– Jeff Twiss Named Recipient of 2025 John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award –
SAN FRANCISCO – The Naismith Basketball Corridor of Fame introduced the recipients of the 2025 Curt Gowdy Media Award and John Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award at NBA All-Star Weekend.
Legendary Detroit Pistons play-by-play announcer George Blaha, famend CBS analyst Clark Kellogg, veteran girls’s basketball author Michelle Smith, and influential NBA journalist Adrian Wojnarowski are the 2025 Curt Gowdy Media Award recipients. Boston Celtics long-time Vice President of Media and Alumni Relations Jeff Twiss is the recipient of the 2025 John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Curt Gowdy Media Award is known as in honor of the late Curt Gowdy, a legendary sports activities broadcaster and former Corridor of Fame Board member and President. This prestigious award is offered to members of the print, digital, and transformative media whose efforts have made a major contribution to the sport of basketball.
The Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award was instituted by the Basketball Corridor of Fame’s Board of Trustees in 1973 and is probably the most prestigious award offered by the Corridor of Fame outdoors of Enshrinement. Named in honor of Corridor of Famer John W. Bunn (Class of 1964), the primary chairman of the Basketball Corridor of Fame Committee who served from 1949-64, the award honors coaches, gamers, and contributors whose excellent accomplishments have impacted the highschool, faculty, skilled, and/or the worldwide sport.
Blaha, Kellogg, Smith, Wojnarowski, and Twiss can be acknowledged for his or her contributions to basketball through the Naismith Basketball Corridor of Fame Enshrinement Weekend on September 5-6. For additional particulars, together with ticket info, go to hoophall.com/occasions/enshrinement-2025.
Curt Gowdy Digital Media Award Recipient – George Blaha
George Blaha is a legendary sports activities broadcaster greatest often called the voice of the Detroit Pistons, a task he has held since 1976. In his almost 5 a long time behind the mic, Blaha has known as over 3,400 regular-season video games and over 260 playoff video games.
Blaha has been behind the mic for the Pistons’ 5 Jap Convention Championships, 5 NBA Finals appearances, and all three NBA Championships (1989, ’90, and 2004). His iconic play-by-play calls have made him a beloved determine amongst Detroit followers and cemented him as one of the vital enduring and recognizable voices within the sport.
His contributions to sports activities broadcasting have been well known. In 2002, the Detroit Sports activities Broadcasters Affiliation, of which he’s an lively member, awarded Blaha the Tyson Award for Excellence in Sports activities Broadcasting. He was honored because the Michigan Sports activities Broadcaster of the 12 months by the Nationwide Sportscasters and Sportswriters Affiliation in 2003 and ’07, and in 2008 he was inducted into the Michigan Sports activities Corridor of Fame.
Curt Gowdy Digital Media Award Recipient – Clark Kellogg
Clark Kellogg is a famend basketball analyst and former skilled participant, greatest recognized for his work as a university basketball analyst for CBS Sports activities. Kellogg joined CBS Sports activities in 1993 and has been part of its NCAA Match protection for greater than three a long time. He served as studio co-host for early-round match protection from 1994-97 earlier than becoming a member of CBS Sports activities full time in 1997 as each a studio and sport analyst for faculty basketball regular-season video games and March Insanity. His deep data of the sport, signature enthusiasm, and coining of ‘spurtability’ – describing a group’s skill to go on a considerable scoring run – have made him a fan favourite. In 2008, Kellogg changed Billy Packer as CBS’s lead faculty basketball analyst, calling the Last 4 and Nationwide Championship video games alongside Jim Nantz till he returned to the studio in 2014.
Kellogg started his profession in broadcasting shortly after ending his NBA profession, signing on along with his former group, the Indiana Pacers, as a radio analyst earlier than making his tv debut with Cleveland State College. In 1988, he joined ESPN, offering evaluation for faculty basketball video games and contributing to the Massive East Community and Prime Sports activities. That very same yr, he turned a TV analyst for the Pacers, a task he held till 2012.
Curt Gowdy Print Media Award Recipient – Michelle Smith
Michelle Smith is an esteemed sports activities journalist and writer whose profession has been devoted to elevating girls’s sports activities protection. A trailblazer within the trade, Smith has written extensively on girls’s basketball and different sports activities for ESPN, the San Francisco Chronicle, AOL Fanhouse, and ESPNw, amongst others.
In 1996, Smith made historical past as ESPN.com’s first common girls’s basketball columnist, shaping nationwide protection of the sport. Her insightful reporting and compelling storytelling have spotlighted generations of athletes, coaches, and packages, contributing to the expansion and visibility of ladies’s sports activities. Smith’s most notable accomplishments embody her annual protection of the Girls’s Last 4 basketball match for numerous shops, together with ESPN, The Subsequent, and the WNBA. She has additionally penned 4 kids’s books which have launched younger readers across the nation to prime feminine athletes and their inspiring tales.
In 2015, she was inducted into the Alameda County Girls’s Corridor of Fame, was the 2017 recipient of the Jake Wade Media Award from the Collegiate Sports activities Data Administrators Affiliation (CoSIDA), and was the Mel Greenberg Media Award winner by the WBCA in 2019. Smith was additionally inducted into america Basketball Writers Affiliation (USBWA) Corridor of Fame in 2024.
Smith presently serves because the Senior Director of Media Relations at her alma mater, San Jose State College.
Curt Gowdy Perception Award Recipient – Adrian Wojnarowski
Adrian Wojnarowski was a distinguished sports activities journalist greatest recognized for his unparalleled NBA protection and breaking information scoops, incomes him the nickname “Woj.” Wojnarowski started his profession as a senior in highschool, working for the Hartford Courant and persevering with throughout his faculty breaks. In 1989, whereas attending St. Bonaventure College, he started interning with the Olean Occasions Herald, the place the sports activities division tasked him with writing extremely crucial items about his college’s basketball group. After graduating from faculty, he wrote for smaller newspapers earlier than changing into a columnist for the Fresno Bee in 1995.
In 1997, he moved to The Report in New Jersey, the place he earned the Related Press Sports activities Editors’ Columnist of the 12 months award in 1997 and 2002. Throughout that point, his work additionally appeared repeatedly on ESPN.com. In 2006, he revealed his New York Occasions bestseller, The Miracle of St. Anthony: A Season with Coach Bob Hurley and Basketball’s Most Inconceivable Dynasty, which additional cemented his repute as a storyteller.
In 2007, Wojnarowski left The Report and joined Yahoo! Sports activities, the place his rapid-fire breaking information scoops, dubbed ‘Woj Bombs,’ made him an web sensation. His pace and accuracy turned him right into a extremely revered determine in sports activities journalism, with followers eagerly awaiting his subsequent main announcement, usually reacting with “nuclear explosion” gifs.
On July 1, 2017, Wojnarowski joined ESPN, simply forward of the NBA free company interval. He made his ESPN debut on the midnight version of SportsCenter. He went on to win three consecutive Nationwide Sportswriter of the 12 months awards from the Nationwide Sports activities Media Affiliation (2017-19).
On September 19, 2024, Wojnarowski introduced that he would step away from journalism to develop into the final supervisor of the boys’s basketball group at his alma mater, St. Bonaventure College, marking the top of his legendary media profession.
John Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient – Jeff Twiss
Jeff Twiss is a distinguished determine in sports activities public relations, recognized for his longstanding tenure with the Boston Celtics. He started his profession with the Celtics in 1981 after receiving his Grasp’s Diploma in Sport Administration at UMass Amherst and now serves because the Vice President of Media Providers and Alumni Relations.
Twiss has led the Celtics PR employees by way of 40 post-season experiences, together with 9 Jap Convention Finals appearances, seven NBA Finals appearances, and 4 NBA Championships (1984, ‘86, ‘08, ‘24).
Through the years, Twiss has been instrumental in shaping the group’s public picture and fostering relationships with the media and alumni. In 1987, Twiss was elected by his friends to function President of the Nationwide Basketball Public Relations Administrators Affiliation. He acquired the Distinguished Alumni Award from the College of Vermont in 1992 and the College of Massachusetts Sports activities Administration Division’s Harold J. VanderZwaag Distinguished Alumni Award in 1999.
Twiss was inducted into the New England Basketball Corridor of Fame in 2004, honored with the NBA’s McHugh/Splaver “Tribute to Excellence” award in 2005, and acknowledged by the Boston Press Photographer’s Affiliation because the Sports activities Persona Award winner in 2009. On September 18, 2024, he acquired the Worldwide Sports activities Heritage Affiliation Legacy Award.
Earlier Curt Gowdy Media Award Recipients:
Print/Digital/Transformative/Perception
1990 – Dick Herbert/Curt Gowdy
1991 – Dave Dorr/Marty Glickman
1992 – Sam Goldaper/Chick Hearn
1993 – Leonard Lewin/Johnny Most
1994 – Leonard Koppett/Cawood Ledford
1995 – Bob Hammel/Dick Enberg
1996 – Bob Hentzen/Billy Packer
1997 – Bob Ryan/Marv Albert
1998 – Larry Donald & Dick Weiss/Dick Vitale
1999 – Smith Barrier/Bob Costas
2000 – Dave Kindred/Hubie Brown
2001 – Curry Kirkpatrick/Dick Stockton
2002 – Jim O’Connell/Jim Nantz
2003 – Sid Hartman/Scorching Rod Hundley
2004 – Phil Jasner/Max Falkenstien
2005 – Jack McCallum/Invoice Campbell
2006 – Mark Heisler/Invoice Raftery
2007 – Malcolm Moran/Al McCoy
2008 – David DuPree/Bob Wolff
2009 – Peter Vecsey/Doug Collins
2010 – Jackie MacMullan/Joe Tait
2011 – Alexander Wolff/Jim Durham
2012 – Sam Smith/Invoice Schonely
2013 – John Feinstein/Eddie Doucette
2014 – Joe Gilmartin/John Andariese
2015 – Wealthy Clarkson/Woody Durham
2016 – David Aldridge/Jay Bilas
2017 – Harvey Araton/Craig Sager
2018 – Andy Bernstein/Doris Burke
2019 – Marc Stein/Ralph Lawler
2020 – Michael Wilbon/Mike Breen/Contained in the NBA/Jim Grey
2021 – Mel Greenberg/Mike Gorman/George Kalinsky
2022 – M.A. Voepel/Walt Frazier/Dick Ebersol
2023 – Holly Rowe/Marc Spears/CBS Sports activities
2024 – Debbie Antonelli/J.A. Adande/”NBA Inside Stuff”/SLAM Journal
Earlier John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients:
1973 – John Bunn
1974 – John Picket
1975 – J. Walter Kennedy
1976 – Henry P. Iba
1977 – Clifford B. Fagan
1978 – Curt Gowdy
1979 – Eddie Gottlieb
1980 – Arnold “Purple” Auerbach
1981 – Ray Meyer
1982 – Daniel Biasone
1983 – Robert J. Cousy
1984 – Lawrence F. O’Brien
1985 – Lee Williams
1986 – Grady W. Lewis
1987 – David R. Gavitt
1988 – Haskell Hillyard
1989 – George E. Killian
1990 – Pat Head Summitt
1991 – Morgan B. Wootten
1992 – Will Robinson
1993 – Joe Vancisin
1994 – William Wall
1995 – Pete Carlesimo
1996 – Vic Bubas
1997 – C.M. Newton
1998 – Tex Winter
1999 – Harlem Globetrotters
2000 – Meadowlark Lemon
2001 – Tom Jernstedt
2002 – Harvey Pollack
2003 – Joe O’Brien
2004 – Zelda Spoelstra
2005 – Marty Blake
2006 – Betty Jaynes
2007 – Thomas “Satch” Sanders
2008 – Val Ackerman
2009 – Johnny “Purple” Kerr
2010 – Don Meyer
2011 – Brian McIntyre
2012 – Pat Williams
2013 – George Raveling
2014 – Alvin Attles
2015 – Rod Thorn
2016 – Jim Delany
2017 – Michael Goldberg
2017 – Donald “Dee” Rowe
2018 – Harley Redin & Jim Host
2019 – Del Harris & Harry Glickman
2020 – Timothy Nugent
2022 – Reggie Minton
2023 – Tom Konchalski
2024 – JoAn Scott
In regards to the Naismith Basketball Corridor of Fame
Situated in Springfield, Massachusetts, the town the place basketball was born, the Naismith Basketball Corridor of Fame is an impartial non-profit 501(c)(3) group devoted to selling, preserving, and celebrating the sport of basketball at each stage—women and men, beginner {and professional} gamers, coaches, and contributors—each domestically and internationally. The Corridor of Fame museum is house to greater than 475 inductees and over 40,000 sq. ft of basketball historical past. Practically 200,000 folks go to the Corridor of Fame museum annually to be taught concerning the sport, expertise the interactive displays, and check their expertise on the Jerry Colangelo “Courtroom of Desires.” Greatest recognized for its annual marquee Enshrinement Ceremony honoring the sport’s elite, the Corridor of Fame additionally operates over 70 highschool and collegiate competitions yearly all through the nation and overseas. For extra info on the Basketball Corridor of Fame group, its museum, and occasions, go to hoophall.com and observe @hoophall #GowdyAward.
