Author’s Cut: Klein Media Guru Acceptance Speech and Original Bio

Guru’s Note: Here is the text of the Guru’s acceptance speech of the Klein Temple Alumni in the Media Hall of Fame Award presented Friday, October 4 and also the original bio submitted that was trimmed to fit the website and printed program.

Thanks to longtime friend and Lady Vols photographer William “Willbill” Ewart from Knoxville, Tenn., who made the trip here and shot many of the photos as well as thanks for some shot by local photographer Melissa Willhouse that appear in the intro video aired prior to the speech.

Thanks to Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman, Temple Athletics Media Relations Director Larry Dougherty, both longtime friends and more recent friend Erin Kate Dolan, Penn State ‘18 and current Pointsbet website sports reporter, for comments in the intro video.

Here is the video youtube archive link to the luncheon, moving the scrubber to the 49 minute mark gets you close to the Guru segment,

https://youtu.be/5ESNnyEn7fs

Thanks to David Boardman, the Klein School Dean, as well as the late Lew Klein, who passed away last spring; and also Amanda Stankiewicz, Dawn E. Ramos, Karen Sensenig Gallagher, Betsy Leebron Tutelman, and luncheon Klein school student ambassador to the Guru, Erin Steff for their roles in the process leading to the event.

Here is the link to Temple’s Lew Klein Awards Website

https://lewkleinawards.com/

Mel Greenberg/Klein Acceptance Speech

I was supposed to be up here earlier but they’re still looking for translators for me.

That’s an inside Inquirer joke.

Thank you Temple for my selection, congratulations to my fellow honorees, and greetings to all you viewers not here at Mitten Hall, who are watching this program on your laptops, tablets, and telephones.

And thanks to the WNBA for holding off Game 3 of the finals till Sunday.

 Jake, I feel I can relate to you, because while that crazy guy at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue  near your office keeps accusing you of spouting fake news, likewise  from the way he treated Dawn Staley, the 2018  Super Bowl champs and others, I’m sure he’d tell me I cover a fake sport.

As an undergraduate centuries ago, I did not know Lew Klein, though I did watch bandstand, because when we had classes in the row houses up the block, the journalism and broadcast people were in separate worlds.

But I was flattered when Arlene Morgan, my longtime Inquirer colleague and one of-your associate deans, told me he had my name on his list for this honor.

 “He was a big fan,” she told me.

 A year ago I learned that Dean Boardman was also a member of the club when we first met.

The sports folks in this hall, where I spent many hours,  know that by now  I’ve been through a lot of these inductions in recent years as a way of receiving  thanks.

But this is truly special in its own right and brings me full circle because this award honors journalism. 

It is Temple’s Pulitzer. 

Back when I started, Julie, it took me as long to gather information for a routine tournament preview as it probably took for you to research your first stories on the Epstein coverage, or, John, to initially get a hit on my name on a google search.

And so I said to myself at that moment, if I’m going to get involved with this, I’m doing so to make it easier for all those coming after me.

It was journalism that made the poll gain quick credibility and jump start  all the national attention women’s basketball went on to receive.

Certainly, it has been team work across the board from those at the collegiate and pro levels, as well as those at the Associated Press and those involved with the United States Basketball Writers Association.

When Betsy, your video czarina, sent marching orders for the introductions, she suggested those who have been inspirational, but in beating Murray (Dubin) by two weeks in being the oldest one up here,  by now I’ve outlived virtually all of them.

However, certainly in a sense that looms large, in terms of journalism, it was the teaching here at Temple and then the wonderful Camelot era  down Broad Street that was the newsroom of Gene Roberts at The Inquirer.

Again, thank you for this treasured moment.

And Go Owls.   

Mel Greenberg, KLN ‘69 (Original Bio Submission)

“The Guru” of women’s basketball, retired sports journalist, The Philadelphia Inquirer

When he was senior manager of the Temple University NIT champion men’s basketball team, no one could envision that Mel Greenberg, KLN ’69, would stay involved with hoops practically the rest of his life — but on the women’s side.

 Yet that is what occurred with the 2019 Klein honor now becoming his seventh individual hall of fame induction.

 He has also received several other major awards for his pioneering work in national coverage of the sport and creation of what became the weekly Associated Press women’s basketball poll, the first weekly ranking of collegiate programs.

Widely known as the “Guru of Women’s Basketball.” Greenberg began his career with The Philadelphia Inquirer just after his graduation from Temple University, where his love of basketball began primarily attending games at old South Hall and at The Palestra.

Circumstances earned a quick promotion from his hire as a copy boy to an editorial clerk position for the business page.

 Continuing to attend Owls games after his day job, Greenberg quips his start in women’s athletics came when 2008 Klein winner, the late Al Shrier ‘53, longtime the sports information director who passed away last winter, asked if Greenberg could give some of the cheerleaders a lift when the Owls played on the road.

 At some point in the early 1970s, one of the sports editors suggested Greenberg should try to cover a game and his work passed muster to earn assignments to more of them.

Then in 1975 newly hired Inquirer sports editor, the late Jay Searcy, who also passed away last winter, tabbed Greenberg to launch women’s sports coverage in the hey day of Immaculata College’s rise to a power, but Searcy also wanted him to start a weekly women’s poll.

Aware of the lack of information to launch a credible ranking, Greenberg at first resisted, in part because AIAW (pre-NCAA) policy frowned on “newspaper games like polls leading to the evils of men’s athletics.”

But Greenberg later relented, feeling at the time in the 1970s when women’s sports were barely publicized, that the poll, which ranked 20 teams until 1994 when it grew to 25, might make a difference.

Seeing the benefits of the new technology for his work, Greenberg embraced it and thus became one of the early go-to people in the newsroom whom reporters and editors went to for help.

Greenberg was even asked to host the paper’s hospitality suite at the annual state press association convention and awards weekend in Harrisburg.

After establishing the poll, he quickly became the most trusted man in the industry to cover women’s basketball that coincided with its rise in popularity, earning the Guru nickname and others like Mr. Women’s Basketball.

Eventually, the long list of honors began coming his way.

In 1991, the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) created The Mel Greenberg Media Award in his honor, the name becoming part of it after Greenberg was the first recipient.

The following year he was inducted into the Big Five Hall of Fame and he later was also inducted as the first media representative into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.

A year ago induction came as a recipient of the Legacy of Excellence honor into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame along with former Inquirer colleague Claire Smith ’79, a 2014 Lew Klein inductee now with ESPN.

Since 1990, Greenberg has also served as the then newly-created women’s representative on the board of the United States Basketball Writer’s Association (USBWA) in charge of the women’s awards program and coverage issues.

Greenberg was a classmate of and worked at The Inquirer with Murray Dubin, who is also a 2019 Lew Klein alumni inductee, and Greenberg also worked in the newsroom as well with Temple Lew Klein assistant dean Arlene Notoro Morgan ’67, a past Lew Klein honoree in 1998.

Before joining sports full time when the women’s basketball beat was formally created in 1996 because of Greenberg’s past work, he held other duties in the features and entertainment departments and spent a long stretch overseeing The Inquirer’s daily contribution to the Knight-Ridder Tribune news wire, headquartered in Washington when the paper was a member of the Knight-Ridder chain.

After leaving The Inquirer on the retirement route in 2010, considering the state of the business, Greenberg has continued to maintain women’s basketballs coverage through his Womhoops Guru blog and accepting contributions from young journalism aspirants looking to cover the sport, be mentored and gain significant exposure for their work.

He has also been asked to serve on various panels including the recently established stakeholders committee which includes media and representatives from all other venues involved with the sport at the collegiate and professional level.

Here’s a list of Greenberg’s Hall of Fame and other honors.

Halls of Fame

Temple Lew Klein Alumni in the Media Hall of Fame

Women’s basketball Hall of Fame

Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame Legacy of Excellence

Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame

Philadelphia Big Five Hall of Fame

USBWA Hall of Fame from United States Basketball Writers 

Immaculata Sports Hall of Fame

Temple Basketball Hall of Fame - 1969 NIT champions - manager

Other Major Awards

Jake Wade winner from CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) to media member contributing to collegiate athletics 

WBCA Mel Greenberg Media Award- first winner in 1991  and then named for him going forward to all future recipients.

Big East Media Award

Inquirer citation for his work which was given at a special newsroom reception in 2000 when the city hosted the NCAA Women’s Final Four

ECAC Media Award