USBWA Hall of Fame
Members of the USBWA who have made outstanding contributions to the organization.
2024 INDUCTEES
For 18 of his 39 years at the Columbus Dispatch, Bob Baptist covered Ohio State basketball with a knowledge of the game that combined a beat writer’s news sense and a columnist’s bent. Baptist covered the Buckeyes without favor and never cared about basketball’s second-class status in Columbus. He became the dean of the Big Ten hoops beat in the latter stage of his career, keeping alive a rogue preseason media poll that continues to this day, long after his retirement in 2015.
The 2022 New York Sportswriter of the Year, as named by the National Sports Media Association, Donna Ditota has covered Syracuse basketball and a variety of other sports since joining the Post-Standard staff in 1986. “She entered the business during a period when locker room access for female journalists was a controversial topic,” wrote past USBWA president and Hall of Famer Mike DeCourcy, “and has endured long enough to now be a part of new-media ventures such as internet programs.”
The words “Blue Ribbon” have become a vital part of preparation during the regular season and the NCAA tournament. For the last 26 years, Chris Dortch has been the editor and publisher of an institution that has delivered essential details and guided reporters and editors in their coverage of the game. Before his creation became an industry standard, Dortch was a college basketball beat reporter at four newspapers. His work has appeared in Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News, NBA.com, The Athletic, Lindy’s, Athlon’s, the Washington Post, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and SEC Sports.com.
Dan Fleser joined the News Sentinel staff in 1988 and during his 25 years on the Tennessee beat he covered one of the most successful programs in the history of the sport. He covered six of the eight NCAA championship teams coached by Pat Summitt, champions that included Daedra Charles, Michelle Marciniak, Chamique Holdsclaw, Tamika Catchings, Semeka Randall and Candace Parker. He received the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Mel Greenberg Media Award in 2008 and was named to the Tennessee Sports Writers Association Hall of Fame in 2022.
In 27 years at the Indianapolis News and Indianapolis Star, Terry Hutchens became an authoritative voice on Bob Knight’s Indiana University program, including the coach’s firing in 2000, the complex, controversial aftermath, and the rise of the Hoosiers to the 2002 national championship game under Mike Davis. Hutchens was a five-time recipient of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Indiana Sports Writer of the Year Award. His 11 books include, “Rising From the Ashes: The Return of Indiana Basketball.” After his sudden passing in 2018 at the age of 60, Hutchens was named the first winner of the USBWA’s Jim O’Connell Award for Excellence in Beat Reporting.
Michelle Smith has covered college and professional sports for nearly 30 years. She became the first women’s basketball columnist for both CBSSportsLine.com and ESPN.com. Her work has also appeared in The Athletic, WNBA.com, the San Francisco Examiner and Chronicle, Pac-12.com, Bleacher Report and AOL Fanhouse. She has written four Scholastic children’s books on the WNBA. Her previous awards include the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Mel Greenberg Award in 2019 and the College Sports Communicators (formerly CoSIDA) Jake Wade Award for outstanding contribution in the media in 2017. Smith is a member of the Alameda County Women’s Hall of Fame.
2023 INDUCTEES
Carl Adamec is considered a dean of sports reporting in the New England area. For the last 37 years, he has worked at the Journal Inquirer in Manchester, Conn., chronicling high schools, colleges and national stories for the Connecticut newspaper. He has had a front seat — and made readers feel like they had a behind-the-scenes look — at UConn’s women’s basketball dynasty since 1989. His knowledge and coverage of women's basketball far extends past the UConn women's basketball program, however. He has a pulse on the national women's basketball scene, college and the WNBA, and writes extensively on it all. He is a long-time voter in the weekly AP Top 25 poll. Adamec is also one of the foremost authorities on college women's basketball recruiting and his work has earned him state and regional writing honors.
Seth Davis, whose six books include the recently-released New York Times best-seller “Wake Up with Purpose! What I’ve Learned During My First Hundred Years” with Sister Jean of Loyola Chicago, has played a prominent role in the CBS Sports coverage of college basketball since 2004. His distinguished coverage of the game for 22 years at Sports Illustrated was followed by his current role as Senior Writer for college basketball at The Athletic. His books include “Wooden: A Coach’s Life,” a definitive biography of UCLA coach John Wooden, and “When March Went Mad: The Game That Transformed Basketball,” about the 1979 national championship game between Indiana State’s Larry Bird and Michigan State’s Magic Johnson.
Bob Logan was considered one of the most prominent basketball writers in the Midwest during his career of more than 40 years. During the latter part of his career at the Chicago Tribune and nearly all of his time at the Daily Herald, he concentrated on college sports. Logan wrote often about the Illinois teams of Lou Henson, Bill Self and Bruce Weber, the DePaul teams coached by Ray Meyer and the Notre Dame teams coached by Digger Phelps. He also worked for the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Levittown Times and the Illinois State Journal. In addition to his newspaper work, he created an annual basketball summary for the Encyclopedia Britannica. Logan died in 2006 at the age of 74.
Kevin Scarbinsky was a self-described “basketball fan in a football state” in a career that included roles as an Auburn beat reporter, general assignment sports reporter and columnist at the Birmingham News and AL.com. His coverage created a greater understanding of the game to a part of the country obsessing about football. His work was recognized five times in the USBWA writing contest. In his farewell column, Scarbinsky described how his work managed to alienate coaches Gene Bartow of UAB and Wimp Sanderson of Alabama – before he became friends with both.
Before Lesley Visser, now a member of seven Halls of Fame, became the most highly-acclaimed female broadcaster in history, her professional roots began when covering college basketball – specifically the formative years of the Big East – for the Boston Globe. She frequently wrote about Boston College, her alma mater, and became one of the most influential reporters as the new conference created intense interest throughout the northeast. Between her print and broadcast careers, she has covered 35 Final Fours. In 2015, she was enshrined in the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame.
M.A. Voepel has been a staple at ESPN for decades, reporting on women’s basketball when almost nobody else bothered or saw the value. He’s become arguably the most prominent and trusted voice in national reporting of the sport. He began working for ESPN.com in 1996, covering women’s college basketball and the WNBA as it was getting its start. He has covered more than 20 straight women’s basketball Final Fours – a prime example of how he has dedicated his career to the sport’s most prestigious moments while also finding the human-interest features that pull at heartstrings. Voepel won the 2022 Curt Gowdy Print Media Award for lifetime coverage of basketball from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Grant Wahl quickly became an influential voice in college basketball when he joined Sports Illustrated in 1996, soon after graduating from Princeton. As a college senior, his story about the complex relationship between demanding coach Pete Carril and the players who upset UCLA became a showcase for his detailed reporting, ability to build relationships and the precision of his writing. During his time at SI, Wahl's feature writing won first place almost annually in the USBWA Best Writing contest. Wahl later began covering soccer exclusively and became a globally respected figure in that sport. He died unexpectedly at the age of 49 last December while covering the World Cup in Qatar.
Vahé Gregorian: Gregorian is a columnist who makes you think and makes you feel. The Kansas City Star columnist has displayed his expertise in every sport, covering the Olympics, the World Series and Super Bowl in a 30-year career. As a college basketball reporter and columnist, Gregorian has covered more than 20 Final Fours, often chronicling the play that evokes passion and angst among Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri fans.
After spending 25 years at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Gregorian joined The Kansas City Star in 2013.
Among Gregorian's numerous awards and accomplishments: an Associated Press Sports Editors winner for large newspaper column writing in 2017, a Pulitzer Prize nominee and a multi-year winner of the Missouri Sports Writer of the Year award. He's also authored several books.
Gregorian is a 1983 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where he played football, and then earned his journalism degree from the University of Missouri's graduate school in 1988. He is considered the ultimate teammate among his colleagues and a role model among his peers.
Charles Hallman: Hallman is a longtime reporter for the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder in Minneapolis, the oldest Black newspaper in the state. His coverage of women's basketball spans several decades from the prep level to college to the pros.
He is the longest-tenured beat writer for the Minnesota Gophers, while also covering the Minnesota Lynx since the team's inception in the WNBA. His work includes covering the entire playing careers of many Minnesota women's basketball greats, including Lindsay Whalen and Linda Roberts (the first African-American woman to have her jersey retired by the university).
A tireless supporter of girls and women in sports, Hallman frequently writes about overlooked and underrated Black female athletes.
Hallman studied journalism at Michigan State University and then worked as an editor, freelancer, teacher and journalist, joining MSR in 1990. In 2021, the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport included him in a Title IX honor roll list that highlights individuals' contributions to women's athletics in Minnesota. A friendly fixture at Minnesota games, one fellow writer described him as "Uncle Charles" for his willingness to lend a hand to young reporters.
Joe Juliano: As a versatile reporter for more than 35 years at The Philadelphia Inquirer, Juliano has been a consummate beat reporter of Villanova basketball for nearly 19 total years and chronicling some of the most significant basketball stories in Philadelphia.
From Christian Laettner's shot in the 1992 East Regional final at the Spectrum to Kris Jenkins' buzzer-beating 3-pointer to win the national championship, Juliano was there. He covered Jay Wright's first two seasons at Villanova starting in 2001 and has been the team's beat reporter for the last 14 years. He also covered Steve Lappas' last four Villanova teams and Rollie Massimino's 1988 Elite Eight squad.
A Temple graduate, Juliano joined the Inquirer in 1985 after a decade as a reporter and editor at UPI. A self-described "utility infielder" among reporters, Juliano also has covered Penn State football, golf and the Penn Relays.
Receiving a heartfelt applause from the crowd, he covered his last Villanova game in December before retiring. A friend to everyone on press row, Juliano has been hailed by colleagues for his humble and dedicated approach to the job through the years.
Tom Kensler: It's fitting that Kensler will be inducted into the USBWA's Hall of Fame in New Orleans. This is where he attended about 25 Jazz Fests and where he got down on one knee in Jackson Square and proposed to his wife Pam. Kensler, who died at age 64 from complications from a brain aneurysm in 2016, built his career to the west of the Mississippi River that drains from this city, covering the great Wayland Baptist women's teams for the Amarillo Globe-News, Billy Tubbs' Oklahoma Sooners for the Daily Oklahoman and bucking the pro sports scene at The Denver Post.
"Tom made sure colleges got coverage in Denver," said longtime Colorado SID David Plati.
Kensler's newspaper career spanned four decades. At 29, he was the first sports writer from outside Dallas or Houston to be named Texas' sports writer of the year and he became one of just three (along with Mike Downey and Dave Kindred) to win in three states. Kensler was a beat writer's beat writer, a stickler for accuracy who enjoyed the grind. He won or placed in game stories/spot news – unofficially the USBWA's category for beat writers – four times from 2004-09, a number matched over that time only by John Feinstein.
And he was as friendly as he was competitive. Few enjoyed being a part of a gathering of sports writers more than Kensler, who always put himself in charge of finding the perfect restaurant on the road. It is telling that his nomination to the Hall of Fame was signed by five past USBWA presidents and that his funeral was attended not only by colleagues from the Post and friendly rivals from the old Rocky Mountain News, but by now-fellow Hall of Famers, past presidents, longtime members and sports writers from Charlotte; Columbia, Mo.; Dallas; Omaha; St. Louis; Seattle and, yes, New Orleans.
Mike Waters: It's often joked that Waters' longevity around the Syracuse basketball beat is only surpassed by Jim Boeheim. Waters has covered the team for The Post-Standard since 1989, becoming a historian of one of college basketball's most storied programs. He quickly jumped into capturing the glory days of the Big East and all of its larger-than-life personalities from Lou Carnesecca to, of course, Boeheim.
Waters, an author of four books, has received numerous writing awards, including several from APSE and the USBWA, including the Jim O'Connell Award for Excellence in Beat Reporting. He's held several leadership positions with USBWA, including the organization's president in 2019-20.
A 1986 graduate of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Waters previously worked at the Nashville Banner and The News & Observer. Known for his ability to recall obscure stats and role players from decades past, Waters has attacked his beat with renewed energy and fresh ideas season after season – from disappointing ones to championship years. "I've got my blinders on, my head down and I just focus on basketball," he said when he won the O'Connell Award.
2021 INDUCTEES
Bill Benner served as the USBWA president from 1998-99, while he was in the midst of a 33-year career at the Indianapolis Star, the last 10 as a columnist. Benner covered 20 Final Fours for the Star, two Pan-Am Games (in Havana and Indianapolis) and three Olympic Games (in Seoul, Barcelona and Atlanta). He was recognized twice as the Indiana Sportswriter of the Year by the National Association of Sportswriters and Sportscasters. His work on the Indiana-Purdue rivalry during the Bob Knight and Gene Keady eras was must reading.
Pat Forde, who was a USBWA president from 2015-16, works for Sports Illustrated after eight years with Yahoo Sports, seven at ESPN.com and 17 with the Louisville Courier-Journal. He has covered college basketball throughout those 30-plus years as a sportswriter. He played an essential role in Yahoo's coverage of the scandal that led to the creation of the NCAA's Commission on College Basketball. His work has been recognized 18 times by the Associated Press Sports Editors and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1990.
Dana O'Neil, the USBWA president from 2014-15, has primarily covered college basketball for more than 25 years at The Trentonian, Bucks County Courier Times, Philadelphia Daily News, ESPN.com and currently for The Athletic. She wrote the book "Long Shots" about Villanova's national championship in 2017 and is writing a book about Big East basketball that will be published later this year. "I discovered a real passion for basketball, actually, once I got my first job at the Trentonian," O'Neil said. "I was fortunate enough to cover the area colleges and not only loved the college game, but liked that fact that with fewer athletes on a team, you really got to know the players better."
Brian Morrison, the ACC's former director of media, won the USBWA's Katha Quinn Award in 2014, recognizing his excellence in servicing the media. Morrison made the ACC the most media-friendly power conference, fighting to provide the media with courtside seating at each ACC tournament and inviting longtime members of the media to attend after they had retired. Morrison is "the epitome of a media-relations person who saw his first duty to the media," said News & Observer columnist and USBWA Second Vice President Luke DeCock.
Loren Tate, 89, a longtime sports of the Champaign News Gazette, continues to write for the newspaper more than two years after announcing his retirement. Tate has covered generations of Illinois teams, including the Final Four teams of 1989 and 2005. His first job as a sports writer in Hammond, Ind., began in 1955, and he became sports editor in Champaign in 1966 with an emphasis on writing.
2020 INDUCTEES
For almost four decades with the USBWA, nearly all of them as executive director, Joe Mitch has been the face of the organization. Joe grew the membership to its current level of more than 800. He developed programs to promote coverage of college basketball by offering scholarships to journalism students and developing such awards as the Oscar Robertson Trophy, the Henry Iba Award, the Wayman Tisdale Award and the annual recognition of women. Joe was named in 2015 to the Hall of Fame of the Missouri Valley Conference, where he spent about 30 years as an administrator, and was awarded the NABC's Cliff Wells Appreciation Award in 2019.
As a member of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution staff, Wendy Parker was regarded as one of the first national authorities on women's college basketball. For years, her columns in Basketball Times provided essential information for an audience that had traditionally concentrated on the men's game. She regularly covered Atlantic Coast Conference and Southeastern Conference basketball and was a consistent presence at the Women's Final Four. Wendy was respected for her work on the impact of Title IX and the women's sports establishment.
Since Bill Reynolds began working at the Providence Journal in 1981, not far from the headquarters of the Big East conference, he has been an authority on the dramatic rise of the collection of northeast independents and one of the most prolific basketball writers in the country. Last August, after more than 38 years, he decided "I'm easing off a bit" at the age of 74. His books include "Fall River Dreams," "Success Is a Choice" (with Rick Pitino), "Glory Days" and "Basketball Junkie" (with Chris Herren).
After graduating from the University of North Carolina in 1974, Mark Whicker covered college basketball in Winston-Salem, Dallas and Philadelphia, where he wrote about David Thompson and Dean Smith, the Big Five and Rollie Massimino. After moving west to the Orange County Register, he continued to delve into the college game with insight and illumination amid the focus on the L.A. pro scene. An award-winning columnist many times over, his roots have always been in college basketball.
Jack Wilkinson, the Georgia Sportswriter of the Year in 2001 and 2004, was a regular at Final Fours during a career of more than 30 years. After starting at Newsday while a student at Hofstra University, he worked at the Miami News, Chicago Daily News, New York Daily News and Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Some of his best work included coverage of the St. John's teams coached by Lou Carnesecca and the Georgia Tech teams coached by Bobby Cremins. When Atlanta hosted the Final Four in 2002, Jack's essay about his family's love of the game – including the devotion of his younger brother Tom and the day Jack scored 23 points in a ninth-grade game while guarded by Julius Erving – was one of the most talked-about stories of the weekend.
2019 INDUCTEES
Dan Wetzel got his start in sports journalism covering the women's cross-country team for the Daily Collegian at UMass.
"Not a lot of color in cross-country writing," Wetzel said. "They shoot a gun and they run into the woods. Then they come back and you have to write a story on what happened."
Bill Rhoden played defensive back on the football team at Morgan State, where he took just one journalism class. But the professor just happened to be Frances Murphy, whose family founded the Afro-American Times.
"She told me if I didn't get drafted that I would march my butt to the newspaper," Rhoden recalled. In February of 1972, shortly after his college football career had ended, Rhoden went to the newspaper's offices. "I marched up three steep flights of stairs and began my career."
As a senior at Muhlenburg Colllege in Allentown, Pa., Jack McCallum landed a job at the Allentown Globe, where he was assigned to cover the courts – both basketball and judicial.
"The real opening was in sports, which was probably a good thing," McCallum said. "I was better in sports than I was a courthouse reporter."
John Akers grew up on a farm in the tiny Iowa town of Dows (population 700), where the weekly arrival of his Sports Illustrated sparked the imagination.
"You read a story about Pete Maravich," said Akers, "and your image of him was how he was described to you in Sports Illustrated."
Akers went on to college at Iowa State, where he saw a story about the school's new sports information director. "That sounds pretty cool," Akers thought. He went to the sports information office to see if they were taking volunteers or interns. "They said 'Sure.' That exposed me to newspaper people."
From those beginnings, Wetzel, Rhoden, McCallum and Akers would embark on careers that led them to this year's enshrinement in the United States Basketball Writers Association's Hall of Fame class.
It's a group so accomplished that the only question regarding their candidacies was summed up by Wetzel, who said of his fellow inductees: "My thing was, how were those guys not already in the Hall of Fame? Bill Rhoden and Jack McCallum and John Akers are all guys I love reading. Insightful and impactful and trail-blazing."
Wetzel, the national columnist at Yahoo Sports, grew up just outside of Boston. His father would get several newspapers. Wetzel soaked up the sports coverage in the Boston Globe, the Boston Herald and the Patriot Ledger, but he never considered going into the business. During his high school days, he worked at Fenway Park, selling popcorn and Fenway Franks.
"I was not someone who wrote for my student newspaper in high school," Wetzel said. "I didn't go to college expecting to be a journalist."
Once he got to UMass, Wetzel landed the women's cross-country beat. He climbed the student paper's ladder, eventually moving up to the basketball beat around the time UMass hired a coach named John Calipari and brought in a recruit named Marcus Camby.
"Not only did the team turn into a Top 10 team, but we had this guy who is just this incredible newsmaker and personality," Wetzel said. "And he loved the media."
Wetzel was in the room when Temple coach John Chaney stormed into Calipari's post-game news conference. "The A-10 was awesome," Wetzel said.
After college, Wetzel interned at the Indianapolis News, covering the police beat. He moved to the Chicago Tribune, where he continued on the news side.
"Murders. Plane crashes. A safe falls out a window and lands on a guy," Wetzel said. "Every day was total mayhem."
Then the late Larry Donald, a past president of the USBWA and a Hall of Famer himself, contacted Wetzel about a job opening at Basketball Times.
"I could've been happy as a news reporter, but I loved how Larry allowed 18,000-word stories about the history of Mississippi State basketball," Wetzel said. "The idea of getting the opportunity to go super-deep on a subject I liked appealed to me."
Wetzel left Basketball Times for CBSSports and now writes for Yahoo. He has written several books, including Sole Influence and Glory Road, the story of legendary UTEP coach Don Haskins. But Wetzel said he's never forgotten the lessons that Donald taught him.
"If it's a great story, go write a great story," Wetzel said. "That's all Larry cared about."
Bill Rhoden of The Undefeated was caught completely off-guard when USBWA president David Teel called with the news that he was part of the 2019 Hall of Fame class.
"I thought he was pitching a story," Rhoden said.
Rhoden got his first newspaper job at the Afro-American in 1972, but he became an author when he was in the fourth or fifth grade. He "wrote" a Christmas story, making liberal use of his Childcraft Encyclopedia.
"My father said 'What are you doing?'" Rhoden recalled. "I said 'I'm writing a book.' He said 'No. No. You've got to write your own.'"
It's ironic that Rhoden is going into a college basketball organization's Hall of Fame. The Chicago native went to Morgan State to play football.
"I always thought basketball players were prima donnas," he said. "We're up there beating the hell out of each other and the basketball players would waltz in."
On his first day of work at the Afro-American in Baltimore, Rhoden wanted to make a good impression.
"I got there at 8 in the morning," he said. "Sam Lacy was there. He'd been there since 5 in the morning. That was my first lesson."
A year and a half later, Rhoden got a job at Ebony magazine and spent four years there as an associate editor. He wrote as well, but only occasionally on sports-related topics. He returned to Baltimore, where the Evening Sun had started a new features section. He wrote features and covered jazz.
In 1983, Rhoden got a call from a friend at the New York Times. The paper was looking for an editor for its Weekend Review.
"I figured, 'Just let me get on the train and I'd work my way up to the engine,'" he said. "I spent about a year at Weekend Review as an editor, which was about as much as I could stand. I was a writer at heart."
Rhoden got a chance to write again in the Times' sports section. He was put on the St. John's beat, giving him the opportunity to cover St. John's and the Big East during their heydays. He stayed on the beat until becoming a columnist in 1990.
This will be Rhoden's second Hall of Fame induction ceremony. In 2015, he spoke when Bryan Burwell was inducted posthumously.
"Bryan was a dear friend," Rhoden said "This really makes it all the more special."
John Akers would deserve his Hall of Fame nod for no other reason than what he's done at Basketball Times since becoming the magazine's editor in 2001 and publisher in 2011.
Brendan Quinn, of The Athletic, said this in his nomination of Akers: "He's not only single-handedly kept Larry Donald's legacy going but has nourished a fertile ground for both up-and-coming writers needing a break (ahem) and for some of the greatest voices in our game."
A past president of the USBWA, Akers created the organization's Rising Star award, which recognizes excellence in a member who is under the age of 30.
But Akers' career stretches well beyond his extraordinary work at Basketball Times. As an undergrad at Iowa State, he started working for the Ames Tribune. He took scores over the phone before earning the right to "actually go cover games," he said.
He went to the Burlington Hawk Eye after graduation and then went back to the Ames Tribune. He joined the San Jose Mercury News in 1984, first on the sports desk and then moving to college basketball. He covered Santa Clara, Cal and San Jose State. He got the Stanford beat as that program began to take off in the 1990s.
Akers and his wife Ann moved to Minneapolis. It was because of Ann that Akers found his way to Basketball Times.
"My wife worked at the National Scholastic Press Association and they were having their convention in Boston," Akers said. "Bob Ryan was going to be a speaker and she needed a mug shot of Bob. I called Basketball Times. That's where I learned that they were without an editor at that moment."
Akers has maintained Basketball Times and Larry Donald's legacy ever since. He said he's thrilled that former Basketball Times staffers Dan Wetzel and Mike Sheridan are part of this year's ceremony.
"It wasn't easy to follow Larry,' Akers said. "It's pretty cool that Dan and Mike are getting in at the same time. They were key parts of the making of Basketball Times."
McCallum went to Muhlenburg College to play basketball; not cover it.
"I played one year," he said. "They were really good."
McCallum is best known for the nearly three decades he spent at Sports Illustrated. Before joining the magazine in 1981, he worked for several different newspapers.
"I worked at four newspapers," he says, "and I killed three of them."
His first assignment at Sports Illustrated was a feature on Danny Ainge, the BYU guard who was set to embark on a baseball career at the conclusion of the 1981 NCAA tournament.
"I was there when Danny Ainge went coast-to-coast to beat Notre Dame," McCallum said.
Because of his newspaper background, McCallum got assigned stories that needed a quick turnaround.
"At that time, SI had a lot of thumb-sucking writers who took three weeks to write a story," McCallum said, chuckling. "I could do things fast."
When informed of his nomination into the USBWA Hall of Fame, McCallum said he felt unworthy at first.
"I haven't done as much college as other guys," McCallum said. "I felt bad, so I immediately began trying to remember all the college stuff I did do."
McCallum was there when North Carolina State stunned Houston in the 1983 NCAA championship game. He saw Tyus Edney and Ed O'Bannon lead UCLA to the 1994 title. He covered Connecticut's 1999 championship team, featuring Richard Hamilton and Khalid El-Amin.
"I'm very proud and very happy because I've always loved college basketball," McCallum said. "There's nothing like the Final Four. I covered the pros but there's nothing like the three weeks in March."
2018 INDUCTEES
The United States Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame just added four titans in college basketball.
The 2018 Hall of Fame class includes Lew Freedman, David Jones, Charles Pierce and Kirk Wessler.
Wessler was in stunned shock when he learned he'd been voted to the prestigious hall.
"Getting that news was the absolute last thing that would've crossed my mind," Wessler said. "It's cliche to say I was speechless, but all I could saywas 'Wow.'"
Wessler, who has covered college basketball for the vast majority of his career that began in 1977, got his start by a stoke of luck with his first job out of college at the Columbia Daily Tribune in Columbia, Mo.
"Within the first month I was there, the veteranguy left and they shuffled things around," Wessler said. "I was handed the Mizzou basketball beat." Wessler has since enjoyed a long career that includes a stop with the Dallas Times Herald and is now the sports editor with the Peoria Journal Star.
Wessler credits his success to the opportunities offered to him, even as a college student.
"I was incredibly blessed to have been hired here at the Peoria Star Journal by the late Dick Lien," Wessler said. "He was a great role model for how to cover the sport."
Fellow inductee David Jones was shocked as well to hear he was a part of this Hall of Fame class.
"If I'd been standing up, I would've maybe fallen over," Jones said. "It was absolutely stunning. I was stunned and I was smiling the rest of the night."
Jones began his career with the Columbus Post-Dispatch during a whirlwind season in 1985 that included covering basketball at the universities of Ohio, Cincinnati and Miami (Ohio).
For Jones, college basketball was his first love. "Ohio State basketball was always my favorite thing to watch as a little kid," Jones said. "It was always my favorite thing even though I grew up in a football town."
Jones gives credit for his success to his contemporaries. Mike DeCourcy, John Feinstein, Bob Ryan, Mark Brennan, Gordy Jones and Dick Jerardi were among the colleagues Jones named as major influences on his work covering college basketball.
"It makes a difference when you go to 25 Final Fours and you sit around talking to people, you hear stories, you get experience, and you get a breadth of knowledge just listening to people who have covered it for a long time," Jones said.
Today, Jones covers Penn State basketball for the Harrisburg Patriot News.
Freedman started his career by covering Florida State basketball and later college basketball in Philadelphia for the Philadelphia Inquirer. His legendary status, however, came while covering Alaska-Anchorage basketball.
"I started in February of 1984, and the very first event I covered for the Anchorage Daily News was a college basketball game," Freedman said. "I begancovering Alaska-Anchorage right then and coveredthem for the next 17 years."
Freedman also covered the short-lived Alaska Pacific program, during which he produced a famous story in which he covered six of the team's games over a 10-day road trip on a bus through the Pacific Northwest.
"I think it was captivating for people," Freedman said of the story. "It was a small place. They didn't have four assistant coaches doing the laundry for them."
Freedman's unusual career path has led him fromthe cold of Alaska to the high desert of Wyoming, here he currently covers rodeos and the outdoors for the Cody Enterprise, a twice-weekly paper originally funded by Buffalo Bill Cody in 1890.
Still, Freedman finds compelling, award-winning stories within the vast world of college basketball, including his most recent piece on a 19-year-old assistant coach at Northwest Junior College in Powell, Wyo.
Pierce, who writes for Esquire and is a longtime Sports Illustrated and Slate contributor, has become an iconic figure in both sports and political writing, but his journalistic roots take him back to the college hardwood.
"The traveling carnivals of ne'er-do-wells who cover college hoops always have been some of my favorite running buddies in the business," Pierce said."And I was especially happy about it because, frankly, I've been off the beat for a while."
Looking back, Pierce has seen the game evolve into the spectacle it is today. But those following the game, Pierce believes, are still a one-of-a-kind group.
"I just always loved the people in and around the game," Pierce said. "When I started, it wasn't the huge spectacle that it's become. ESPN was just starting out. You could still get tickets to every round of the tournament and conferences made geographical sense. I've watched it grow, with all the pluses and minuses that entails, but it still seems to attract a unique passel of characters."
2017 INDUCTEES
Steve Carp's path to the USBWA Hall of Fame started on subway rides from Brooklyn with his grandfather to see basketball at Madison Square Garden in the 1960s.
"The atmosphere just stuck with me for my entire life," he said.
David Teel's way to the Hall of Fame was kindled by his father, Bill, tucking local sports sections under his pillow every morning when he left for work.
It caught fire with the spectacle of Lefty Driesell flashing his patented "V" for victory as he took the court at Cole Field House.
"How can you not be enthralled by that?" said Teel, who 48 years later still has "in all their tortured cursive glory" some stories his dad encouraged him to write about games.
Tom Archdeacon's course from Ottoville, Ohio, to the Hall of Fame wasn't as linear, considering he became a sportswriter by happenstance.
But the seeds were planted when he was just a few years old and a regular at the basketball games of his grandfather, L.W. Heckman, an accomplished coach. It was a family affair, in fact: Archdeacon's dad was an assistant coach who went on to referee for 37 years, and his mother was the scorekeeper.
"Basketball has been my friend since I was a tiny little boy," he said.
Then there is Frank Deford, whose trail began with some fortune.
The game was an afterthought nationally when he was hired in 1962 by Sports Illustrated, which he recalled had featured college basketball on its cover three or four times in its first eight years.
Because no one else was interested, the Princeton graduate became the basketball fact checker.
Still, when he pitched a story on the bright future of a fellow named Bill Bradley as he was about to join the varsity at Princeton, many laughed.
But it became one of Deford's first major stories and led to simultaneously covering college basketball and the NBA for several years – and influential writing that inspired many to enter the business.
Add it all up, and it's what you might call a Final Four for the ages.
"Holy Smokes, that's a heck of a group," said Carp, who has covered 16 Final Fours and been with the Las Vegas Review-Journal the last 17 years. "It's very humbling."
Archdeacon was thrilled to know the "tall cotton" he is in. "I can't say just how it warms my heart," said Archdeacon, who has been with the Dayton Daily News since 1989.
Teel, who joined the Newport News Daily Press in 1984 and has covered 25 Final Fours, called it "an indescribable honor."
Especially to be recognized at the same time as Archdeacon and Carp and, as Teel put it, "I can't even bring myself to call him Frank: It's Mr. Deford."
As arguably the most-decorated American sportswriter, it might seem this would be just another honor for Deford. But Deford held forth for 40 minutes on the telephone as he described the "pleasant surprise" that took him back to his "golden youth."
Among them, the group has chronicled much of the explosion of the game's popularity.
If theirs were the first drafts of history, they've collectively documented these momentous times with grace and vision that will stand as the record for generations to come.
"We've helped it grow, I think," said Carp, under whose presidency in 2009-2010 the USBWA saw what was then its biggest membership jump.
For Carp, the timing is perfect as he transitions to covering the NHL expansion Las Vegas Golden Knights, who begin play next season.
As he reflected on covering basketball, Carp thought back to going to the Garden with his grandfather, Charles Birnbaum, and of making enemies covering his high school team.
He thought of his start covering the college game in 1975 with the Manhattan College student paper, of his adventures covering UNLV at its peak of glamour and chaos and the scene around USA Basketball camps in Las Vegas.
"I had a seat," he said, "that very few people had a chance to sit in."
Teel, who won back-to-back free-throw shooting championships at Driesell's camps, is a 1981 graduate of James Madison.
He was already hooked on the game and becoming a sportswriter, but it was ramped up after the Dukes that spring qualified for their first NCAA Tournament and toppled Georgetown.
Two years later, he was working in Fayetteville, N.C., and covering N.C. State in the tournament on its way to what became the epic 54-52 title-game victory over Houston.
At 23, he thought, "How much better can it get?"
Answer: better and better, partly because of the fulfillment in the work itself and partly because of his friendships in the business.
After Archdeacon finished school at Dayton, he wasn't sure what to do with his life. He dabbled in journalism in college … but not in sports.
He found himself in Florida, living with the family of a girlfriend who had broken up with him when her mother tried to nudge him along by pointing out a want ad for a sportswriter in South Dade County.
He got the job and took to it … only to get fired a year later when his response to an edict to stop covering African-Americans athletes was to ramp it up.
After a year or so of freelancing, he was hired by the Miami News and emerged as an elegant, empathetic writer who has won numerous USBWA writing awards.
"His huge heart allows him to see people where others only see games or topics," said close friend Todd Jones of the Columbus Dispatch. "His stories are about life, and so those stories will live forever."
If Deford's inclusion is overdue, that's because until 2003 the USBWA didn't induct non-members.
As one who was on the forefront of coverage of the game, he now stands as testimony to why that was a worthy change. From the first of UCLA's titles under John Wooden to the Texas Western-Kentucky title game, he was there – often wearing eyeglasses he didn't need to make himself look older and wiser. He would write what is widely considered the definitive story of Bobby Knight (The Rabbit Hunter), and as he reflects now he thinks of important pieces he did on the 1957 North Carolina title team and Al McGuire and Dean Smith.
He thinks, too, about how the game took him to places like Pocatello and El Paso that he'd never gone otherwise.
Just like the rest of the group, he knows basketball was the foundation of all else to come in an illustrious career.
"It was a wonderful, wonderful time," he said. "I look back on it very fondly."
BLAIR KERKHOFF: Kerkhoff has been covering college sports for the Kansas City Star since 1989. He started his career 35 years ago at the Roanoke Times & World News under the late Bill Brill, a past president of the USBWA and a member of the USBWA Hall of Fame. Kerkhoff attended his 26th NCAA Final Four in April. Along the way, he's covered some 30 regional finals and semifinals. In addition, he's written five books, including a biography on former Kansas coach Phog Allen.
BOB PILLE: Pille, a long-time USBWA member, began covering sports in high school and later in college at Bradley for the Peoria Journal Star. In 1950, he embarked on a 38-year professional career that included 22 years with the Chicago Sun-Times. He also worked for the Times Herald in Washington D. C., the Cincinnati Post and the Detroit Free Press. Pille was 80 when he passed away in 2006. He never fully recovered from a tragic automobile accident that occurred a year earlier. His collection of sports books and articles is housed in the Department of Communications at Bradley.
ROGER VALDISERRI: Valdiserri helped define the role of sports information director while he was SID at Notre Dame for 22 years. He is considered by many to be the gold standard in the field of media relations. He retired in 1995 as associate athletic director after 33 years in athletic administration at Notre Dame. Valdiserri is a member of the College Sports Information Directors of America Hall of Fame and is a past recipient of the USBWA's Katha Quinn Award for extraordinary service to the media. His publications at Notre Dame earned more than 50 national awards.
MARK BRADLEY: Bradley has been writing for the Journal-Constitution for 31 years (1984 to present). Previously, he worked for the Lexington Herald-Leader for six years from 1978-84. Although his columns today are mostly about pro sports in Atlanta and football in the South, Bradley told USBWA Vice President Pat Forde of Yahoo! Sports that covering college basketball played an integral role in his career as a sportswriter. "When I go to a college basketball game, I kind of feel like this is what I grew up doing," said Bradley, who graduated from Kentucky. "It never feels like this is something unimportant. If I did ever make a reputation as a writer – and I'm still trying to do that – a lot of it has had to do with covering college basketball." Bradley was named best columnist in the highest circulation category by the Associated Press Sports Editors in 1985 and has finished in the top 10 four times.
BRYAN BURWELL: Burwell was enshrined posthumously. He passed away from cancer on Dec. 4, 2014. A past president of the USBWA in 2010-11, Burwell is the first African-American to be elected to the USBWA Hall of Fame. Before joining the Post-Dispatch in 2002, Burwell established a national reputation writing for USA Today, Sports Illustrated, Sporting News, the Detroit News and New York's Newsday and Daily News. In 2007, he was selected by the Associated Press Sports Editors as one of the top 10 columnists in the country. He was also a television and radio personality, appearing on CNN, ESPN's "The Sports Reporters," and HBO's "Real Sports" and "Inside The NFL" and hosting shows on radio stations in St. Louis.
DICK JERARDI: Jerardi served as president of the USBWA in 2008-09. He joined the Philadelphia Daily News in 1985 and since then has covered 26 NCAA tournaments and 21 Final Fours. He was voted Pennsylvania sportswriter of the year in 2001 by the National Association of Sportswriters and Broadcasters. In addition to writing for the Daily News, Jerardi also serves as a color analyst on radio broadcasts of Penn State basketball games.
GEORGE LAPIDES: Lapides is a long-time media member in Memphis, having spent nearly 54 years covering sports, including the University of Memphis and the SEC. He was sports editor and columnist of the Memphis Press-Scimitar from 1967 until the newspaper closed in 1983 during which time he covered every Final Four and several since then for TV and radio stations in Memphis. He also was sports editor at WREG-TV in Memphis. Lapides is considered to be a pioneer among sportswriters making the leap from print to talk radio. Now in its 42nd straight year on the air, his Sportstime show in Memphis is the longest-running sports radio program in the nation.
ROBIN NORWOOD: Norwood served as president of the USBWA in 2004-05, the only woman to ever hold that position. She covered two Olympic Games (Atlanta and Sydney) and 11 Final Fours as national college basketball columnist and reporter from 1986 to 2008 for the Los Angeles Times.
FRANK BILOVSKY: At age 13 in rural Pennsylvania, Bilovsky was smitten by college basketball when Lebanon Valley College from nearby Annville was invited to the 1953 NCAA tournament. The Flying Dutchmen defeated Fordham before falling to Bob Pettit and LSU. Lebanon Valley? How great a story was that? He graduated in 1962, got hired by the late Philadelphia Bulletin a year later and was assigned to cover the Big Five. His prose told the story of those doubleheaders at the Palestra until the Bulletin's demise in 1982.
MIKE LOPRESTI: A national sportswriting landmark is what Lopresti's column has become in USA Today. Lopresti got his journalism start at his hometown newspaper, the Palladium-Item, while a high school student in Richmond, Ind., where he still lives. He worked for the P-I until joining the startup crew for USA Today in 1982. Atlanta marked his 34th Final Four.
LENOX RAWLINGS: Rawlings retired in December after 34 years writing sports columns for the Winston-Salem Journal, where his work was must-read material for anyone remotely interested in the ACC. He previously worked in Raleigh, Greensboro and Atlanta. A graduate of North Carolina, Rawlings never played favorites as he wrote about some of college ball's hottest rivalries, and he never shied from criticizing whoever and whatever deserved rebuke. That approach might have angered a few coaches and more than a few boosters. But Rawlings' way with words disarmed them and his honesty commanded respect. And it was just damn difficult to argue with his demeanor.
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| The USBWA inducted Lenox Rawlings, Mike Lopresti and Frnnk Bilovsky into its Hall of Fame at the Final Four in Atlanta. |
TOM CUSHMAN: Cushman had an illustrious career that began at the Colorado Springs Gazette in 1959 and took him to the Philadelphia Daily News for 15 years and to the San Diego Union-Tribune from 1982-2001 when he retired. He covered 30 Final Fours, 11 Olympics and a host of other major sports events on every continent but Antarctica.
MIKE DeCOURCY: DeCourcy has spent most of his sportswriting career at The Sporting News where he is the magazine's college basketball columnist. He began his career at the Pittsburgh Press (1983-93), then moved to the Memphis Commercial-Appeal (1993-97) and the Cincinnati Enquirer (1997-2000). He also serves as a studio analyst and panelist on the Big Ten Network.
PETER FINNEY: An icon in the sports journalism profession, Finney worked for more than 65 years in New Orleans and was still writing columns for the New Orleans Times-Picayune at 84. He started his career covering prep sports while in high school for the Orleans States. After college, he joined the States-Item and after one year was writing three columns a week and covering college sports. When the States-Item merged with the Times-Picayune, he wrote five columns a week. “Pistol Pete” is among the three books he has written.
BILL CONNORS: An iconic columnist in Oklahoma who passed away in 2000. He spent 47 years at the Tulsa World, where he was the sports editor from 1959-94. The soft-spoken Connors was a native of Canadian, Okla., who became a graduate of Oklahoma State. He was best known for writing columns that were clever, informative and fair to their subjects. Connors was an 11-time winner of Oklahoma's Sportswriter of the Year and was inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in 1998.
MICKEY FURFARI: Has covered West Virginia athletics for 65 years, through the basketball eras of "Hot Rod" Hundley, Jerry West, Rod Thorn and Fred Schaus. At 87, he is retired after 40 years as a daily sportswriter for the Dominion Post but still writes columns for a syndicate of several West Virginia newspapers. Furfari has covered West Virginia athletics since graduating from the school in 1948. The state's dean of sportswriting was voted West Virginia sportswriter of the year five times. Though he is "retired" on Aug. 1, 1989, and is legally blind, Furfari continues to write a column for a syndicate of West Virginia newspapers. He recently completed the book Mickey's Mountaineer Memories. In the introduction, West called Furfari "a state treasure." Furfari spent 40 years from 1949-89 at the Morgantown Dominion Post as a managing editor, sports editor, Sunday editor and executive sports editor.
ART SPANDER: Began his career as a news writer for United Press International in 1960 and moved to sportswriting for the Santa Monica Outlook in 1963. He went to work for the San Francisco Chronicle in 1965 and was named the lead columnist for the San Francisco Examiner in 1979. Spander was awarded the McCann Award in 1999, earning him a place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. His golf coverage earned him the Masters Major Achievement Award in 2007, the PGA of America Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009. This year, he won the UCLA Award for Professional Achievement in journalism and the Tournament Golf Journalism Award.
2010 INDUCTEES
WALTER BYERS: Former Executive Director of the NCAA who is credited with the idea to form the U.S. Basketball Writers Association in 1956. Byers was media-friendly and praised for his cooperation and treatment of sportswriters.
SKIP MYSLENSKI: Retired in 2008 after 42 years as a sportswriter. Started at the Rochester Times-Union in 1967, moved on to Sports Illustrated in 1968 and the Philadelphia Inquirer in 1973, and then joined the Chicago Tribune in 1978 where he spent the next 30 years covering college sports. He was named the Tribune's national college basketball writer in 1988.
BUD WITHERS: President of the USBWA in 1992-93, Withers has covered sports for three Northwest newspapers since 1970. He worked at the Eugene Register-Guard from 1970-87 and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer from 1987-99 and has been at the Seattle Times since 1999. He has written books on Gonzaga basketball and basketball coaching legend Ralph Miller and has been named "Sportswriter of the Year" in both Oregon and Washington.
2009 INDUCTEES
PETE AXTHELM: Pete Axthelm wrote for the New York Herald Tribune and Sports Illustrated but was best known for the 20 years he spent at Newsweek, first as sports editor and then as a columnist and contributing editor. He was also a sports television commentator for NBC and later ESPN. He authored "City Game, Basketball in New York," the first book to seriously explore college basketball recruiting. The book covered the glory and tragedy of New York basketball. It combined an account of the championship season of the New York Knicks with a study of those who played in ghetto playgrounds and became neighborhood legends but never played professionally. Axthelm died in 1991 of liver failure at the age of 47.
RICK BOZICH: Rick Bozich is in his 31st year at the Louisville Courier-Journal and Times. He replaced USBWA Hall of Fame member Dick Fenlon as sports columnist at the Times in 1981 and became a Courier-Journal columnist in 1986. He has covered 27 of the last 28 NCAA Final Fours and seven NCAA championship teams at Kentucky, Louisville and Indiana. Bozich served as USBWA president in 2003-04 and has won more than 20 USBWA writing contest awards and six from APSE. He has also been a college basketball correspondent for Sports Illustrated since 1986.
GARY McCANN: Gary McCann is in his 38th year as a sportswriter. Since 1998, he has been sports editor of The Herald. He started his career at the Burlington Times-News in 1971 and moved to the Greensboro News & Record in 1981 before leaving to replace the legendary Bob Hammel as sports editor at the Bloomington, Ind., Herald-Times in 1996. McCann has covered 17 Final Fours and numerous ACC tournaments and has won 10 USBWA writing awards and more than 20 other state and national writing awards.
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| Nancy Axthelm and grandchildren accepting from Malcolm Moran on behalf of the late Pete Axthelm; Rick Bozich and Pat Forde (bottom left); and Gary McCann and Dick Jerardi (bottom right). |
2008 INDUCTEE
STEVE WIEBERG: Steve Wieberg is the 50th member of the USBWA Hall of Fame. He has been at USA Today since being part of the original startup staff in 1982. His primary responsibilities include coverage of college sports, in particular football, basketball and rules governing the NCAA. He has covered every NCAA men's Final Four since 1983 and also covered six Summer and Winter Olympics. He served as president of the USBWA in 1996-97 and has won seven writing contest awards from the USBWA, six from the Associated Press Sports Editors and three from the Football Writers Association. He was named by the Chronicle of Higher Education as one of the "10 Most Powerful People in College Sports" in October 2007 and selected by College Sports magazine as one of the "50 Most Influential People in College Sports" in 1995 and '96.
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| 2007 inductee Frank Boggs (left) was introduced by Bill Hancock (center). USBWA president Tom Shatel assisted in the presentation in Atlanta. (Photo: Bill Mathis, MathisJones Communications) |
2007 INDUCTEE
FRANK BOGGS: Frank Boggs wrote sports for the Daily Oklahoman, Topeka Capital-Journal and Dallas Times-Herald in the 1970s and '80s and later was sports editor and columnist for the Daily Oklahoman and Colorado Springs Sun. Boggs was selected Oklahoma Sportswriter of the Year 10 times and is a member of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame. He was a recipient of the Jake Wade Award in 1981, given annually by CoSIDA to a national sports journalist. CoSIDA also recognized Boggs in 1977 by presenting him with the Backbone Award for displaying good judgment and unusual courage for taking a stand on intercollegiate athletics during the Oklahoma football scandal.
2006 INDUCTEE
MARVIN WEST: The USBWA president in 1983-84, West joined the Knoxville News-Sentinel in 1955 and covered Tennessee until 1979, when he became a columnist and associate sports editor. He was named sports editor in 1980 and continued covering UT and college sports until he was named managing editor in 1983. West then went to Scripps-Howard
to become its first sports editor. He became managing editor of the news service in 1995 and retired in 1998.
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| 2005 inductees Malcolm Moran, Jerry Tipton and Frank Burlison with USBWA President Robyn Norwood. |
2005 INDUCTEES
FRANK BURLISON: When inducted, Burlison had covered college basketball for nearly 30 years for the Long Beach Press-Telegram, Orange County Register and Fox Sports. In 1992, Sports Illustrated listed him as one of the country's "10 most influential members of the media" in college basketball.
MALCOLM MORAN: President of the USBWA in 1988-89 when the organization formalized its awards for women and held its first nationally-televised presentation of the player of the year awards. He has reported on college basketball for four newspapers over 30 years – Newsday, The New York Times, Chicago Tribune and USA Today.
JERRY TIPTON: Has covered Kentucky basketball continuously for the Lexington Herald-Leader since 1982 and has been named Kentucky Sportswriter of the Year and Herald-Leader Excellence Award winner. Worked for the Huntington (W. Va.) Herald-Dispatch for eight years before joining the Herald-Leader.
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| 2004 inductee Jerry Radding with fellow Hall of Famer John Feinstein (left) and 2003 inductee Jim O'Brien | |
2004 INDUCTEE
JERRY RADDING: Became the first New England writer to serve as USBWA president in 1973-74 ... Retired from the Springfield (Mass.) Union News in 1991 after a 41-year career and has been a regular fixture at the NCAA Final Four for nearly four decades ... Was the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's first publicity director.
2003 INDUCTEES
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| Bill Jauss |
BILL JAUSS: Legendary Chicago sportswriter for nearly 50 years with the Chicago Daily News, the Chicago Today and the Chicago Tribune since 1974 ... an original member of the nationally-syndicated TV show called "Sports Writers."
JIM O'BRIEN: Founding editor of Street & Smith's Basketball magazine for over 23 years and author of 12 books about Pittsburgh sports ... had newspaper stints at the Pittsburgh Press, New York Post and Miami News.
2002 INDUCTEES
MEL GREENBERG: considered a pioneer among sportswriters for his national coverage of women's college basketball ... started the first top 20 poll for women's basketball in 1976 ... a member of the Big 5 Hall of Fame in Philadelphia.
BILL MILLSAPS: Was USBWA president in 1985-86 and a sportswriter and columnist for over two decades, including serving 15 years as sports editor at the Richmond Times-Dispatch ... an 11-time winner of the Virginia Sportswriter of the Year award. He currently is vice-president and executive editor of the Times-Dispatch.
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| Jim O'Connell |
JIM O'CONNELL: President of the USBWA in 1997-98 and currently is national college basketball editor for the Associated Press ... Has been on the AP staff since 1978 ... was inducted into the media wing of the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002, received the Big East Conference Media Award in 2001 and was honored as the NIT National Media Man of the Year in 1997.
ALEXANDER WOLFF: As USBWA president in 1999-2000, Wolff was instrumental in starting a USBWA-sponsored scholarship program for aspiring sports journalism students and also initiated a sportswriting seminar held each year at the NCAA Final Four. He joined Sports Illustrated in 1980 and is the author of six books on basketball.
2001 INDUCTEES
KEN DENLINGER: A veteran of nearly 35 years with the Washington Post ... Denlinger first gained attention for his coverage of Georgetown and Maryland ... Considered a great stylist, he later became a columnist for the Post before recently returning to beat coverage of the Hoyas.
BOB RUSSELL: The first president-elect of the USBWA in 1956 ... During his presidency, Russell covered college basketball and football for the old Chicago Daily News ... Helped draft the organization's original by-laws, working in conjunction with Wayne Duke, who at the time was an assistant director with the NCAA and later became commissioner of the Big 10 Conference.
CHARTER INDUCTEES
WAYNE DUKE
Known by many for his lengthy tenure as Big Ten commissioner ... Duke was, along with former NCAA Director Walter Byers, largely responsible for forming the USBWA in 1956 ... Authored the original USBWA constitution and has maintained membership since the organization's inception.
SMITH BARRIER
A past president of the organization (1970-71) ... Career spanned four decades and included coverage of the Southern Conference (1941-53) and Atlantic Coast Conference (1954-1988) ... Covered the Final Four for 30 years (1957-87) and penned several books on college basketball.
DICK HERBERT
Another past president (1959-60) ... Founded and then edited for 12 years, the organization's newsletter, The Tipoff ... Served as sports editor of the Raleigh News and Observer for 29 years.
RAY MARQUETTE
President in 1962-63, Marquette went on to become the executive director and secretary of the USBWA from 1969-77, when he was killed in a plane crash ... Considered a key man in the organization in the transition from original executive secretary Ed Schneider in the wake of Schneider's retirement in the 1960s.
IRVING MARSH
A past president (1964-65), Marsh is considered to be one of the pioneer college basketball beat writers for the New York Herald Tribune and its successor, the New York World Tribune-Journal ... Took an active role in the promotion and coverage of the National Invitation Tournament in the 1930s.
JAY SIMON
This former USBWA president (1963-64) was sports editor of the Topeka State Journal after World War II and moved to Oklahoma City where he was the top collegiate writer at the Daily Oklahoman ... Later, was the sports information director at Kansas.
LARRY BOECK
Sportswriter for the Louisville Courier-Journal and Times for 25 years before moving into athletic community relations for the University of Louisville ... President of the USBWA in 1966-67 ... Died in 1972 at the age of 52.
BILL BRILL
The USBWA president in 1980-81, Brill began his career with the Roanoke Times and World News in 1956 and served as the paper's executive sports editor and columnist through 1991 ... Now a resident of Durham, N.C., Brill is still a regular contributor to several publications.
DAVID CAWOOD
Former Assistant Executive Director at the NCAA who for nearly 25 years was the media coordinator for the NCAA Final Four ... Now working for Host Communications.
LARRY DONALD
The only two-term president of the USBWA (1986-88), Donald was editor and publisher of nationally-distributed publications, Basketball Times and Eastern Basketball ... Was cited 18 times in the USBWA's Best Writing Contest.
DAVE DORR
This long-time staff writer at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch was USBWA president in 1979-80 ... Covered 17 Final Fours and was for many years a college basketball columnist for The Sporting News.
JIM ENRIGHT
The late Enright was a college basketball writer for the old Chicago Today newspaper and a well-known referee in the Windy City area ... Also served as USBWA president in 1967-68.
JOHN FEINSTEIN
Gained fame for his book on Bobby Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers in 1986 with "A Season on the Brink ... Subsequently, John has written several more best-selling books while continuing to write about college basketball for the Washington Post ... Was president of the USBWA in 1991-92.
DICK FENLON
Veteran columnist and reporter for the Columbus Dispatch, who has actively covered Big Ten and Ohio State ... Prior to that, he worked in Louisville as a columnist for the Louisville Courier-Journal, actively covering Kentucky and Louisville ... Was an NCAA Final Four regular for at least two decades before retiring in 1997.
MAL FLORENCE
A member of the Los Angeles Times sports staff since 1951 ... Was the college beat writer for the Times in the '60s and '70s and covered the UCLA Bruins during their dynasty years.
DAN FOSTER
Sports editor and columnist for the Greenville (S.C.) News, who has covered college basketball (ACC and SEC) for 50 years ... Still covers Clemson and South Carolina on a full-time basis.
MARVIN "SKEETER" FRANCIS
Francis was a longtime assistant commissioner and service bureau director at the Atlantic Coast Conference ... Before joining the ACC in 1969, he served as sports information director at Wake Forest for 15 years.
MARY GARBER
A pioneer female sports writer for the Winston Salem-Journal whose career in sportswriting began in 1946 ... Covered the ACC and Wake Forest before retiring in 1986 ... She has won some 40 writing awards in her career and still works part-time for the Journal sports staff.
J. HERBERT GOOD
Good was president of the organization in 1958-59 ... Staff writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Bulletin before his death in August, 1967.
RON GREEN SR.
Has been covering sports in Charlotte, N.C. for 46 years, 35 of which were with the old Charlotte News, the last 10 with the Charlotte Observer ... Has been North Carolina Sports Writer of the Year five times.
STEVE GUBACK
From 1977-83, Guback served as executive director of the organization ... During his tenure, Guback played a large role in developing and acquiring sponsors for the USBWA's Most Courageous Award ... Also was instrumental in getting the NCAA to bring players to an interview area after tournament games.
BOB HAMMEL
Hammel was the sports editor of the Bloomington Herald Telephone for more than 20 years and an employee for more than 30 years ... Has been named the Indiana sportswriter of the year ten times and has covered every Final Four since 1968 ... Also a USBWA past president (1982-83).
BOB HENTZEN
A 14-time winner of the Kansas sportswriter of the year award, Hentzen has regularly covered the Final Four since 1973 after covering his first in 1964 ... Has been sports editor of the Topeka Capital-Journal since 1968 and was president of the USBWA in 1975-76.
DAVE KINDRED
A nationally-known sports columnist, Kindred has worked for the Louisville Courier-Journal, The Washington Post and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution ... Also has been a longtime columnist for the Sporting News ... His first love has always been college basketball ... Authored a still-popular book on basketball in the state of Kentucky.
CURRY KIRKPATRICK
Long-time college basketball writer for Sports Illustrated, Kirkpatrick was a frequent winner in the USBWA's Best Writing contest ... Also served as a college basketball reporter for CBS and most recently is doing television work and magazine writing for ESPN.
DAVE KRIDER
Longtime prep writer from LaPorte, Ind., currently covers high school football and basketball for USA Today ... Was a pioneer in writing nationally about preps ... Work has appeared in Basketball Weekly, Street & Smith and Basketball Times.
HUBERT MIZELL
Veteran sports writer and columnist for the St. Petersburg Times ... Has covered 29 Final Fours.
GARY NUHN
Noted sports columnist for the Dayton Daily News who began covering the University of Dayton and Ohio State basketball in the early 1970s ... Winner of several USBWA Best Writing contests and was USBWA president in 1989-90.
BILLY REED
Longtime college basketball writer for the Louisville Courier-Journal, Lexington Herald-Leader and Sports Illustrated ... Cited numerous times in the USBWA Best Writing contest, Reed also served a term on the Board of Directors.
BOB RYAN
Noted Boston Globe sports columnist who has co-authored books on Larry Bird, Bob Cousy and John Havlicek ... Has been with the Globe since 1968 ... Longtime columnist for Basketball Times.
JERRY TAX
Now retired, Tax was a writer and editor at Sports Illustrated from 1955 to 1981 ... Was instrumental in Sports Illustrated expanding its national coverage to college basketball in the 1950s and 1960s.
CAULTON TUDOR
Long time columnist and staff writer for the Raleigh Times and News Observer ... Caulton's sports writing career covers a 30-year span in Raleigh ... Has covered every ACC Tournament since 1972 and NCAA Final Four since 1974 ... Twice was elected president of the ACC Sports Writers Association.
BOB VETRONE
Vetrone began his sports journalism career in Philadelphia in 1943 when he joined the Philadelphia Bulletin ... Currently an assistant sports information director at the La Salle University ... Vetrone has been involved in sports writing, broadcasting and public relations for nearly 50 years.
DICK WEISS
Nicknamed "Hoops," which says it all ... Currently covers college football and basketball for New York Daily News, but for many years held a similar job at the Philadelphia Daily News ... His byline has appeared in many national publications, including Basketball Times ... Is a past-president of the USBWA.
GORDON S. WHITE JR.
A past president of the USBWA (1969-70), White covered college basketball for The New York Times for nearly three decades ... Joined the Times in 1948 and authored a number of books on college sports during his career.
MAURY WHITE
A charter member of the USBWA, White worked at the Des Moines Register for 41 years ... Also a five-time winner of the Iowa sports writer of the year award.