Guru Special: The Official HoopHall Press Release With the Gowdy Media Award Announcement for 2021

  Mike Gorman, Mel Greenberg and George Kalinsky Named Recipients of Basketball Hall of Fame’s 2021 Curt Gowdy Media Award

Springfield, Mass. (May 16, 2021) – The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame today announced the 2021 Curt Gowdy Media Award recipients: longtime Celtics play-by-play commentator Mike Gorman, women’s basketball media pioneer Mel Greenberg and iconic Madison Square Garden photographer George Kalinsky.

The Curt Gowdy Media Award is named in honor of the late Curt Gowdy, a legendary sports broadcaster and former Hall of Fame Board member and President. This prestigious award is presented annually to members of the print and electronic media whose efforts have made a significant contribution to the game of basketball.

Gorman, Greenberg and Kalinsky will be acknowledged for their contributions to basketball media during the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Weekend September 10-11, 2021. For further details, including ticket information, visit www.hoophall.com/Enshrinement.

Curt Gowdy Electronic Media Award Winner – Mike Gorman

Mike Gorman began his broadcasting career at WNBH radio in New Bedford, Mass. in the late 1970s, focusing on high school basketball and football. He moved to Providence in the early 1980s where he covered URI basketball on radio and eventually Providence College basketball on television. There he met Dave Gavitt, leading to his involvement with the Big East and eventually landing on ESPN for Big Monday Big East games, working alongside Bill Raftery. Gorman was also the sports anchor for WPRI TV in Providence.

Beginning in 1981, Gorman became the play-by-play voice for the Celtics home games. In 1990, he gave up college basketball to become the Celtics commentator for all regular season and playoff games. This season, he celebrates 40 years broadcasting for the Celtics. Gorman also worked for CBS covering the NCAA Tournament, Turner covering the NBA Playoffs and NBC broadcasting tennis from the 1992 Olympics and basketball at the 2016 Olympics.

Curt Gowdy Print Media Award Winner – Mel Greenberg

A pioneer in the coverage of women’s basketball, Mel Greenberg began following the women’s game in 1975. Greenberg began his career with the Philadelphia Inquirer in 1969, three years before the passage of Title IX when sweeping legislation would transform the landscape of women’s sports. Greenberg began following collegiate basketball powerhouse Immaculata at a time when newspapers largely ignored women’s sports.

Covering the sport proved difficult when there was little to go on for information, comparison, or measurements of success. He began collecting the necessary information and the voting commitment of coaches to produce the first-ever women’s poll, a Top 20 national ranking of the best teams in the women’s game. The poll debuted in November 1976 and within two years The Associated Press approached Greenberg and officially attached the organization’s name to the poll. As the popularity of the women’s game grew, The AP poll aided the capacity of other newspapers to cover the growing sport.

The unofficial historian of women’s basketball at the collegiate and professional levels, Greenberg has covered every women’s NCAA Final Four since its inception in 1982 and continues to follow local programs at Temple, Villanova, and Rutgers. He is a regular contributor for the WNBA following the New York Liberty, Washington Mystics, and Connecticut Sun as well as USA Basketball. In 1991, the WBCA established the Mel Greenberg Media Award to “recognize a member of the media who has best displayed a commitment to women's basketball and to advancing the role of the media in advancing the women's game.”

Curt Gowdy Electronic Media Award Winner – George Kalinsky

As the official photographer of Madison Square Garden since 1966, award-winning photographer George Kalinsky has created many iconic images capturing some of the most important faces, places and events in the world of sports, entertainment and politics including Patrick Ewing, Bill Russell, Muhammad Ali, Frank Sinatra and President George H. W. Bush.

Kalinsky’s work has been featured in Times Square and exhibited at the Basketball Hall of Fame, the Baseball Hall of Fame, Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the International Center of Photography and the Olympus Plaza Gallery. In 2019, the Library of Congress in Washington added his photography to their permanent collection. Kalinsky has authored 10 books including two with Hall of Famers Phil Jackson and Willis Reed, and photographed 1,000 covers and almost 10,000 events. His photographs have also appeared in publications such as Time, Life, People, Sports Illustrated and Newsweek.

In 2001, George was honored with the highest award you can win in the photography industry with PMDA’s “International Photographer of the Year”. In 2010, he was awarded the National Arts Club Medal of Honor. In 2010, he was inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame and later in 2015, into the Madison Square Garden Walk of Fame. In 2018, George was awarded Pratt Institute’s prestigious “Legend of the Year” honor.

Previous Curt Gowdy Media Award Winners: Year - Print/Electronic

1990 - Dick Herbert/Curt Gowdy

1991 - Dave Dorr/Marty Glickman

1992 - Sam Goldaper/Chick Hearn

1993 - Leonard Lewin/Johnny Most

1994 - Leonard Koppett/Cawood Ledford 1995 - Bob Hammel/Dick Enberg

1996 - Bob Hentzen/Billy Packer

1997 - Bob Ryan/Marv Albert

1998 - Larry Donald & Dick Weiss/Dick Vitale 1999 - Smith Barrier/Bob Costas

2000 - Dave Kindred/Hubie Brown

2001 - Curry Kirkpatrick/Dick Stockton

2002 - Jim O’Connell/Jim Nantz

2003 - Sid Hartman/Hot Rod Hundley

2004 - Phil Jasner/Max Falkenstien

2005 - Jack McCallum/Bill Campbell 2006 - Mark Heisler/Bill Raftery

2007 - Malcolm Moran/Al McCoy 2008 - David DuPree/Bob Wolff

2009 - Peter Vecsey/Doug Collins 2010 - Jackie MacMullan/Joe Tait 2011 - Alexander Wolff/Jim Durham 2012 - Sam Smith/Bill Schonely

2013 - John Feinstein/Eddie Doucette 2014 - Joe Gilmartin/John Andariese 2015 - Rich Clarkson/Woody Durham 2016 - David Aldridge/Jay Bilas

2017 - Harvey Araton/Craig Sager 2018 - Andy Bernstein/Doris Burke 2019 - Marc Stein/Ralph Lawler 2020 – Michael Wilbon/Mike Breen

 

About the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame:

 Located in Springfield, Massachusetts,

  the city where basketball was born, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an

 independent non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to promoting, preserving and celebrating the

 game of basketball at every level – men and women, amateur and professional players, coaches

 and contributors, both domestically and internationally. The Hall of Fame museum is home to

 more than 400 inductees and over 40,000 square feet of basketball history. Nearly 200,000

 people visit the Hall of Fame museum each year to learn about the game, experience

 the interactive exhibits and test their skills on the Jerry Colangelo "Court of Dreams." Best

 known for its annual marquee Enshrinement Ceremony honoring the game’s elite, the Hall of

 Fame also operates over 70 high school and collegiate competitions annually throughout the

 country and abroad. For more information on the Basketball Hall of Fame organization, its

  museum and events, visit www.hoophall.com, follow @hoophall

or call 1-877-

  4HOOPLA.

Basketball Hall of Fame Media Contact:

Nicole Taylor, Position Sports // mediarelations@positionsports.com

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