Women's Hoops Guru

By Mel Greenberg

Erin, hopefully, is back in Boston. Acacia, after being transported to Scranton, Pa., for a bus connection, is hopefully back in Syracuse. We are back in Philadelphia, and by now so should Jonathan, who had a late afternoon flight.

We did manage to experience a one-hour delay in our connecting flight in Washington, which was also the route traveled by Atlantic Ten commissioner Linda Bruno, who graciously served as a late substitute to escort the Guru down the grand staircase at the start of Saturday night's induction ceremony. Her participating was made necessary when Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer worked intensely to overcome the plane difficulties to get to Knoxville, but to no avail. She did send some nice words, flowers and candy after being stranded up North.

We will withhold other public thank you shoutouts, for now, since one major event remains -- the Inquirer-hosted Philadelphia party at a date soon to be announced. Those interested serving on committees to help the internal folks, here, should email the Guru.

However, we cannot offer enough thanks to William Ewart in Knoxville for following the Guru's team around exclusively during the events to add photographs to the coverage by team Guru, whose names are atop this report.

The same goes for Tennessee coach Pat Summitt, who hosted the Thursday party at her place.

Here is more of ``Willbill's" work from the Guru's Saturday. This time, the captions will be under the photos to get into the same format as used by the Guru's blogging team.

The first shots are from the breakfast brunch for the inductees, where the Guru was joined by former Texas star Andrea Lloyd Curry, former Tennessee stars Daedra Charles-Furlow, Bridgette Gordon, former Louisiana Tech star Pam Kelly-Flowers, and Georgia coach Andy Landers in receiving commemorative pins.

The inductees arrived at the WBHOF building to find their faces placed upon a box of cereal,also known as "The Breakfast of Champions."

At the entrance throughout the weekend was a picture of each inductee and a tablet to sign congratulations.

Here, the Guru reads the special front-page salute by the Knoxville News Sentinel, replicas of which were later used for visitors to have for autograph signatures by the inductees.

The Guru is with his niece Neena Swartz, a Spanish teacher at Upper Merion High in King of Prussia, after receving his pin. She and sister Allison later served as the Guru's escorts to the podium at Saturday night's ceremonies for his Eastman Award presentation and induction speech.

After rehearsals at the Historic Tennessee Theatre for the ceremony, it was time to return to the WBHOF for the public autograph signing section.

Saturday Night Ceremony

Then it was time to don the tux, which Erin and Acacia made sure the Guru achieved properly,and arrive at the induction ceremony, other photos of which appear in the blogs below this one, including a text,with a very slight variation or two, of the Guru's speech.

After descending the grand staircase, the Guru is joined by Drexel sports information director Mike Tuberosa (on left) and Temple sports information director Larry Dougherty. The duo, who drove down Friday from Baltimore after the ECAC-SIDA convention, later transported the Guru's new Tux and suit back to Philadelphia.

Pictured above, left to right, are brother-in-law Perry Swartz, sister Annette,the Guru, Neena, and her sister Allison.

Former Kentucky coach Mickey DeMoss and Women's Basketball Coaches Association executive Beth Bass, who is a member of the WBHOF board, get personal with the Guru.

State Farm Insurance exective Jack North,Linda Bruno and Beth Bass join the Guru for a celebrity shot.

Texas women's athletic director Chris Plonsky, who did the Guru's video introduction,,joins Bruno, Bass, and longtime Tennessee women's sports informaton director Debbie Jennings.

Plonsky and recently-retired Texas coach Jody Conradt, the president of the WBHOF board, join the Guru.

And then join the action executed previously by others in the theatre.

The Guru receives the 35-pound Eastman Award that goes to each inductee -- the WBHOF folks ship it home afterwards -- prior to making his acceptance speech.

Afterwards, at the close of the ceremony,the entire 2007 induction class was re-introduced.

Tennessee coach Pat Summitt joins the Guru immediate family.

And so, as a former Inquirer newsroom executive used to say -- More to Come.

-- Mel

Borrowing from a theme I use over on my other blog, here's a look around the newspapers for some stories about last night's ceremonies.

First, there's Claire Smith's story in the Inquirer, short but nonetheless written with a flourish.

Then there's the Associated Press story by Elizabeth A. Davis, which is also sitting on Philly.com.

In the Knoxville News-Sentinel, the sports page centerpiece by Dan Fleser is about East Tennessee native Andy Landers, including a picture of Landers wearing a tuxedo long before he did so last night.

A notebook by Fleser includes some of the humorous highlights from last night's speeches, and a mention of Mel's "multiple bloggers and a photographer recording his every move through the weekend." We appreciate it, of course, and are glad to reciprocate the mention.

The local CBS affiliate here, WVLT, has some video highlights of last night's speeches as well as other events through the weekend.

And finally, unrelated to the ceremonies but still about women's basketball, News-Sentinel columnist John Adams criticizes the ending of the Tennessee-Connecticut series.

The following is the complete text of the Guru's official Women's Basketball Hall of Fame induction speech after being handed the 30-pound Eastman Award and introduced by Knoxville Sports Corp head Gloria Ray, jokingly, "Now a man of a few words, Mel Greenberg will tell us his story."

Greetings everyone.

Let me start, first, with a simple request. If you happen to find anything inspiring or funny from what I’m about to say, can you please hold your applause or laughter, because I’ve been told your reaction will count against my allotted time.

Tonight, we continue to make more history, as some of you have noticed, because my team-guru contingent has been sending all these events over the internet in a multi-media package at our Philly.com web site.

My mother back in Philadelphia is so excited, she’s on her third day of computer logon training.

As you know, I have covered all eight previous induction ceremonies from your side of the stage, some as deep as the Green Room under this old, historic building a year ago.

And each time at the end of the night, several people would usually approach me with the sentence, ``It’s not a question of `If.’ It’s just a question of `When.’”

So tonight I am happy to say, there are no longer any questions.

And as a result, I heartedly and humbly accept your vote of approval.

I came to Knoxville prepared to give you my overall history. But based on a certain four-page publication that has been circling around town the last several days, the folks at my place of employment decided they could do a better job.

They’re a dangerous bunch. Several years ago I won the sports information directors’ major media award and the next day found myself misquoted in my own newspaper.

Seriously, this is a class I feel honored to be among and feel especially bonded in that at one time or another everyone of them have appeared in a story once written by yours truly.

By the way, let me tell you a story on how I got word a year ago of this honor.

After the ceremonies last year, the board was gathered at a particular libation place over there in the Marriott.

Beth Bass of the WBCA grabbed me, when I entered and began by saying, ``We have something to tell you, but we’re not really having this conversation. You know, it only took a few minutes to come up with one of the inductees, but we had a three-hour fight over who was going to be the official person to give THAT inductee the official word.

``But if we’re all here, it’s like a 30-way tie for first. But since you and Jody go way back and she’s the president of the board, she has something to say.”
Finally, Jody smiled and simply said, (imitating her) “Mel, when you come to Knoxville next year, make sure you bring a tux.”

So, Jody, what do you think? (Mel opens jacket to reveal suspenders).

One of the hardest things to do after getting the word was to pick the individuals from my various associations who could be most representative to be involved as part of my induction.

(baby cries out in background and Guru interrupts himself).

Yo Andy, I thought you told me Geno wasn’t coming. (lots of crowd laughter).

(Returning to text) My longtime friend Chris Plonsky, who heads the women’s athletic program at Texas, has dealt with me over the years through various windows between her duties with Texas, the Big East, USA Basketball and the NCAA.

She told you stories about me. Here’s one about her and how times have changed.

Back in the day in Austin, she was absolutely delighted to reach in her pocket and pull out $2.50 to buy me a margarita at Jorges on Sixth Street.

Two months ago, she was even more delighted to pull out a million bucks and procure a successful Duke coach to succeed Jody to run the Longhorns.

Atlantic Ten commissioner Linda Bruno, who is headquartered in Philadelphia in a conference that also involves Temple, my alma mater, took me down the grand staircase here. Her group includes three Big Five schools, when you add St. Joseph’s and LaSalle to the mix along with Penn and Villanova, and I am a child of the Big Five.

More important, in 1995 as chair of the NCAA women’s basketball committee, she helped land the 2000 Women’s Final Four in Philadelphia. Our paper made a major commitment to cover the event when they learned that travel expenses only involved a subway token.

My two nieces – Neena and Allison – brought me to this podium to represent the family. It’s easy to tell who’s who. They’re the blonds. They’re also the daughters of my younger sister Annette, who is here, and my brother-in-law Perry.

Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer was going to be involved here until this weekend’s airline problems stranded her up North. She was so thrilled when she voted me in last year, she couldn’t stop talking about it. Finally, two months into this past season, I said to her one day, Viv, enough about me, already. You need to start coaching your team. And when she did, you saw the result.

.As for the music, Temple and coach Dawn Staley was made to understand I’m not here tonight getting this award because I happened to go to the school.

My ambience committee had a simple choice based on culture. Down here, you might have Rocky Top. In Philadelphia, we simply have “Rocky.”

And it’s appropriate in that the sports department is not known for its fight song, but we are known for our fights.

And while we’re at it, there’s a gentleman among you who had the actual idea of the poll. He’s retired down here now, which means I get to go on his boat out in Fort Loudon whenever I visit: Our former sports editor Jay Searcy and his wife, Jackie.

To be honest, I did not aspire to be any kind of hero when I undertook Jay’s mission. I just wanted to do the best journalistic job I could to make things better for future writers and broadcasters who would come along after me.

I’ve been around so long I was told former Pitsburgh Seelers coach Bill Cowher that I’m the only one who could say to him he just met the only writer to have covered his wife and daughters playing basketball.

What I didn’t realize in the early days that I would eventually get into situations when a newsroom colleague or two, who had been through the wars with me, would on day approach me in later years and say, `Hey, Mel. I need your autograph. My kid reads you.’”

But in terms of staying power, I could not have endured writing about this sport without the great coaches and players over the years whose performances made it all worthwhile.

(interrupts self and talks out loud to himself) Hey, this stuff sounds pretty good and I didn’t write it until 4 o’clock.

(Return to text). I know this honor tonight is the sport’s special thank you, but you are the ones to thank for excelling at what you do, especially my inductee classmates here.

If you take the years of their accomplishments and stretched them end to end, you’d find that as group, they have been at this almost as long as I have.

I honored the past by mentioning Jay. I celebrate the present by saluting the colleagues from The Inquirer who made the trip here from the home office, representing a place where journalism has been as much a passion as we all have for this sport.

Claire Smith is here covering tonight, so I need to help here make her deadline. And our sports editor Jim Jenks claims he has an open budget involving me, so see him at the bar at the Marriott after we get done.

As for promoting the future, I mentioned my team guru bloggers and they are the future – Acacia O’Connor, who plays Division III at Vassar; Erin Semagin Damio, who rows at Northeastern, and Jonathan Tannenwald, a graduate one year out of Penn, who is a producer at our Philly.com web site.

I think one of the most amazing things this whole weekend happened this afternoon at the autograph session when so many people stopped by to say thanks. I mean, I’m not the one with the gold medals, NCAA titles, and all-American status.

But if they feel I have been a contributor, it’s because of the teamwork over the years from everyone needed to get things done – the editors who made my writing better, the reporters who networked from other papers, the sports information directors who supplied the information, the players who understood, and, yes, the coaches who endured those pre-internet phone calls.

I’d like to salute everyone at the Associated Press through the years who helped make me known outside my own newsroom before I became known inside it.

Before I came down here to Knoxville, our newsroom editor Bill Marimow, who’s had an outstanding career himself, implored me a week ago, ‘Just savor the moment. Savor the week. Please savor everything.’

Most importantly, the component I savor the most is the friendships developed over the years. And tonight, I savor all of you in this room. And I thank you.

In front of a rapt audience at the Tennessee Theatre, Mel Greenberg tonight accepted his Eastman Award and was officially inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.

To listen to Mel's acceptance speech -- which won raves for its humor, improvisation (see the Geno Auriemma reference) and, yes, brevity -- as well as the introduction by University of Texas women's athletic director Chris Plonsky, click here.

After you click on the link below, you'll see some more pictures from the evening.

And our last day and evening in Knoxville has come to an end… This morning Mel, his sister’s family, Acacia and myself attended a brunch at the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame for inductees. It was delicious, and some good exposure to southern cooking (minus the bagels, cream cheese, and lox – which Mel’s Jewish family was thrilled to see).

After breakfast, Jonathan, Acacia and I did some exploring of Knoxville and visited the West Hills Mall. Acacia and I needed purses and Jonathan needed a shirt – he found a good deal and bought seven. There was more exploration of the consumerist side of Knoxville when Jonathan and I made a futile attempt to visit a Verizon store to get my cell phone fixed. The part of my phone that plugs into the charger is broker and can’t be fixed, so I’m phoneless for a few days until I get home. Anyway, I digress…

The highlight of the day – and the trip – was the actual induction ceremony, held in the Tennessee Theater in downtown Knoxville.

The Tennessee Theater is a gorgeous old theater, beautifully decorated, and, I hear, recently renovated. It was great to visit it for that reason alone.

During the gala reception preceding the induction, there were hors d’ovres and a silent auction. Among the well-dressed guests we found some new friends, like Jay and Jackie Searcy, Will Ewart (faithfully photographing our entire trip), Randy Webb (a WBB HOF employee and basketball coach), some of Mel’s colleagues at the Inquirer, like Jim Jenks, Claire Smith and Maureen Meehan, and some of Mel’s other work acquaintances, like Mike Tuberosa and Larry Doughery, as well as Mel's sister, Annette, her husband, Barry, and their daughters, Neena and Allison. We also chatted with a few members of the large contingent of Georgia fans who made the trip up north to support coach And Landers, and a few women who suggested that Mel write a book – and assured us that they’d read it. We know “Mr. Women’s Basketball” has a lot to say, so we’re pitching that as his next project. After putting his end of the Hall of Fame Induction, not to mention the AP Poll together, we don’t doubt in Mel’s ability to achieve.

The induction ceremony was highlighted by a wonderful choir, the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame Choir, which Emcee Gloria Ray(longtime Tennessee resident and supporter of women’s basketball stepping in to replace Debbie Antonelli and Doris Burke, who were unable to come) assured us was quite competitive the crowd to get into – “ you have to be able to sing.”

Each inductee was first introduced to the crowd escorted down a grand staircase and then later by someone of their choice on video – Jody Conradt for Andrea, Leon Barmore for Pam, Pat Summitt for Daedra and Bridgette, and Bernadette Mattox for Andy. After another escort to the stage, the inductee was given a chance to make his/her thanks and discuss his/her journey to this point. All six of them had wonderful things to say, and moving speeches, and they all proved to have a great sense of humor.

We’ll discuss each inductee and the speeches more in-depth tomorrow; Jonathan also has some video and possibly some audio to put up and Acacia’s putting together some pictures. Right now, we’re heading down to the hotel bar to celebrate the night with Mel and the other inductees; early tomorrow morning we fly home. (Well, we hope to fly home. We’ve already met a few people who were either unable to get on a flight or lost their luggage due to airline complications this weekend). Check back soon for more details.

--Erin

A Few Preliminary shots from Induction Night

Mel and his proud sister Annette pose in their best "duds." (as Mel would put it.)

The Women's Hoops Guru staff, all together: (from left) Acacia, Erin, The Guru himself and Jonathan.

No more interviews -- Mel is the one on the receiving end of the questions this time.

Andrea Lloyd-Curry and some of the Magic All-Star Dancers have a "pre-game" talk.

The Man Himself giving his (uncharacteristically short) acceptance speech. Way to go Mel!

photos by Acacia O'Connor

By Mel Greenberg
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- First, the news of the day back to the home office. The Inquirer sports delegation made it here, Friday, however the luggage of both sports editor Jim Jenks and reporting colleague Claire Smith did not fare as well.

After a quick shopping spree, they arrived at Friday night's dinner/storytelling session.

Atlantic Ten commssioner Linda Bruno arrived in late afternoon and later that night, the SID-duo of Temple's Larry Dougherty and Drexel's Mike Tuberosa made the scene.

OK, here are lots more photos of Friday's events, these from our local shooter on the scene -- William Ewart. We'll try quick descriptos because the Guru is due at a brunch at 10 a.m. across the way in the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame and then it will also be time to finish up Saturday night's induction speech.

Also, Hall of Fame Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer's flight was cancelled late Friday among the major airline computer chaos of Friday and sports information director Stacey Brann was working the internet into the night to find a flight that might still make possible her arrival to be the Guru's grand entrance escort to Saturday night's events.

That's the news and now enjoy the tour.

We open with the family looking at an exhibit in the hall. Left to right are younger niece Allison Swartz, brother-in-law Perry, sister Annette, and niece Neena.

Then, by some surprise an Inquirer newsroom-produced special section appeared on the souvenir store's newstand.

As you were warned about in the post below, here are the multimedia bits from today's events. We had some technical difficulties with the video camera, but we do have some interesting audio clips.

First, an interview I did with the Guru himself during the media session; click here to listen to it.

Second, an interview with University of Georgia women's basketball coach and fellow 2007 Hall of Fame inductee Andy Landers, which you can listen to by clicking here.

Third, the shortest speech you will ever hear Mel give -- his acceptance speech at tonight's dinner. Click here for that.

And finally, an interview with now-former University of Texas women's basketball coach Jody Conradt. Click here to listen.

Now, for a few photos to add on to the ones that Acacia posted.

First, of local interest to Philadelphia readers, former Temple guard Kamesha Hairston's jersey is in the rafters at the Hall of Fame:

Second, this copy of a story by Mel that ran in the November 28, 1976 (with a few other headlines on the page that may be of interest to some readers here):

And finally, firm proof of Mel's new suit:

That picture was taken during the storytelling session at the Hall of Fame's Urban Playground. Andy Landers is to the right of Mel and Rick Russo, a sports anchor with local CBS affiliate WVLT, is at the far right emceeing the session.

Not a lot of time now -- rushing out to dinner -- but Mel just received an email from Uconn athletic communications confirming some rumors he was hearing. Apparently, the Uconn - Tennessee series is over. Whatever the reasons, I think this is incredibly sad for women's basketball and the individual teams. Much as we fans and players love to hate each other, we do enjoy the rivalry, which is (or was, I guess) in my opinion, the biggest rivalry in women's basketball. I guess we'll have to meet a lot in the NCAA's now...

Press release from Uconn is pasted below.

"A Statement From UConn Director of Athletics Jeff Hathaway Regarding The UConn-Tennessee Women’s Basketball Series

“After sending a contract signed by the University of Connecticut to the University of Tennessee earlier this year for the next two games of our women’s basketball series (2007-08 and 2008-09), we were notified by their athletic administration that the Tennessee women’s basketball program would not be signing this contract and has made the decision to terminate the series between our institutions.

“We are disappointed for UConn fans, Tennessee fans and women’s basketball fans in general who look forward to this annual event featuring the greatest women’s basketball rivalry in the nation, as recently selected by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA).

“We are pleased to maintain our outstanding relationship with the Southeastern Conference as we will be playing two of their member institutions during each of the next two seasons. We have finalized a two-game extension with LSU, a 2007 NCAA Final Four participant. In addition, earlier this year we signed a two-year contract with South Carolina.”

Please note that this will be the only comment made by UConn on this matter."

by Acacia O'Connor

The Hall of Honor's Tour

The 2007 Women's Basketball Hall of Fame inductees excitedly gathered together this afternoon for the first of this weekend's official events. Flanked by a few family members and friends and followed by a handful of photographers, the inductees took a private tour of the hall and were the first to lay eyes on the newly constructed Class of 2007 display cases.

At the start of the tour, the attendees were ushered into the State Farm Tip-Off theatre to watch a video detailing the history of women's basketball. Starting with the first, three-court game at Smith College, the video ran through famous players from the days of the AAU, to the WBL, to today's college and WNBA super-stars.

From there, the group wandered past cases detailing the early history of the women's game and the inductees took a seat in front of a video of halftime speeches by illustrious coaches, including Andy Landers himself (seen on screen and sitting center to the left of Mel).

And the next shot will come as little surprise to anyone--while all the inductees were seated together, Mel's cell phone rang, and he took a call from one of his many fans.

There were many photo ops along the way, as the inductees posed with their families in front of old jerseys, trophies and team photographs. In hand, several guests held copies of the surprise special-edition publication sent down from the Inquirer: a four-page special section on the man himself. Brother-in-law Perry Swartz perused the pages as he walked toward the Hall of Honor.

The viewing of the cases, which encapsulated the distingished careers of each of the six inductees, was an emotional experience for all. Family members and the honored alike had tears in their eyes as they walked through the hall of history--basketball history and personal history.

"It's hard to pick whatever number of things that encapsulate your career," Andrea Lloyd Curry later said of the display. But it’s a little bit of everything; they really did a nice job."

“I tried to envision this case and I just think its perfect," Daedra Charles-Furlow echoed "I sent in a whole lot of stuff and the things (Karen Tucker) picked out were the things I would have picked out."

Mel sent many things as well-- the difference being many of the chosen pieces (several were used as background during tonight's Storytelling Session), while written by Mel, were about one or more of the other inductees.

On a lighter note, after this afternoon's media session, Jonathan and I took a closer look at half of the Hall's Urban playground. (When the Guru's away, the blogging staffers will play...)

Chronicles and Storytelling
Thunderstorms drove the inductees and their many guests inside a jam-packed Hall of Fame for the Chronicles of Legends Dinner, which was followed by a fun and lively Storytelling Session in the Urban Playground.

The Class of 2007

The basketball fans greeted each other with warm and excited smiles, evidently pleased to be gathered together for such a celebration. Perhaps most excited of all was the massive (and massively red) Georgia contingent present to support inductee Andy Landis. Landis is the only women's basketball coach the school has ever seen and has an overall coaching record of 684-215. He is also a four-time National Coach of the Year and three-time SEC Coach of the Year.

During the storytelling session, the inductees quipped back and forth amongst one another and their former coaches. Perhaps what makes the Class of 2007 so special and unique is the close affiliation of three of the players being inducted. Daedra Charles-Furlow and Bridgette Gordon were teammates at the University of Tennessee, winning a championship together in 1989.

Daedra and Andrea Lloyd Curry were teammates when they played overseas in Europe, and Andrea and Bridgette knew each other as rivals in the UT days (University of Texas/University of Tennessee).

The players' former coaches, 1999 Hall of Famers Pat Summitt and Jody Conradt, jumped in with stories as well, both about the women and the state of the sport in its early days.

All of those who spoke had ample praise for Pamela Kelly-Flowers, a three-time Kodak All-American at Louisiana Tech from 1979-1982. Landers remarked that although Pamela was only six feet tall, she was unstoppable.

"Kelly was like a machine," he said this afternoon. "She was like the little engine that shouldn'tve. She was so strong so powerful so efficient off that block. No one could stop her."

Coach Summitt recounts a story about her former Lady Vols.

The sun sets over Knoxville, and the Hall of Fame, as the guests disperse.

All the speakers agreed on the importance of continuing to carry the coach for women's athletics. Much has changed from the days before Title IX, but without those to champion the sport, the inductees stressed, little progress will continue to be made.

The events schedule for tomorrow includes an autographing session in the early afternoon and the gala dinner at the Tennessee Theatre in downtown Knoxville in the evening.

Stay tuned for multi-media coverage!

Goodmorning readers, this will be the last installment of Thursday news and photos from Knoxville. Although I can't top Will Ewart's great shots from the pool-side party last night or awesome Jonathan's video interview with Coach Summitt!

The following are some shots from our boat ride on Loudon Lake with Mel's former sports editor Jay Searcy. As Erin noted, Jay is native to Oak Ridge and graduated from the University of Tennessee, but worked at the Inquirer from the mid-70s until 2001.

All Hands on Deck

Mel lathers up with the sunscreen as we head out onto the water.

Erin and I are psched, to say the least.

Now, notice the sequence:

Acacia on Dock.

Everyone else on boat. I would also like to note that my nautical skills are limited to holding a stick while Erin holds the other end and pulling the boat into the dock.

Smile, you're on candid camera

Jonathan gets prepared for upcoming interview with Coach Summitt with his magical bag of technology.

Mel and his brother-in-law share a zen moment. We're assuming it was zen, as the word "buddha" was being muttered...

Home base for the week. The reason I post this is this: The joke about the hotel is that a couple went out of town for a few years and when they came back and saw the building, remarked "Oh my! Will ya look at that! The TVA built a dam and they missed the river!"

And one last photo of Will's from last night, Coach Summitt with myself (center) and Erin (right).

Now, onto Friday!!

by Acacia

By Mel Greenberg

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- It's a busy day ahead for the Guru, who will be signing autographs, giving media interviews, appearing for the ball presentations with Andrea Lloyd Curry, Pam Kelly-Flowers, Bridget Gordon, Daedra Charles-Fuller, and Georgia coach Andy Landers, and then enduring the annual storytelling session as the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame weekend inductions activities get under way.

So that our readers don't assume Thursday was a complete party day-and-night, Jonathan has posted the team guru's work at a party hosted by Hall of Fame Tennessee coach Pat Summitt. Acacia and Erin will probably produce some of their reporting-photo work from Thursday's boat ride at former Inquirer sports editor Jay Searcy's house.

What follows are shots taken by Willam Ewart at Pat's party, enabling extended members of the Guru's associates and family to enjoy the weekend from afar.

Also, some of the Guru's delegation, including some guests who are here for several inductees, will include Atlantic Ten commissioner Linda Bruno, Temple sports information director (not actual title) Larry Dougherty, Mike Tuberosa of Temple, and James Wagner of Holy Family. Longtime-friend Steve Tucker, who does the Guru's taxes among else, joined us last night at Coach Summitt's house, much to my pleasure.

Incidentally, a special thank you to Michael Panzer of the Inquirer library from the hall folks for researching and sending the giant reprint pages containing Guru stories that will decorate the event on Friday night.

The official Inquirer contingent, beginning Friday, will include sports editor Jim Jenks, reporting colleague Claire Smith, department administrator (not her title) Maureen Meehan and her husband, Bryan, who started as an editorial assistant as the same day as the Guru on what newsroom chief Bill Marimow like to refer as "9-9-69"

Also, Karen Kase, assistant public relations director for the WNBA, was reported as a recent arrival.

Now on to the photo spread:

As soon as we arrived we hooked up with WBHOF basketball relations director Karen Tucker (on left) and Gloria Ray, who heads the hall from her role at the Knoxville Sports Corporation. Way back in the early days, Gloria was the women's athletic director at Tennessee.

Then it was time to get together with Tennessee beat reporter Dan Fleser (on left), the Guru's local "Boswell" of the Knoxville News Sentinel and its deputy sports editor Phil Kaplan.

And another "reunion" shot with former Inquirer sports editory Jay Searcy, who is retired down here, and whose idea the poll really was. Incidentally, on Thursday he got another taste of preparedness when Erin's experience as a rower and Acacia's brute strength served to reel us into the dock in a heavy breeze after the boat ride.

The Guru's family arrived at the nearby airport and quickly joined the festivities. Left to right are brother-in-law Perry Swartz, younger niece Allison, a graduate of Maryland a year ago, older niece Neena who teaches Spanish at Upper Merion High in King of Prussia, and sister Annette, who teaches computers at Colonial, I believe, in the Plymouth Whitemarsh school district.

Neena and Allison get nourished for their roles as the Guru's escorts to the podium in Saturday night's induction ceremony at the Historic Tennessee Theatre. As previously announced, Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer, also a multi-Hall of Famer, will escort the Guru into the Theatre and down the grand staircase as part of the "red carpet" arrival.

And for those who were wondering, Temple coach Dawn Staley, who, besides being employed in his alma mater, represents a wide array of Guru involvement over the years, was in the original mix but many previously-committed engagements forced her to hold off until the Philadelphia Party.

Next we have two shots of the Guru family with our hostess at her pool house.

And the other picture.

Finally, two shots of the Guru's team at work interviewing Summitt. Unfortunately, Erin's back was to the camera here, but you have Acacia and in the bottom picture, Jonathan was hard at work shooting video, which you can link to from his posting below.

And the last one, and the Guru hopes he was able to get this looking ok, since the rest of the team is still sound asleep. Also, because no foreign players are involved this year, which usually involves a translator for remarks to English, Acacia has volunteered to translate the Guru's remarks into Italian and Neena, likewise into Spanish.

Wags at the paper inquired as to who will translate them into English, something required at times in the newsroom in the past.

-- Mel

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- As promised, here are the details from tonight's soirée at the Summitt household in Alcoa, Tenn. -- which is noted on a road sign on U.S. Highway 129 as the hometown of Pat Summitt. Nothing to hide there, it seems.

First off, the truly gorgeous view of the Tennessee River that one sees from the pool deck. No further description is necessary...

The other big picture of the night was Mel posing with his former editor, Jay Searcy. Before the official-looking pictures were taken, I was able to snap this shot that I suspect might make its way around the newsroom back home:

In the name of full disclosure, that picture was taken with the consent of both of them.

The main event of the evening media-wise (which had nothing to do with the main event as a whole, at which the food and drinks were widespread and outstanding), was a video interview I conducted with Pat Summitt. To watch it, click on the picture of Summitt below.

Erin did her own audio interview with Summitt, which I will post tomorrow.

Finally, two quick notes. First, though I wasn't at lunch with the gang, I'd be stunned if that iced tea was unsweetened. This is the heart of sweet tea country.

Second, the telephone bills reference was indeed a play on the lyrics to "Rocky Top." As the first verse says:

Wish that I was on ol' Rocky Top
Down in the Tennessee hills
Aint' no smoggy smoke on Rocky Top
Ain't no telephone bills

That's it for the night... I think. Though there's probably a good chance Mel will post something later.

As he has posted, Jonathan is now united with us in Knoxville. If anybody else didn't get his reference to phone bills, apparently it's part of the lyrics to "Rocky Top."

We left our hotel this morning to head out to the house of Mel's old friend and colleague, Jay Searcy. Mel credits Jay with the original idea of the AP poll. Jay served us some excellent iced (sweet I guess) tea and took us for a ride in his boat on the Tennessee River. As well as basketball we discussed rowing, which Jay's done, and Oak Ridge, where Jay is from. There was a top secret project in Oak Ridge involving plutonium enrichment for the atomic bomb, and it was a completely closed off town. Today, it's home to one of the best rowing courses in the country, and hosted the NCAA tournament two weeks ago.

After leaving Jay's, we ate lunch, Jonathan arrived, and we headed out to Pat Summitt's pool house, where we were welcomed with warm hospitality. Andrea Lloyd Curry, Daedra Charles-Furlow, and Bridgette Gordon were in attendance, and towards the end of the evening a contingent of the Guru's relatives -- his sister and her family -- arrived. Great food, beautiful house, nice view, cute dogs...

We've got some great pictures from the evening, as well as some video and audio of Pat discussing Mel, but unfortunately the blog doesn't like pictures uploaded from my Mac, so Acacia will be adding some photos shortly, and Jonathan will be here with the video.

Tomorrow: the Guru and other inductees will sign a lot of basketballs to be sold or given to sponsors. We will all be touring the women's basketball hall of fame. And there will be a "storytime" dinner, slightly less formal then Saturday's, for the inductees to talk (and Mel not to have to worry so much about the time limit -- he's trying very hard to keep his speech for Saturday under seven minutes).

We'll be working on stories involving the other inductees tomorrow, and will have more photos up by the morning.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Greetings from the famed Marriott hotel adjacent to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, where yours truly has arrived and is setting up his wide array of gadgets to be used to cover the festivities here on the blog. I have:

-- A really nice video camera, courtesy of Inquirer photo editor Hai Do
-- A MiniDisc audio recorder
-- The still camera I used to shoot the Penn Relays on my blog, Soft Pretzel Logic (ah, the joys of shameless self-promotion)

Unfortunately, my computer bag is too big to haul around to all the fancy events over the next few days, so I'll have to look into doing something about that. But all the tools are in place to bring you extensive coverage across all the media platforms you could want.

Relating to the previous post, I am indeed a fan of arenas and stadiums. This is in part because of my general life as a sportswriter, but also as someone who studied a lot of architecture and design in college. So I had all the reactions you could expect when I made the turn on Neyland Drive that brought me past Thompson-Bolling Arena and Neyland Stadium.

The one thing I do not have, though, is a phone bill. I spotted one in my apartment on the way out the door, and thought about bringing it with me in order to temporarily increase the phone bill population in Tennessee. As you Volunteer fans (and perhaps others of you as well) know, there aren't many of them around here.

But I decided to leave it back home. Best not to mess with tradition.

By Mel Greenberg

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Acacia and Erin are sound asleep now, and the Guru returned a little while ago from the libation center off the hotel lobby after joining forces with Women;'s Basketball Hall of Fame induction classmate Andrea Lloyd Curry, her husband, Eric; and a few of her friends and family.

The advanced Guru team, led by the Guru, himself, had a busy day arriving here and getting acclimated.

In a masterful display of aeronautical synching, both the flights carrying Acacia and the Guru from Philadelphia and the one carrying Erin from Boston managed to stay on the runway for inordinate amounts of time before heading to Charlotte.

However, both sections of the team barely made the connector, here, and united just before takeoff.

We were greeted on arrival by our good friend William Ewart, a local photographer who is one of the main shooters for the Tennessee women who is not coached by Pat Summitt.

Here is his first photo of the Guru's arrival, with Acacia and Erin following close behind.

Acacia undertook the transport role to make sure the Guru's new tux and suit arrived without wrinkles.

We took a brief visit to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame next door to the Marriott to report for induction duty and wish basketball relations director Karen Tucker happy birthday,

Then it was off to Litton's, an outstanding hamburger place where Bill took advantage of a photo-op by catching the Guru, Erin and Acacia, pictured here left to right, in a live action shot digesting their meal.

(Incidentally, Jonathan is sound asleep back in Philly, but if these pictures are unclear, he'll deal with it upon resuming consciousness.).

The contingent returned to their hotel headquarters where Acacia and Erin worked on the report listed below.

The group will assemble in the morning to work on honing the Guru's acceptance speech into its seven-minute form.

Acacia and Erin are also chasing the other inductees for in-depth interviews and also more tales about the Guru.

Many tales have the potential to be told during Friday night's storytelling session.

The Guru said his speech will keep up with the theme of the WBHOF by honoring the past, celebrating the present and promoting the future.

- Mel

A Taste of the Town and Settling In

While Mel has been introducing us (that is Acacia, Erin and Jonathan) as his Traveling Press Corps, he failed to specify exactly what type of media corps.

As it turns out, it is a Traveling Photo Press Corps.

At least for the day.

"Now beginning our final descent..."

The Guru prepares for fans as the United Airlines commuter dips below 10,000 feet.

La Vista

A glimpse of the appalachian's on the brief journey from Charlotte to Knoxville.

The Guru and his Famous Tux

Task #1: Looking good for the big night. Check.
Task #2: Keeping the speech to 7 minutes.

We'll get back to you on that...

Greetings from Knoxville

If you read the previous post detailing yesterday's guided tour of the Palestra, you may have noticed that Jonathan likes arenas. Jonathan, we had you in mind as we meandered through the University of Tennessee campus, past Neyland Stadium. You didn't miss that much.

Fans Who Bleed Orange

True blue Vol fans have flanking window flags.

photos by Erin Semagin Damio and Acacia O'Connor

PHILADELPHIA -- I just got off the phone with Mel, who reports that he and the traveling crew of Acacia and Erin have safely arrived in Knoxville.

The Guru reports that his party was greeted at the airport by "one paparazzi and page one coverage in the local paper."

Said local paper is the Knoxville News-Sentinel, whose sports editor, Jay Searcy, used to be Mel's editor at the Inquirer. You can read the story in today's paper here.

I can also report that Mel, Acacia and I enjoyed a nice dinner last night at a Mexican restaurant on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania that I've been trying to drag Mel to for a while, not that it really matters to any of you. But if you ever are in University City and need a restaurant recommendation, let me know.

I also gave them a tour of the campus, including famed Franklin Field and the Palestra, which was new to Acacia... and, to some degree, to Mel, as he hadn't been around the pedestrian-only parts of the campus in a while.

Anyway, that's more than enough of my life. I leave for Knoxville tomorrow afternoon, and look forward to meeting in person many of you who've just known me through this writing.

Greetings from your friendly neighborhood blog-builder...

A quick note about leaving comments. Because I don't want to have a bunch of spam comments show up on the site, I've set commenting so that you have to have a TypeKey account.

I promise, this is really easy to deal with. All you have to do is click the "Sign In" link in the comments box and create a free account. Basically, all you need is your name and a valid email address. I know you have names, and I'm pretty sure you have email addresses -- especially the SIDs among you.

So if you could take that little step, I'd greatly appreciate it. And as an added bonus, if you do sign up for TypeKey, once you create an account and post a comment, all your subsequent comments will show up automatically.

Thanks for your help.

Taking a break from packing for my early departure to Knoxville tomorrow morning to bring in a quick update about the plans.

Acacia, Mel, and I will be arriving in Knoxville during the day tomorrow. I've been talking to some of Mel's colleagues and contemporaries and will continue to do so while we are down there, so we can post some thoughts and opinions about his induction. I've got a few to start off with today, including words from a subject in one of the photographs in the post below.

Mel will be inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2007 with Andrea Lloyd Curry, Pamela Kelly-Flowers, Daedra Charles-Furlow, Bridgette Gordon, and Andy Landers. Rutgers Coach C. Vivian Stringer will be escorting Mel down the grand staircase during his induction.

Anticipated highlights of our time in Knoxville?
-A black-tie induction ceremony Saturday night (Mel has confirmed that he will be wearing a tuxedo)
-A Pat Summitt-hosted poolside barbecue
-Temperature highs in the nineties...
-Several WBB/Induction related events

We'll be back with a full schedule tomorrow.

Some quotes in Mel's honor -- starting, of course, with one from him:

Mel on his choice of C. Vivian Stringer as his escort:

"Throughout both our careers, we usually ended up in the same place when she's had her biggest moments. Last March was typical of that when (Rutgers) made their Final Four Run. Now I thought it's time to turn the tables and we can be together again -- this time for one of my biggest moments."

University of Connecticut Coach Geno Auriemma on Mel:

“Mel Greenberg has been an integral part of the Women’s Basketball community for so long that I don’t remember the time when he wasn’t. Mel, more then any other member of the media has shown an appreciation for the game that goes above and beyond the bounds of just doing his job. His passion for the coaches the players and all that the game stands for is unmatched. His desire to help promote the game will always be noted as one of the driving forces that have made women’s basketball what it is today.”

Villanova Coach Harry Perretta on Mel (they've known each other 25 years):

"He’s the guy who did stuff for women’s basketball when nobody else was really doing anything. He started the top 25 poll. I thought that was really good, and he wrote articles about women’s basketball when nobody else was... My cell phone rings at all hours of the day. I keep it next to me because I know Mel could call. Since I have children, though, he’s been a little more lenient on me."

La Salle Coach Tom Lochner on Mel:

"As I have gotten to know him though my 20-plus years a