Legendary sports television anchor Tom Suiter enjoyed a tremendous career at WRAL-TV in Raleigh, and high school athletics was an integral part of it. Suiter, a native of Rocky Mount, attended Christ School in Arden and then went to Erskine College in Due West, S.C. Upon graduation from Erskine in 1971, he joined at WRAL and moved from weekend anchor and sports reporter to the weekday sports anchor, staying there for his entire career and retirement from full-time broadcasting in 2008. He anchored the award winning Football Friday show on Friday nights, pioneering coverage of so many games in a single show starting in 1981 and is still running today. The Extra Effort Awards were started at the station under his direction, honoring a high school student-athlete who excels on the field or court as well as in the classroom. He has previously been named the winner of the annual Media Representative of the Year by the NCHSAA.