St. Joseph’s Kai Henson to Receive 2020 ‘Oc Award’ Scholarship Grant

4/23/2020 9:00:00 AM

MBWA Honoree Eyes Career in Sports Communications

FFI: Chuck Stogel, MBWA - 914-428-6111, chstogel@aol.com

NEW YORK (April 23, 2020) –- Kai Henson, a senior-to-be at St. Joseph’s College in Brooklyn, NY, majoring in Journalism and Media Studies, has been selected to receive the 2020 Jim O’Connell Sports Communications Scholarship grant from the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Assn.

The Oc Award, which includes a check for $3,000, represents an annual grant to a Met area college student majoring in sports journalism, communications, information or sports management The scholarship is named in memory of Jim O’Connell, the longtime Associated Press national college basketball editor who passed away in July 2018 at the age of 64. Oc, as he was known, was a member of the MBWA Executive Committee as well as the Naismith Hall of Fame.

In just three years at St. Joseph’s, Henson --- who hails from Tiverton, RI, and carries a cumulative GPA of 3.45 --- has assembled a lofty resume. He has been working since his freshman year as an assistant in the school’s sports information department as the primary contact for various men’s and women’s teams, is a member of the Bears basketball and volleyball score table stat crew, is affiliated with the Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference as the coordinator and editor of the league’s weekly awards program, and, as of 2019, began working for the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets as part of their game-day staff.



In addition to those endeavors, Henson has been handling various freelance chores in athletic communications for other schools such as LIU, St. Francis-Brooklyn, Mount Saint Vincent, NYU, Mercy, York  and Baruch, and for the Roman Legends Classic at the Barclays Center. He has handled player award nominations submitted to the NCAA Division III Skyline Conference, to which St. Joseph’s belongs. He also has developed a proficiency for website creativity and production.

“I’ve had the pleasure of having Kai Henson work in my office for three years and never, in my 12 years at St. Joseph’s College, have I had an undergraduate student that has taken the responsibility and initiative that Kai has,” said Anthony Macapugay, SJC’s assistant athletic director for communications and operations. “I’ve been truly fortunate to see Kai’s growth. He has a tremendous future ahead of him in the sports communications world.”

In 2019 Henson received an undergraduate scholarship from CoSIDA, the national organization of college sports information directors.

Henson revealed that, prior to his enrollment at St. Joseph’s, he was unaware that a communications career related to sports was possible. “I’ve learned a vast amount of the skills and abilities needed in the athletic communications profession,” he said. “Before [college] …  I had no idea that this was even a field of work. I have developed a passion for athletic communications and intend on pursuing a career in the industry after graduation [in May 2021].”

For further information: MBWA Establishes 'Oc Award' • Last year's inaugural recipient, Robert Callaghan, NYIT