Mel Greenberg marks 50 years since starting women's basketball poll

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When Mel Greenberg's boss approached him a half century ago about starting the women's basketball poll, he balked.

The Philadelphia Inquirer sports writer didn't think he'd be able to pull together the information needed to deliver a legitimate poll. Women's games were almost never aired on national television in 1976 and the internet wouldn't come along for another few decades, making scores and other statistics challenging to gather.

But as generations of sports fans now know, Greenberg found a way. The season of women's college basketball that began this week marks the 50th anniversary of a poll that has helped shape the sport and draw lasting attention to women's athletics.

“It’s amazing how far down the line we are and what it is,” the now 78-year-old Greenberg said in a phone interview.

Back in 1976, Greenberg knew that for the poll to work, he'd need the blessing of the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, which ran women's college sports before the NCAA took over in 1982. That didn't come right away.

After he first reached out to them, they sent him a position paper that included a line that said: "Women should not get involved in newspaper games and things like polls because it will lead to the evils of men’s athletics.’”

Months later Greenberg circled back to them after talking to a bunch of coaches. The organization said they “were encouraged by what you're doing.”

That's all he needed to get the poll off the ground. He set up a network of coaches across the country who would call in their votes every Sunday night.

“It’s a testament to Mel wanting to bring some excitement and attention to the game,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “I still remember being asked to be on the voting pool of coaches that would get a phone call from Mel. It meant a lot. We were all fighting for a little bit of recognition and we weren’t getting much of it from many sources. God bless Mel as he was one of the few who wanted to give it to you.”

The coaches expected the long late night calls from Greenberg, who is affectionally know as the “Guru”around the sport.

“The only way to find out what was going on in the country was talk to Mel on Sunday night,” Greenberg recalled Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt telling him years ago.

The first poll was published in the Philadelphia Inquirer in November 1976 and two years later The Associated Press started distributing it around the country.

“It was a big deal,” said former Old Dominion coach Marianne Stanley, who led the team when it was a national power from 1977-87. “I don’t know that any of us understood the magnitude of this thing starting in a cohesive way to acknowledge the teams and programs that were really the best teams in the country.”

Coaches voted in the poll until it shifted to journalists before the 1994-95 season and The AP took over running it.

“I couldn’t have gotten the AP poll started without him,” said former AP Sports Writer Chuck Schoffner, who took over running the poll. “He knew the writers covering the sport and had most of their contact information so he really helped me getting going on that.”

Greenberg was still active in the poll, voting until he retired from the Inquirer in 2010. Fifteen years later he still updates his vast poll database every Monday when the new Top 25 comes out.

“When I first started doing it I wasn't keeping the data. It got done and then off to the next one," he recalled. “(N.C. State coach) Kay Yow called me a few weeks in and hit me over the head with a virtual plywood board and said you got to keep the records, you're going to be our history.”

And that he is, recalling stories from his 50 years covering the sport.

Greenberg still goes to games, having been to thousands of them over his career, sometimes taking in three or four in a single day. He has been to every NCAA Final Four since the first one in 1982.

“Mel was at the very foundation of women’s basketball, promoting it as a sport before anyone else in the media gave it much thought,” said South Carolina coach Dawn Staley. "His work first in Philly and then nationally was integral to how media outlets came to understand the quality and value of women’s basketball. All these years later, it’s impressive to see him still singing the praises of the sport he poured his heart and soul into.”

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AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll