Carl Adamec spent more than 40 years as one of the most trusted voices in Connecticut sports journalism, and for most of that career, he was the writer UConn women’s basketball fans turned to first. Today, the basketball community is mourning his death at 68.
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A graduate of St. John’s University, Adamec built his career covering professional sports along with youth and high school athletics before becoming closely associated with UConn’s women’s basketball program, chronicling a run that included 12 national championships. The program paid tribute to him in a social media post on August 11.
“Our program is deeply saddened by the loss of Carl Adamec,” read the X post on August 11. “Carl covered the Huskies for more than 40 years and was an expert on everything UConn women’s basketball. We’re grateful for his years of reporting and will miss having him around.”
For Adamec, the job was never something he was looking to walk away from. His brother, Mark, said retirement rarely came up without Carl finding a reason to keep working.
“I don’t think he’s ever away from sports at all, even in his free time,” Mark said, as per CT Insider. “I often asked him in the last several years, ‘When are you going to retire and take it easy?’ and he kept putting it off. He always had an excuse to keep working. He was driven by sports in a way that I really find hard to believe.”
Over his career, Adamec’s byline appeared at the Journal Inquirer and Hearst Connecticut Media Group, among other outlets. He was inducted into the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame in 2023, recognition that reflected decades spent as one of the sport’s most reliable authorities.
That reputation is part of what made the tributes that followed so consistent in tone.
Basketball Community Remembers Carl Adamec For His Contributions
Roger Cleaveland covered UConn women’s basketball alongside Adamec for decades, including years of long drives to away games across the Big East. Here is what he had to say reflecting on his bond with Adamec.
“It’s been a long, long ride together,” Cleaveland said, as per CT Insider. “We spent a lot of time traveling to driveable away games up here in the Big East together. He didn’t love to drive, and I didn’t mind it and we got along so great that we’d make a lot of road trips together. It really hits home.”
Geno Auriemma, the winningest coach in college basketball history, was a longtime admirer of Adamec’s work. When Adamec was inducted into the Hall of Fame, Auriemma made the drive from Houston to Dallas to be there in person. Adamec was widely regarded as the unofficial record keeper of the UConn program, a role few others could have filled the way he did.
Rebecca Lobo, who helped UConn win its first national championship in 1995, also shared her memories of him.
“He’s been a beloved person in sports media covering the team and has been for the last 40 years,” Lobo said. “I always looked forward to seeing Carl when I was a player and in the years since. If there was ever a question about anything to do with the history of the program, even though I lived a lot of it, his memory was incredible, and he was the authority.”
“I’m incredibly sad to hear this news because he was just a good man who I always enjoyed speaking with, who was passionate about covering the sport long before people were paying attention the way they are now. He will certainly be remembered incredibly fondly by everyone who played for that program.”
Adamec’s byline remains attached to nearly four decades of UConn women’s basketball history, a record now standing as the most direct account of the program’s rise that exists outside the record books themselves.