Each year, college basketball fans across the country gear up for March Madness, a tournament that starts with 64 teams hoping to win the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship. While many fans are making brackets based on who they think will win, dedicated sports writers are busy catching as many moments as possible to report and reflect on.
The recent March Madness season concluded on April 8, 2024, and we want to recognize three Klein College of Media and Communication alumni who have been inducted into the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) Hall of Fame for their dedication to NCAA coverage, not just in March, but year-round.
“You could make a very strong case that it would be hard to find any school, anywhere, that has three graduates that have impacted the coverage of a sport on the level of these three,” said USBWA Executive Director Malcolm Moran.
Robert Logan, KLN ‘60
The most recent inductee into the USBWA Hall of Fame is the late Robert Logan. Logan was inducted posthumously before the 2023 NCAA Championship game. Moran accepted the award on his behalf.
Logan spent the beginning of his career covering the National Basketball Association (NBA). Specifically, he covered the pre-Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls for the Chicago Tribune and the Daily Herald. Back then, though, sports writers were less specialized in one sport or league and Logan also covered college basketball at Midwest schools like DePaul University, University of Illinois and University of Notre Dame.
When it came time to nominate an inductee for the USBWA Hall of Fame in 2023, Moran felt strongly that Logan’s overall work was deserving of the recognition. Though much of his career was spent covering the NBA, his impact on the NCAA and basketball writing as a whole could not be denied.
“It was very rewarding when I realized that a lot of the people on the Board who were responsible for voting either never met him or barely met him, yet the body of work carried the day,” Moran said.
In addition to writing, Logan was a key figure in establishing the Professional Basketball Writers Association.
“Every NBA beat writer should be thanking Bob and his cohorts for getting better conditions and setting the pace for future generations,” said former NBA Public Relations Director Brian McIntyre.
Logan is remembered for his generosity as a writer. Though he was competing with other writers he would still share insights with colleagues. He is also remembered for his sense of humor that often made its way into his writing in the form of playful puns that only he could get away with, McIntyre said.
Dick “Hoops” Weiss, KLN ‘69
During the 2023 NCAA tournament, Klein College alum Dick “Hoops” Weiss was honored during a final four round game for his 50 years of dedication to covering the tournament. Weiss was presented with a tribute video and a basketball signed by his colleagues and the 2023 final four coaches.
“You spend your entire life doing something and it's nice when you get that type of recognition,” Weiss said.
Weiss earned the nickname “Hoops” because he went to so many basketball games in his youth and during his time at Temple University. Before college basketball games were widely broadcasted, the only way to see them was in-person at The Palestra. Starting when he was a sophomore in high school, Weiss would go to Big 5 games every Saturday and Wednesday. The Big 5 was made up of LaSalle University, University of Pennsylvania, Villanova University, St. Joseph’s University and Temple University.
In high school, Weiss would look at press row on the floor at basketball games and think, “This would be a neat thing to do.” While at Temple, he gained experience as the sports editor for The Temple News and Templar Yearbook and working at The Trenton Times.
After graduating, Weiss briefly covered sports for The Baltimore Sun before returning to The Trenton Times, then The Camden Courier Post and ultimately The Philadelphia Daily News. As the youngest writer ever hired at The Daily News, Weiss covered NBA basketball for five years before beginning his professional journey covering Big 5 games on a regular basis.
Moran noted that Weiss is universally acknowledged as an authority on the Big 5 and that his dedication to the game has earned him a spot in more than just the USBWA Hall of Fame.
“It might be quicker to name the halls of fame related to basketball he’s not in,” Moran said.
Weiss has written 17 books on college basketball and is currently working for BlueStar Media covering international basketball.
Mel Greenberg, KLN ‘69
“Mel is the authoritative voice in the history of the women’s game,” Moran said.
When Moran was president of USBWA in 1988, he knew it was time to start giving the same awards they did for men’s basketball to women’s basketball. Alum Mel Greenberg is the first person he called to support him in this endeavor.
Greenberg got his start in writing after answering an ad to be a copy boy at the Philadelphia Inquirer as a recent Temple graduate. After clerking for the business page and various other departments, he ultimately made his way to sports by the mid 1970s. At the time, Sports Editor Jay Searcy was writing a weekly “Women in Sports” column and wanted Greenberg to pick it up.
What started as a column turned into the suggestion to do a weekly women’s poll to rank women’s basketball teams. Greenberg was hesitant at first since no one was talking about women’s basketball at the time. However, he had gotten to know the coach of Immaculata University, that had a great women’s team at the time, and was encouraged by her and Searcy to make it happen. The first poll ran in 1976, due in large part to the persistence of Greenberg.
“I can’t imagine the mountain of effort required just to get [it] up and running,” Moran said.
From then until 2010 when he retired from the Inquirer, Greenberg relentlessly pursued coverage of NCAA women’s basketball and built the connections that now make him a legendary sportswriter.
Greenberg is in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association awards the Mel Greenberg Media Award each year to someone who displays a commitment to media and women’s basketball.
In retirement, Greenberg continues to write through his blog, Womhoops Guru.