Syracuse, N.Y. — Donna Ditota, who has covered college basketball and a variety of other sports in Syracuse for nearly 40 years, has been selected for the U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s Hall of Fame.
Ditota is part of a four-person 2024 class that includes Bob Baptist of The Columbus Dispatch, Chris Dortch of Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook and Terry Hutchens of CNHI Sports Indiana and the Indianapolis Star.
The class will be honored April 8, 2024, in Glendale, Arizona at the NCAA men’s Final Four.
Ditota started her sportswriting career in Syracuse in 1986 working at the Herald-Journal. A former basketball player at Bishop Grimes and later St. Bonaventure, Ditota has become known both for her impactful feature stories and profiles and deep analysis of basketball.
Stories by Donna Ditota
- New Syracuse basketball assistant Dan Engelstad: ‘I believe in Coach Autry’s vision of what this can be’
- Men’s basketball transfer portal and the ACC: Every team, every player who’s come or gone, plus their destinations
- Jim and Juli Boeheim play hosts to what likely will be their final Basket Ball
- Syracuse basketball possibility Dakota Leffew commits to Georgia
- Syracuse basketball center William Patterson enters the transfer portal
She’s spent the majority of her time in Syracuse covering the men’s basketball program but has also covered lacrosse, football and other sports.
A fierce advocate for women’s sports coverage, Ditota became the first female to be named New York Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association.
Ditota joins colleague Mike Waters in the USBWA Hall of Fame. Waters was inducted in the 2022 class.
“The year’s Hall of Fame class is a celebration of careers truly dedicated to coverage of college basketball,” USBWA president Brendan Quinn, of The Athletic, said in a statement.
“In their own unique ways, Bob, Chris, Donna and Terry have all provided readers and fans with the two things they want most – information and perspective. Congratulations to our inductees and their families.”
A magna cum laude journalism and mass communications graduate of St. Bonaventure, Ditota was a scholarship basketball player and sports editor of The Bona Venture, the university’s student newspaper.
She is also a member of the Jandoli School of Communication’s advisory board, and in 2017 received the John Domino Award, which goes to a St. Bonaventure graduate who has excelled in a sports communication position.
Ditota also serves on the board for the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame.
Some of Donna’s best work through the years:
Gerry McNamara at 40: Syracuse basketball icon built a life here. What would lead him to leave?
Jim Boeheim, retired and reflective: ‘I don’t think we’ve won enough games the last 2 years’
For Jim Boeheim, coaching Syracuse has been ‘his whole life.’ A perspective from the basketball beat
Race for the Cure: Sportswriter Donna Ditota details boyfriend’s battle with breast cancer
Felisha Legette-Jack making most of 2nd chance many women coaches don’t get
Scoop Jardine: A player transformed after five years at Syracuse
The maturation of Syracuse basketball’s Frank Howard: How perseverance paid off
Rakeem Christmas: The ‘Mayor of Syracuse’ bids farewell to basketball constituents
How 11-year-old Elizabeth Lucason pushed her way to the front of elite CNY runners
More Orange Basketball
- Syracuse basketball to host 6-foot-10 big man in the 2024 recruiting class
- New Syracuse basketball assistant Dan Engelstad: ‘I believe in Coach Autry’s vision of what this can be’
- Syracuse ranked 45th in Director’s Cup standings after winter sports season
- How can a pair of recruits from the Coastal Athletic Association help Syracuse win in the ACC? (Mike’s Mailbox)
- Men’s basketball transfer portal and the ACC: Every team, every player who’s come or gone, plus their destinations