NEW YORK (April 25, 2022) –- Alexander Wolz, a senior at Fordham University majoring in Communication and Culture, has been selected to receive the 2022
Jim O’Connell Sports Communications Scholarship grant from the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association.
The award will be presented to Wolz at the 89th MBWA All-Met Haggerty Awards dinner on April 25 at the Westchester Marriott in Tarrytown, NY. The Haggerty dinner is the longest running, media-managed college basketball awards program in the United States.
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.
A native of Springfield, NJ, Wolz --- who carries an academic cumulative GPA of 3.98 and will graduate with a Bachelor’s degree later in 2022 --- has built an impressive resume in his student tenure at Fordham, whose main campus in based in the Bronx, NY. His variety of activities include: Sports manager at WFUV 90.7 FM; student associate with the Rams’ sports information department; production coordinator for Sound Mind Live; sports editor of
The Fordham Ram. His highly developed skills include videography, photography; graphic design; audio/video production; website design; broadcasting and interviewing.
“Alexander Wolz is arguably the greatest member of the sports training program that I have ever had,” said Bobby Ciafardini, sports director of Fordham’s WFUV radio station. “He helped us transition our program by turning all of our radio shows into TV streamed programming.”
Most notable in that transition, according to Ciafardini, is “One on One,” New York’s longest-running sports call-in show that airs weekly on Saturdays. “That program is the birthplace of such sportscasters from Mike Breen and Michael Kay to Spero Dedes and Ryan Ruocco,” said Ciafardini.
Wolz, who already has won a mantelshelf of awards, is a credentialed beat reporter for the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Nets; executes live ESPN+ telecasts of Fordham athletics, including replay, graphics and technical direction; and created a new, in-depth series of campus newspaper stories entitled “Fordham Features.” He has become a mentor to numerous younger students.
“After seeing the impacts of the pandemic, I am grateful to have experienced everything that I have,” said Wolz. “Each game feels more special, each road trip like it may be the last and each second in the studio as a moment with lifelong friends that I will never forget… I cannot wait to embark on this journey into the future.”
For a list of the MBWA’s previous honorees:
MBWA Jim O’Connell Sports Communications Scholarship Grant (year-by-year).