Photographer George Tiedemann has been named the 2007 Colin Jose Media Award recipient and will be honored at the 2007 National Soccer Hall of Fame induction ceremonies on Aug. 26.

Tiedemann's images graced many magazines during the 1970s and early 1980s, when soccer was not as well received as it is today. He took the first soccer cover photo in Sports Illustrated -- a photo of Philadelphia Atoms goalie Bob Rigby in the 1973 NASL final.

Tiedemann spent time as a child to Libya, where he learned to play soccer and take pictures. At the age of 17, he returned to the United States to finish high school. During a four-year stint in the Marines, Tiedemann renewed his interest in photography while serving in Vietnam. On completion of his enlistment, Tiedemann began a nine-year career as a newspaper staff photographer (one of his first assignments: a Janis Joplin concert).

Tiedemann joined the Philadelphia Atoms as team photographer, which led to his hiring as the Director of Photography for the North American Soccer League. That NASL experience led to a more than 20-year career in photography at Sports Illustrated and almost three decades of visual U.S. soccer history.