Michael Huang, Comm ‘93, managing sports editor for the Philadelphia Inquirer, will deliver the Pete and Bonnie Memorial Axthelm Lecture on Thursday, Sept. 25, from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Alumni Memorial Union Ballroom E.
Attendance is free, but attendees are asked to register in advance. Students who are attending the Student Sport Summit, which will precede the lecture, are asked to register for that summit separately.
Huang has spent 30 years in journalism and the sports media industry, covering the Super Bowl, NBA Finals, World Series, NFL, MLB and NBA playoffs, UFC title fights, March Madness, the NCAA College World Series and multiple All-Star Games. Huang spent 11 seasons in the Chicago Cubs front office and 10 years as a senior and deputy editor for ESPN.com. As head of ESPN China’s editorial arm, he produced ESPN’s very first segments in China.
As the managing sports editor for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Huang oversees a diverse staff of editors and reporters. When he arrived at The Inquirer, there were no women on the sports desk. Today, The Inquirer boasts women on every professional beat. In 2022, The Inquirer earned Associated Press Sports Editors recognition for its reporting on the 50th anniversary of Title IX. In 2024, it won a first-place APSE award for reporting on Philadelphia Eagles football player Jason Kelce’s retirement.
In 2023, Huang received the Byline Award for outstanding journalism alumni of the year.
The Pete and Bonnie Axthelm Memorial Program was established in 1994 at Marquette to acknowledge and recognize the life of Pete Axthelm and his sister Bonnie. Every year this program awards a scholarship to an outstanding Marquette journalism student with an expressed interest in sports journalism.
