Bio

In 1972, Mike graduated from Hopewell High School where he played football and baseball.  As a college freshman, he attended Penn State Beaver where he took his first journalism class and played on the college’s baseball team. 

An IUP graduate in English, he began his journalism career with the Beaver County Times as a part-time sports reporter in 1977. He also held positions with The Coraopolis Record, The Observer Reporter in Washington, PA before being hired full-time by the Times in 1980. From 1983 through 1998, he covered the football and men’s basketball teams at the University of Pittsburgh. In 1999, he began covering the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Among the events Mike has covered include WPIAL and PIAA championship events, basketball games in the Big East and NCAA tournaments, PGA and LPGA tour events including three U.S. Open championships, championship boxing fights and seven Super Bowls.

He has been recognized both nationally (Associated Press Sports Editors) and regionally (Keystone Press and Golden Quill) for his work.

For parts of five decades, he’s covered sports on the high school, college and professional levels. It is believed he’s had more bylined stories in that newspaper than any other reporter, news or sports.

Bires is also a 2013 inductee into the Beaver County Hall of Fame and a 2016 inductee into the Pittsburgh Basketball Hall of Fame.