Brian Windhorst (born January 29, 1978), nicknamed Windy, is an American sportswriter for

ESPN.com ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN. It is owned by ESPN Internet Ventures, a division of ESPN Inc. History Since launching in April 1995 as ESPNET.SportsZone.com (ESPNET SportsZone), the website has developed numerous sections including ...

who covers the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA). He was the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers, often referred to as the Cavs, are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Divis ...

beat writer for the ''

Akron Beacon Journal The ''Akron Beacon Journal'' is a morning newspaper in Akron, Ohio, United States. Owned by Gannett, it is the sole daily newspaper in Akron and is distributed throughout Northeast Ohio. The paper's coverage focuses on local news. The Beacon Jo ...

'' from 2003 through the summer of 2008, and began to work for

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

newspaper ''

The Plain Dealer ''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio; it is a major national newspaper. In the fall of 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily an ...

'' in October 2008. He moved to ESPN in 2010 after

LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. ( ; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is the NBA's all-time leading scorer and ...

left the

for the

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern C ...

Early life and education

Windhorst attended high school in

Akron, Ohio Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Akron metr ...

at St. Vincent–St. Mary High School and graduated from

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a Public university, public research university in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio located in Kent State University at Ashtabula, Ashtabula, Kent State ...

with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

in 2000.

Career

Windhorst began covering James during his high school playing career, and began covering the Cavaliers in 2003, the year that James was drafted. While James was the youngest player in the NBA, Windhorst was the youngest traveling NBA beat writer. In 2007, he co-wrote ''The Franchise: LeBron James and the Remaking of the Cleveland Cavaliers'' with sports columnist

Terry Pluto Terry Pluto (born June 12, 1955) is an American sportswriter, newspaper columnist, and author who primarily writes columns for ''The Plain Dealer'', and formerly for the ''Akron Beacon Journal'' about Cleveland, Ohio sports and religion. Pluto ...

. His writing at ''The Plain Dealer'' was honored by the

United States Basketball Writers Association The United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) was founded in 1956 with the urging of National Collegiate Athletic Association director Walter Byers to serve the interests of journalists who cover college basketball. Scholarships The U ...

for Best Game Story in 2009, and by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

. In 2010, Windhorst left ''The Plain Dealer'' for ESPN to cover James' new team, the

. Prior to leaving ''The Plain Dealer'', he contributed columns to ESPN.comCleveland Cavaliers News (2007)
Q&A with Brian Windhorst
. Retriever October 8, 2008. and made appearances on

ESPN First Take ''First Take'' is an American sports talk television program on ESPN. Episodes air daily Monday through Friday, with the live episode airing from 10am ET until noon, with reruns from noon to 2pm ET on ESPN2 and from 2 to 4pm ET on ESPNews (when ...

. In an interview, Windhorst stated that "obviously LeBron's a huge factor" in his decision to join ESPN, but that the Cavaliers "need to move on" without James. On October 10, 2014, it was announced that Windhorst would join ESPN Cleveland on

WKNR WKNR (850 AM) – branded as ''850 ESPN Cleveland'' – is a commercial sports radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, serving Greater Cleveland. Owned by Good Karma Brands, WKNR is the Cleveland affiliate for ESPN Radio and the AM flag ...

AM 850 in Cleveland to be their Cavaliers beat reporter and analyst, as well as host his own weekly program on sister station

WWGK WWGK was a commercial daytime-only radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, that broadcast on from 1947 until 2022. Last owned by Good Karma Brands, it featured ESPN Radio programming at the time of closure, co-owned with ESPN affiliate WK ...

AM 1540. The move followed James' re-signing with the Cavaliers in 2014. In addition to writing for ESPN, Windhorst hosts the popular Hoop Collective podcast.

Personal life

Windhorst lives in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

, with his wife Maureen Fulton, whom he married in 2012.

Publications

*Pluto, Terry and Windhorst, Brian (2007). ''The Franchise: LeBron James and the Remaking of the Cleveland Cavaliers''. Cleveland, OH: Gray & Company, Publishers. *Pluto, Terry and Windhorst, Brian (2009). ''LeBron James: The Making of an MVP''. Cleveland, OH: Gray & Company, Publishers. *McMenamin, David and Windhorst, Brian (2017). ''Return of the King: LeBron James, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Greatest Comeback in NBA History''. New York City, NY: Grand Central Publishing. *Windhorst, Brian (2019). ''LeBron, Inc.: The Making of a Billion-Dollar Athlete''. New York City, NY: Grand Central Publishing

References

External links

*
Brian Windhorst ESPN story archive"Stories of LeBron and sportswriter intertwined, tangled"
''

St. Petersburg Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', called the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It is published by the Times Publishing Company, which is owned by The Poynter Institute f ...

'', 21 November 2010 - profile of Windhorst by Michael Kruse
A sample chapter from the book ''LeBron James: The Making of an MVP'' by Terry Pluto and Brian Windhorst
{{DEFAULTSORT:Windhorst, Brian 1978 births Living people ESPN people Sportswriters from Ohio Kent State University alumni Radio personalities from Ohio Writers from Akron, Ohio St. Vincent–St. Mary High School alumni