Glenn Papazian (left) of Philly College Sports and Aaron Bracy of Big5Hoops present the Jack Scheuer VGH Award to Saint Joseph's Xzayvier Brown on December 7, 2024. (Photo: Chad Cooper)
By AARON BRACY
December 3, 2025
Big5Hoops.com
The third edition of the Big 5 Classic will tip off on Saturday at the Xfinity Mobile Arena, continuing a Philadelphia college basketball tradition that has me fondly reminiscing on this chilly weekday evening.
I’m thinking about my pal Jack and the many evenings when it was cold outside but warm inside sitting next to each other covering a basketball game. Or the warm, summer evenings sitting next to each other covering a Phillies game.
The late Jack Scheuer was a Big 5 Hall of Fame journalist who served for decades as a freelance writer for the Associated Press covering the 76ers, Phillies, and college basketball. More than that, he was a friend to all. There aren’t many people who a bad word isn’t said about them, but Jack was one of them.
Jack was a mentor for me, teaching me how to write an AP story on deadline when I was first starting out as a young reporter. The more time we spent together, the closer we got. By the end of Jack’s life, my phone ledger would show calls to my wife, my mom, and Jack.
Still today, there is not a day that goes by when I don’t think of Jack. I try to carry myself as he did, treating everyone with respect, bringing professionalism and a positive attitude to press boxes and locker rooms, and always giving my best, as he did, to produce a compelling, accurate story.
In addition to his friendliness, Jack was known for several things in press boxes. Of course, his trivia questions will top many reporters’ list when thinking about Jack. My favorite Jack trivia questions were the ones when he would say to me, of the answer, “And he’s in the ballpark.” Rarely would I ever be able to answer Jack’s questions—even after his two-hint limit.
Jack was a stickler for playing the right way, and he would give his verdict of the basketball game in front of him with simple acronyms that he would scribble on your notebook. Most of you probably have heard me tell this before, but it brings a smile to say it again.
If Jack liked the way the game was being played, he’d write GH, for Good Hoops, on your notebook. If he didn’t like it, he’d scribble BH, for Bad Hoops. In rare cases when the players were executing to near-perfection on the court, he would write VGH, for Very Good Hoops. When the game was completely unwatchable, also rare, he would write, VBH, for Very Bad Hoops.
You always looked forward to Jack’s verdict, and you took it as gospel—no matter what you thought of the contest. And so it is with great joy and admiration for Jack that we will carry on his great legacy in the Big 5 by awarding the Jack Scheuer VGH “Very Good Hoops” Award to a player in the championship game of the Big 5 Classic who embodies playing the way Jack would so appreciate.
The award, which is voted on by the media and only by paper ballot, as Jack and technology did not see eye-to-eye, will go to either a player from Penn or Villanova in the culmination of the tripleheader, which tips off at 2 p.m. with Drexel meeting La Salle in the fifth-place game, followed by Saint Joseph’s and Temple at 4:30 for third place, before the Quakers and Wildcats play for a banner to be hung in the rafters at 7:30.
Appropriately, the first two winners of the Jack Scheuer VGH Award have been good ones, with Saint Joseph’s Rasheer Fleming being tabbed the inaugural honoree in 2023, followed by the Hawks’ Xzayvier Brown last year. Surely, Jack would appreciate both players’ games.
For those covering on Saturday, in attendance in the stands, or watching on NBC Sports Philadelphia, pay close attention to the action. If you have a pen or pencil handy, scribble some letters on a paper to a neighbor to describe what you are seeing. When they ask why, tell them about Jack.
The late Jack Scheuer (left) is a Big 5 Hall of Famer who described the game he was seeing with acronyms. It was GH, for Good Hoops; VGH, for Very Good Hoops; BH, for Bad Hoops; and VBH, for Very Bad Hoops. The third Jack Scheuer “VGH” Award will presented on Saturday at the Big 5 Classic. (Photo provided by Scheuer Family)
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Aaron Bracy has covered sports in Philadelphia for nearly three decades for various publications and as a freelancer for the Associated Press. His first book, A Soaring Season: The Incredible, Inspiring Story of the 2003–04 Saint Joseph’s Hawks (Brookline), can be ordered HERE. He is working on his second book, which will chronicle the memorable 2000–01 season of Allen Iverson and the Philadelphia 76ers. It will be published in April 2027. Follow Bracy on social media HERE. Contact him at bracymedia@gmail.com.