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Mel Greenberg

Categories: Class of 2007
  • Staff writer at the Philadelphia Inquirer for 37 years
  • First writer to be inducted into Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame
  • Created the first weekly national collegiate women’s basketball poll in 1976; two years later it began worldwide transmission as the Associated Press women’s rankings
  • Best known for national and local coverage of women’s basketball at the collegiate and professional levels
  • Covered every national finals dating back to the era of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW)
  • Known as “The Guru,” “Mr. Women’s Basketball,” “The Godfather”
  • Received Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s first media award in 1991; award was re-named the “Mel Greenberg Award” and given each year to someone whose work in the media helps foster the growth of women’s basketball
  • Received the Big East’s Media Award in 2004
  • Received the Jake Wade Award in 2005, given by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) to a member of the news media who has made a major impact on collegiate athletics
  • Received the ECAC-SIDA, an offshoot of the national organization, media award in 2006
  • Inducted into the Philadelphia Big Five Hall of Fame (1992), the United States Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame (2002) and the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (2005).
  • Has covered the WNBA extensively every summer since the pro league’s beginning in 1997, as well as the former American Basketball League during its brief existence from 1996-98
  • During his collegiate days at Temple University , he served as basketball manager for Hall-of-Fame coach Harry Litwack’s men’s team
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