Dave Holmes tried out for the first season of ESPN's "Dream Job" reality show last year and just missed the final cut.

When the chance came to try out for the second season, he could have chucked it all and said "forget it."

And, the 22-year-old broadcast news major almost did.

As he told the Cleveland Plain Dealer recently, he asked himself, "Do I really want to go through this all over again?"

Fortunately, he changed his mind and went to Cleveland for the tryouts. He told program host Stuart Scott on Tuesday, "I told myself I have to give this a shot to find out what would happen."

Though the road was anything but smooth, Holmes overcame long odds Tuesday night and ran away with the Dream Job title, a one-year contract on ESPN's Sports Center and a new car.

Dave outlasted and outperformed 11 other contestants over the past two months. Selected as a Wendy's Wild Card, Dave improved his performance each week and capitalized on his strengths in writing and creating news packages.

His final show competitor, Grant Thompson, a Harvard graduate and an actor, seemed to have the inside track on the job going into the final night, as he had received positive comments from the judges over the past seven weeks.

The voting wasn't even close, however. On the final show, with so much at stake, Dave "stuck the landing." His performance drew lavish praise from three of the four judges and from Scott.

Viewers voted to cut Thompson, but the Denver Post's Woody Paige voted against Holmes, although he praised his performance that night. With the vote 1-1, "Cold PIzza" co-host Kit Hoover voted to cut Thompson, and Stephen A. Smith, sportswriter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and ESPN NBA analyst, enthusiastically supported Holmes.

That did it.

ESPN VP of Talent, Al Jaffe, didn't even have to vote, although he said he would have voted to cut Thompson.

When the decision was announced, colorful confetti rained from the ceiling and screams of delight came from the audience.

The screams came from members of Dave's family (he's from Uniontown, Ohio), his girlfriend and from members of the TV2 news staff who made the trip to NYC to support him, Carrie Young, Natalie Pasquarella, Mike Paquin, Chuck Thornton and Brooke Whitney.

Later, on SportsCenter, he competed in a trivia game to set his salary. He'll make a cool $70,000.

Daily Kent Stater reporter, Lauren Anderson, was in New York for the show. Read her account here.

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