College Sports Information Directors of America

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Dick "Hoops" Weiss – BlueStar Media

Jake Wade Award
Presented annually to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution in the media to the field of intercollegiate athletics. Voted on by the Special Awards Committee. Nominee must be a member of the media.

by Tony Neely – University of Kentucky, Assistant AD, Athletics Communications and Public Relations

“If I were talking about Dick Weiss on ESPN, I would certainly say, ‘He is awesome, baby, with a capital A! He’s a ‘three S’ man – a super, scintillating, sensational guy.’ Talk to anyone in the world of media and they will tell you, he’s a giant of giants, and he absolutely deserves this prestigious award!”
– Dick Vitale, a past winner of the Jake Wade Award, on this year’s honoree

 
It is fitting that one of Dick Weiss’ recent books is entitled “The Mount Rushmores of College Basketball,” for if there were a Mount Rushmore for writing about college athletics, Dick Weiss’ face certainly could be etched in the granite.
 
Weiss is the recipient of CoSIDA’s 2022 Jake Wade Award, given annually to a media member for outstanding coverage and contributions to college athletics.
 
Counting his time as a student journalist and radio reporter at Temple University, the man known simply as “Hoops” has been part of the sports media landscape for more than half a century, and counting.
        
 
Currently the global columnist for Blue Star Media, covering United States and International Basketball, Weiss was a longtime writer/columnist for the New York Daily News, Philadelphia Daily News, Baltimore Sun and Trenton Times, and was an associate editor for Basketball Times.
 
Including this year, Weiss has covered 49 NCAA Final Fours (“I’m going for 50,” he said, “and still get goosebumps before the tipoff!”) and numerous national championship games in college football. He’s also worked in the electronic realm with CNN and the Big Ten Network and has been a guest on countless sports-talk radio shows around the country.
 
Weiss has authored 17 books with basketball Hall of Famers such as Dick Vitale, John Calipari, Mike Krzyzewski, Theresa Grentz and Rick Pitino. 
 
Weiss is a Hall of Famer - yet you’ll need to ask “Which one?,” because he’s been enshrined in six of ‘em:

• National Sports Media Association Hall of Fame
• United States Basketball Writers Hall of Fame
• Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame
• Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame
• Philadelphia "Big 5" Hall of Fame
• Temple University Journalism Hall of Fame

 
Space limitations do not permit a full list of Weiss’ honors, but they are topped by the
Bert McGrane Award, from the Football Writers Association of America and College Football Hall of Fame -- the highest honor given to a college football writer – and the Curt Gowdy Award for Media Excellence from the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
 
Weiss has been a servant leader of sports media and sports information directors, serving as president of both the Football Writers Association of America and United States Basketball Writers Associations. He is one of only seven who have served in both of those roles.
 
He also has worked on several awards committees, from the Heisman Trophy to the Naismith Hall of Fame. It’s little wonder that Weiss has been called the most influential college basketball writer in America by Sports Illustrated and one of the 50 most influential people in college basketball by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
 
This feature could stop here, and that would be more than plenty to understand why he is receiving the Jake Wade Award.
 
However, because this award is from the College Sports Information Directors of America, it’s important for everyone to know what Dick Weiss means to members of our profession.
 
First, Dick is a fan of athletic communicators. He understands the challenges of our jobs and counts his relationships with SIDs as among the best things about his coverage of college athletics.
 
“SIDs are the most undervalued part of a college athletic program,” Weiss says.
 
Second is the way Dick handles himself -- succinctly, it's not about Dick. He always shows up with a smile on his face, asks for your help instead of demanding it, and it’s easy to work with him.
 
Third, Dick's outlook on writing could be summarized as "sunny side up" or "glass half-full" instead of half-empty. You're glad when Dick is there, because his basic outlook is to cover the good things going on with your team, your coach and your players. Coaches understand this, too, and it’s why their doors swing open wide when Dick is in town.
 
“I began following Hoops during his time with the Philadelphia Daily News,” Kentucky Coach John Calipari said. “I was always impressed with his knowledge of the game, his views on our sport and his ability to treat everyone with respect and class. His passion for storytelling is what drove him then and continues to drive him today.”
 
A little-known fact about Weiss is that he hasn’t just covered college athletics - he also was an student-athlete as well. While at Temple, in addition to his student-journalist work, he played soccer on a team that reached the NCAA Tournament.
 
“I was a bad goalie on a good team,” Weiss said with typical self-effacing humor. “But being a collegiate athlete taught me how to write about sports – write about the game and the story, and not take cheap shots at the players.”
 
Before his Temple days, Weiss saw his first college basketball game in 1959 at The Palestra, the legendary venue he would later dub as “The Cathedral of College Basketball,” a title now inscribed in the building’s main lobby. He attended countless games there and it was in that arena that he found his calling.
 
“I saw the guys on press row and thought, ‘That looks like a pretty good way to make a living,’” Weiss said.
 
Thus began one of the two great loves of his life, college athletics. The other? His wife, Joan, herself an author who has helped Dick co-write some of his most recent books and whom he calls “the best editor ever.”