NEW YORK -- The Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association (MBWA), founded in 1933, and the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame (NYCBHOF), founded in 1990, have reached an historic agreement of collaboration that the two organizations hope to see grow to benefit the entire basketball community of the Metropolitan NYC area.
Chuck Stogel, the longtime President of the MBWA and Zak Ivkovic, President/CEO of the NYCBHOF and Immediate Past Commissioner of the CUNY Athletic Conference, made the announcement as the basketball world prepares for the start of the 2025-26 high school, college and men’s pro season.
The historic collaboration will allow the NYCBHOF full access to 93 years worth of regional college basketball history as recorded by the MBWA and its membership. The MBWA history archives include the information on the winners and in many cases the decision making process that led to select Haggerty Award winners, weekly and annual player awards.
The NYCBHOF on its part will archive and digitize this priceless material and use it in its publications, on its website, in its online museum and physical facility. The NYCBHOF will also strive to make the MBWA material accessible, along with additional relevant archives, to students and scholars doing academic research or school projects on the history of the city or the City Game.
The NYCBHOF online and physical museums will include dedicated spaces honoring the 93 years of MBWA activity - including the Haggerty awards, the history of the NIT and the many thousands of student-athletes whose achievements were evaluated by the MBWA over the past century.
The MBWA is the oldest continuously functioning sports media association in the world. In 1938, the organization joined with Madison Square Garden and others to create the first national collegiate basketball championship - the “National Invitational Tournament” - which is still played today. Its members began presenting All-Met teams in 1934 and in 1942, following the passing of Lt. Frank J. Haggerty, the first graduate of both Chaminade High School and St. John’s University to die in military service during World War II, named its annual selection of the Met area’s most outstanding men’s collegiate player each season.
The MBWA will be holding the 93rd Haggerty Awards Dinner on Thursday, April 23, 2026 at the Sleepy Hollow Hotel in Tarrytown. More information located here: MBWADinner.
The NYC Basketball Hall of Fame was established in 1990 by a group of dedicated NYC basketball executives and former players. From 1990 to 2017, the founders meticulously built, developed, and maintained the Hall by carefully selecting and inducting 28 classes of distinguished individuals who significantly contributed to the development of basketball in the city, the nation, and globally. Their dream of a physical location was never realized.
On September 19, 2024 at center court of the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY, just before the eventual WNBA Champion New York Liberty’s last regular season game, the NYC Basketball Hall of Fame was reborn. A representative class of ten NYC natives who have impacted basketball in various capacities, from parks and AAU, through high schools and colleges, all the way up to the professional leagues, were inducted into The Hall, taking their place alongside the legends of the past.
The NYCBHOF will enshrine its 30th class on February 24, 2026 at the Hilton Midtown in New York City in a celebration that will include both the new Class of 2025 and the Class of 2024. (Please see hoopshallny.org for details on inductees and the Gala Enshrinement event).
Speaking to the new collaboration agreement Ivkovic said: “The city with the greatest hoops history and heritage in the world and the greatest sports media in the world deserves to have strong organizations that will continue the work of preservation and growth begun by the MBWA close to 100 years ago and more in recent decades by the founders of the hoopshallny.org.” “Developing collaborations such as this one will further solidify the goal of making sure the history of the City Game in the Mecca of Basketball is forever more!”
Chuck Stogel, himself a 2025 inductee into the NYCBHOF celebrating over 40 years at the helm of the storied MBWA added: “The MBWA introduced the world to the strength of NYC basketball close to 100 years ago and continues to be a primary promoter of its excellence today.This collaboration with the NYCBHOF will give a century of worthy honorees a new physical home, as well as a space that will allow academic research into the storied past of the City Game. It is our responsibility to ensure everyone’s contributions and developments come into fruition as the organization continues to grow into its second century.”
Please see the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association website metbasketballwriters.org and social media regularly for weekly honor rolls, players of the week and other regional highlights for both men and women’s basketball 2025-26 season.
Please see the NYC Basketball Hall of Fame website hoopshallny.org and social media for details on the Class of 2025, the Class of 2024 and the Enshrinement Gala.
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