Herald-Leader’s John Clay to be inducted into Basketball Writers Hall of Fame
Longtime Lexington Herald-Leader sports columnist John Clay is one of seven individuals elected to join the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame in 2025.
Also joining the Hall of Fame, which recognizes writers for their work covering men’s and women’s college basketball, this year will be former Herald-Leader sports columnist Chuck Culpepper, who now writes for the Washington Post.
They will join former Herald-Leader colleagues Jerry Tipton, who was inducted in 2005, and Billy Reed, a charter member, in the Hall. Mark Bradley, a prominent columnist in Atlanta who spent six years at the Herald-Leader before that, is also in the USBWA Hall.
Clay began his career at the Herald-Leader in 1981. He covered University of Kentucky football from 1987-99 before becoming a sports columnist in 2000.
He has won 11 United States Basketball Writers Association best writing awards, three Associated Press Sports Editors awards and has been named Kentucky Sportswriter of the Year seven times. Clay has covered 20 Final Fours and 43 consecutive runnings of the Kentucky Derby.
“Nobody in Kentucky sports writing circles is more connected than John Clay,” said Herald-Leader sports editor Mathew Graf. “But this type of career achievement speaks to the respect John has garnered from his national colleagues through the years. John’s dedication to his craft, his smart and well-sourced opinion writing and his general good nature have endeared him to readers in Lexington for years, and this induction could not be more well-deserved.”
In addition to Clay and Culpepper, the USBWA induction class of 2025 includes Doug Feinberg of The Associated Press and Milton Kent, formerly of the Baltimore Sun, along with Kevin McNamara of Kevin McSports.com and the Providence Journal. Al Featherston of the Durham (N.C.) Herald-Sun and Bob Holt of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette will be inducted posthumously.
Feinberg and Kent will be honored during an April 4 awards ceremony at the NCAA Final Four for women’s basketball in Tampa.
Clay and the others will be recognized April 7 during men’s Final Four weekend in San Antonio.