Women's Hoops Guru

So, as Mel noted, I took a lot of pictures yesterday. So many, in fact, that I decided it would burden the blog server too much if I posted them all on here. I decided instead to build a photo gallery in the Philly.com publishing system (a perk of my actual job). You can see it by clicking here.

I also recorded the speeches yesterday from Mel, Executive Sports Editor Jim Jenks, Editor Bill Marimow and Publisher Brian Tierney. You can listen to them by clicking here.

As an aside, my sincere thanks to those of you who came up to me last night at Doc Watson's to thank me for the work I did in Knoxville. I've long believed that the best praise a journalist can get is being told that people are reading and appreciating one's work, so it meant a lot to me... even if I seemed a bit out of it, because I was pretty tired from two straight early morning shifts.

(Jonathan, who had a long, long, day will be posting photos, etc., from the Inquirer reception.He also has audio containing the Guru's Inquirer speech you are about to read, as well as remarks by Inquirer sports editor Jim Jenks, Inquirer executive editor Bill Marimow, and publisher Brian Tierney.

The event was held Friday at the Inquirer public room and attended by people who have dealt with the Guru in various ways over the years. Some are noted in the speech.)

The Guru's Remarks
Thank you Jim, Thank you Bill, Thank You Jim, and, especially, thank you, Brian.

Brian you're going to have to get the Kimmel Center again because we got word from Knoxville that the DVD containing the ceremony is ready.

Last winter the newsroom was under-going its re-adjustment and when you're happening to rise to number two on the seniority list of the writing staff at the same the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame induction was being publicly announced, I began to have nightmares, envisioning such headlines as Greenberg: Treasure or Target.

Listen, if you all want words of inspiration, you need to read the acceptance speech at last month’s induction ceremony (which is on this blog in audio and text). Because of the uniqueness of this particular gathering in this room, today, I have to go in a bit of a different direction, which I hope remains entertaining.

But first, several short orders of business

There’s a name that has been at the center of this event, besides, mine, but more important, one that has made today’s reception possible.

We’ve been friends for years, her husband Bryan and I started at The Inquirer the same date, that’s right Bill, 9-9-69, the number you often recite to me, and I know I’ve put her through fits over the last month in getting this together. Also, previously, she helped to co-ordinate the Hall of Fame needs from us for last month’s ceremonies in Knoxville. She’s the reason we got to this point today. Say hello to: Maureen Meehan.

Yoy know, the NCAA actually did her a favor, because the recruiting calendar is still alive this weekend. Otherwise, we’d be packed in here with some other 200 or so coaches, predominantly from the area, who are elsewhere right now trying to preserve their current employment.

Next, for those of you who want to keep your social activity going tonight, the celebration will continue later at Doc Watson’s Pub in Center City.

It used to be our Inquirer sports department hangout back in the day, and the place where the Women’s Big Five actually got started, as Maryann from Villanova noted to me a little while ago, in a room on the third floor that is being given to us by owner Barry Sandrow. He called me out of the blue last week and said he wanted to note the induction with a photo on their Wall of Fame, over there.

His place is on 11th Street between Walnut and Locust, across from a building under construction in the Jefferson University Hospital complex. We’l be there to continue later until whenever.

I’m told some refreshment is being provided, but we’ll learn exactly what when we get there.

With that out of the way, let me begin my remarks here by saying I don’t know how presidential contenders go through preparing speeches everyday. In the last month, I’ve had to prepare one for the induction ceremony, itself, and then one for here and, a real short one for over at Watson’s later.

Speaking of campaigning, I need to get something out of the way. On one hand, I’d like to thank my longtime colleagues from here ifor their recent grass roots efforts on my behalf in the newsroom. But although Bill and I have had a long and meaningful working relationship here, I want you to know I really have no interest in the vacant managing editor’s job. But thanks, anyway.

To continue: Since the actual public announcement of the induction was made last November, it has been a bit overwhelming and humbling to see the magnitude of the reaction. From Temple, my alma mater, citing me during a timeout of a women’s game against Maryland, when the then-defending NCAA champions were No. 1, last December, to recently hearing my name and seeing my face on the jumbo-tron during a WNBA game in Washington.

It is amazing to see how many people beyond my normal working environment have noted this most recent honor.

We talk about family a lot in our daily lives, and, today, at this event, I kind of feel like we have an assemblage of all the families – from my own, including friends from the neighborhood, who enjoy seeing my name in the newspaper, to my extended families, represented here, who have evolved along the way.

It’s been kind of interesting in this particular reaction because this is the first time my Inquirer internal life has been noted alongside the basketball emphasis, even if half of what you are reading in that special section is pure fiction. And I’ll have more to say about my Boswells in that work in a bit.

When we were Knoxville, the creation of the special multi-media induction blog at philly.com enabled you to meet my sister Annette, my brother-in-law Perry and my nieces, Neena and Allison, who are also here.

But in this room, first, and most important, say hello to one person, without whom, I wouldn’t be here – my mother, Roslyn Greenberg.

I consider this event everybody’s celebration because you all have been representative and part of the components that resulted in what I eventually was able to achieve. I don’t know if I would have been the one to start a women’s basketball poll, had not I been a child of the Big Five, especially one who was up close as a basketball manager at Temple with a team that became an NIT champion in New York. And some fellow members are here today. --- my former road roommate Pat Cassidy and.Lee Tress.

There is also a gentleman in this room, he was my Mel Greenberg when I started, he was the source of all knowledge as the sports information director at Queens College: Say hello to Ed Jaworski.

And from that era, although they are not here today, let us pay tribute to Immaculata and Cathy Rush for winning those first national titles that set the era, that caused our former sports editor Jay Searcy, when he came here in 1975 before some of you were born, to approach me with the mission of starting the poll. He’s retired now in Knoxville and was with us last month for the events in Tennessee.

Speaking of Immaculata, no, I am not in the movie, nor is anyone playing me in the production about the Mighty Macs. However, it was quite a moment, personally, last month to visit the shooting. After a particular take was filmed, during the time-out, the director actually noted my presence to the stars and extras in the cast.

I don't know if anyone ever stopped shooting a movie for Stephen A.

I mentioned Jay. But let me note all the sports editors along the way. First, Tim Kelly, who is now the publisher in Lexington, Kentucky, and the late Ron Smith, both of whom actually opened the door to begin writing at this newspaper. And then through the years to Glen Guzzo, Dave Tucker, Nancy Cooney, Tim Dwyer, who is leaving the Washington Post today to become the overall editor of the New London Day, and, of course, now Jim Jenks. He once lived off of me through his former charges as a head of research at ESPN.

And let me cite all department colleagues over the years, and those in other departments, from whom I’ve learned much, and to all the backfields and copy desk people who have saved me from myself.

I started here in 1969 as a clerk on the then five-member business page. One co-worker was Marty Sikora, who is here.

I think I actually have a bunch of former bosses in the room.

Also here is John V.R. Bull, who was my immediate superior when I first handled our daily file to what was then known as the Knight-Ridder wire. In those early years when I was doubling up the two jobs when the poll started, John’s famous “But, but, Melsy, well, OK, I guess,” allowed me to get both done. Of course, he later was rewarded when my expertise dealing with sports information directors enabled me to run Inquirer hospital suites at state press association conventions.

I used to have a saying in regards to the early years of the space agency, which occurred at the same time we started this, that “women got Tupperware out of the space program and the Inquirer got me out of the poll" because of my early fascination with computers.

Some former newsroom executives are here – Gene Foreman, whose daughter Sue was and still is a trainer at Virginia. Back then, she was friends with a player – one Dawn Staley – a relationship that became useful for many reasons. It becomes helpful when the No. 2 man in the newsroom complains that women’s scores aren’t getting in the newspaper.

Butch Ward is not here. But he’s been recently bragging to reporters about how I got him to stuff envelopes mail preseason poll ballots to all the voting coaches.

Although he’s not here, obviously Gene Roberts, the former head of the newsroom. I don’t know if the poll would have happened had he not he infused energy into the paper at a time when many initiatives were occurring here.

When I was first organizing the poll, Gene once gave me some advice about how to market it, and then added this phrase: “Other than that, anything else you want to do here is fine with me.” That, of course, became the official cart blanch to run amok in the newsroom for the next 24 years.

But then, such are the perks over the years as a courier to Columbia University driving many of the paper’s Pulitzer Prize entries that became winners.

I mentioned SIDs. Many are here today past and present. If people are amazed at what I became, likewise to people who served in these jobs at various schools, especially locally. One person who could not be here but tried is Dave Coskey, a name many of you know as the marketing genius of the 76ers and Comcast who now works for the Borgata casino establishment down the shore.

You know, at the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, the theme is honor the past, celebrate the present, and promote the future.

I’ve done already done two of those things in this speech. But as for promoting the future, I need you to meet some outstanding young talent here from my blogging team that represent the next generation in our industry. I refer to them as the blogerettes.

The first person, she couldn’t make it to Knoxville because she was turning 21 that weekend and facing impending ACL surgery. But Kate Burkholder, who lives over in Marlton, will be a senior at Rutgers this fall. Two seasons ago, she was the women’s basketball beat writer on the student newspaper, and in observing her fine work and meeting her, I offered her a chance to come along to the Final Four in Boston. She began writing for my blog and her first words were "Mel knows everybody and everybody knows Mel," which, by today's turnout shows she was quite accurate. In so doing, Kate gave it a new dimension. I joked that it took me almost a decade to become “Mel” to the nation, but she managed to become “Kate” in five days.

She soon thereafter decided for a class project to write my biography and in so doing, stole the thunder from my longtime colleague here, Mike Vitez, who eventually got his say in the special section, to which Kate became a collaborator. She’s here with her mom and dad, say hello to Kate.

Kate paved the way for others to join the blog. Several months later, at a Connecticut Sun game I became acquainted with Erin Semagin Damio, who actually lives a few miles from the University of Connecticut campus. So you all know what that means. But she also is a member of the rowing team at Northeastern University and is here with her mom and her brother.

Acacia O’Connor, who actually plays at Vasser, could not be here today because of her summer job at the Syracuse newspaper in her hometown. But she heard me speak at Bryn Mawr last winter in a presentation very much shorter than this, and later sent me an email about her aspirations. Her work, also, was exceptional and she spent the first five months of this year in a special program in Bologna, Italy. The result was Acacia became our blog’s first foreign correspondent. She returned back to the States in time to join us in Knoxville with Erin and the two helped produce much of the content on the special Philly.com blog. I know she’ll be reading about today’s event and listening ,so if I don’t give her a shout-out, I’ll definitely hear about it.

Several weeks ago, Kathleen Radebaugh, a student at St. Joseph’s, who writes for the student newspaper, joined us for coverage at the WNBA all-star game, and produced two fine stories. She’s here with us.

And last, but definitely not least, Jonathan Tannenwald was a student sportswriter at Penn when we first hooked up and he helped cover the Washington Mystics several summers in his hometown. After graduation last year, he actually got employed here at Philly.com and produced the induction blog to handle coverage from Knoxville. He’s busy at it today chronicling all of this and, later, at Doc Watson’s. So say hello to Jonathan.

As I said in my Knoxville speech, this whole process has been about the journalism.

I think, the most gratifying thing is the letters and, now, email I get from readers offering thanks for the coverage. Mike and Kate noted one such reader in their bio in the special section.

Let me close, believe it or not, by saying that the most important aspect of all this has been the fun along the way and all the friendships, in particular those past and present of the staff here at all levels.

If this has appeared a bit long, consider that if they had given me this honor nine years ago, there might be about 150 less of you who I had yet to meet. So now, on with the party.

-- Mel

Before Mel's party Friday, I decided to come over here and clear out the dust and tumbleweeds.

And while I'm here, I'll post a few more photos from the Knoxville trip as well.

First, we have Mel being interviewed by a local Knoxville TV crew at the Hall of Fame:

(Think about that -- Mel on TV. Between that, the blogging, the print and the podcasts, he's a genuine 21st-century multimedia type.)

Next we have Mel doing one of the things he really excels at: talking on the phone.

Also from Friday, are these people Knoxville's version of the Rockettes?

Here's Mel during his speech Friday night:

And here's Mel at his Hall of Fame display case, including the women's basketball jersey of his alma mater, Temple University:

Finally, proof of that old adage that everything is bigger in Texas. How else to explain this picture of UT women's athletic director Chris Plonsky on the big screen in the Tennessee Theatre on Saturday?

That's it for now. There'll be more to come Friday.

By Mel Greenberg

A story in Philly.com from the printed edition of Wednesday's Inquirer on July 4th chronicles a visit to the film shoot of Our Lady of Victory at Immaculata University in the western suburbs of Philadelphia.

The film focuses on former coach Cathy Rush and her leading the Mighty Macs to the first women's national collegiate basketball title. Two more titles were to follow.

There are two reasons to post a little companion piece here off that story, keeping with the induction theme at this site.

One, the Guru would like to point out that the particular scene shot caused a feeling of full-circle nostalgia. As mentioned in the print story, basically the scene that leads to the one we watched, is that the Macs had lost to nearby rival West Chester in Towson, Md., and thought their season had ended.

But the national committee, off a season win against West Chester, picked Immaculata for the national tournament anyhow and gave the Macs the 15th seed in the 16-team field.

When the team returns late at night to the campus, a surprise, emotional, and energized pep rally breaks out, spurring Immaculata on to the first title.

Now, this is where the Guru factors. By winning the three titles, the era is set. Jay Searcy arrives as sports editor at The Inqiuirer, with knowledge of the Macs, and tries to convince the future Guru to start a poll.

Thus, on Wednesday night of last week, the Guru watched filming of a scene that was the start of a domino path that ultimately resulted in his recent induction to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tenn.

The other was reason is the real Cathy Rush, already a women's hall of famer, was also at the shoot and Immaculata officials shot a picture of Rush, himself, and Mary McCormick of the Immaculata publications office back in the day. Rush is in the center.

Below is all the previous induction coverage. Remember to click several continuation links to see all the pictures and to also hit the archives link to see everything from the beginning.

Here's the picture. -- Mel

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 as a coach, with him being so close (in Philadelphia), is that as great as he is professionally, and as much as he has done for women’s basketball, he is an even nicer person."

Do you know Mel (or just read and appreciate his work) and want to add to this? Feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an email by clicking on my name on the sidebar and your thoughts will be posted here.

Stay tuned for more updates from Knoxville tomorrow!

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA _ The Guru's good friend Temple coach Dawn Staley once expressed concern about the sport she loved transitioning into more of a business.

This is an alert that the experimental move to this site which will enable advertising sales does not mean the Guru, in turn, is becoming more commercialized.

It does mean, however, that we can make better use of technological initiatives and you might even get to see the Guru decked out and in action, along with other aspects of the forthcoming induction events in Knoxville, almost as soon as they happen.

At least, team member Jonathan is trying to convince me as much and, thus, as one who has embraced enhancements over the years, I'm always in favor of prudent experimentation.

For example, let's see if I mention the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, I've provided the appropriate link.

And speaking of Hall of Famers, here's two of them taken by a Rutgers student, aka Kate, a year ago at the Women's Final Four in Boston that we're using as a test to see if we can imbed the photo.

And here edited into this copy two days later is a picture of the photographer, herself, along with two hall of famers, also taken in Boston to see if we figured out if a photo program on our laptop is good enough to help the cause over the next week.

So now that I've created a test implimentation, we'll see how everything looks and proceed from there.

We just previewed and it worked so Acacia and Erin will be able to jump start the multi-media phase of coverage when we arrive on Wednesday before Jonathan joins us on Thursday afternoon.

-- Mel