NEW ORLEANS, LA and SPRINGFIELD, MA – Famed sportswriter Joe Gilmartin and broadcaster of more than 30 years John Andariese are the 2014 Curt Gowdy Media Award recipients. The two will be acknowledged for their contribution to basketball during the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement events in August in Springfield, Massachusetts.
The Curt Gowdy Media Award is named in honor of the late Curt Gowdy, a legendary sports broadcaster and former Hall of Fame Board member and President. This prestigious award is presented annually to members of the print and electronic media whose longtime efforts have made a significant contribution to the game of basketball.
John Andariese, MSG Network’s Knicks analyst, made his broadcasting debut in the 1968-69 college basketball season and is now regarded as one of the best television/radio commentators in the game. He started providing color commentary and analysis with Marv Albert’s play-by-play for the New York Knicks in 1972, Andariese and Albert became the staple announcing team.
Andariese joined TVS in 1967, a television network created by sports television producer Eddie Einhorn. After two years, he was hired as one of the first collegiate basketball color analysts for ESPN and eventually became co-host of NBA2Night with Greg Gumbel in 1977.
After ESPN lost the rights to the NBA to Turner Broadcasting, Andariese became on-air analyst with Skip Carey for two years, until he was rehired by the Knicks to do radio and was eventually hired by Madison Square Garden to be the regular TV analyst with Albert once again.
In 1986 he started working for Madison Square Garden Network and then teamed back up with Albert to do radio. Andariese is a regular on the Knicks half-time show and has been an analyst for a number of pre-game NBA playoff games for NBA TV.
Andariese is now a member of the St. Michael’s Diocesan High School, a Catholic High School Athletic Association, Fordham University Hall of Fame and the Brooklyn Old-Timers Hall of Fame.
Joe Gilmartin, a sports columnist for the Phoenix Gazette for more than 30 years, started his career working for the Wichita Beacon and Wichita Eagle before joining the Gazette in 1962 as assistant sports editor. He became sports editor in 1963 and continued to write a column until 1996 as the Gazette merged with the Arizona Republic.
Gilmartin was named Arizona Sportswriter of the Year a record 16 times. He continued to contribute his writing to websites of the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Phoenix Suns, where he became the team’s TV analyst in the 1980’s.
After serving as a Sporting News NBA correspondent for more than 20 years, Gilmartin became the second inductee into the Associated Press Sports Editors Arizona Sports Writers’ Hall of Fame in 2004. He was the first president named to the Pro Basketball Writers Association and served from 1972-74. Gilmartin is the author of the book about the Suns’ run to the 1976 NBA Finals, The Little Team that Could…And Darn Near Did.
He has covered 25 NBA Finals, 15 Final Fours, 20 Super Bowls and 14 World Series in his career.
Previous Curt Gowdy Media Award Winners:
Year - Print/Electronic
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/Hot Rod Hundley
2004 - Phil Jasner/Max Falkenstien
2005 - Jack McCallum/Bill Campbell
2006 - Mark Heisler/Bill 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/Bill Schonely
2013 - John Feinstein/Eddie Doucette