Mel Greenberg is a longtime sports reporter who spent over 40 years at The Philadelphia Inquirer, before retiring from the paper in 2010.

He spent about 35 of those years covering women’s basketball, at a time when coverage was quite minimal.

During his time there, he earned a nickname as “The Guru” of women’s basketball.

So, naturally, when the WNBA recently announced that Philadelphia was one of three cities that would be getting a new team over the next five years, it prompted an opportunity to praise Greenberg for his work advocating the sport for so long, writes Jonathan Tannenwald for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

In 1975, Greenberg launched what became the first national women’s basketball top 20 poll.

While he had the backing of his editor, Jay Searcy, not everyone was always supportive of him.

However, many started to come around over time.

The same could be said about women’s basketball.

Now 78, Greenberg hopes he and his contemporaries in the field and the sport are still here to see Philadelphia’s new WNBA team in 2030.

“This is a great opportunity in the next five years knowing that there’s a goal for the local college market to build itself in the anticipation,” he said.

Read more about Mel Greenberg and his dedication toward advocating for women’s basketball in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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