. With Theo’s passion for the work, meticulous attention to detail and his ability to build rapport with sources, I have no doubt he will thrive in this new beat.”
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