Meet the River Hawk Who Has March Madness Covered

The UMass Lowell men’s and women’s basketball teams didn’t make it to the NCAA Division I tournament this year, but one River Hawk did: sports writer Evan Applebaum, a junior English major who covered games for his hometown newspaper.

“I grew up watching March Madness games as a kid, so being courtside for the event, alongside some of the best journalists in the country, was unforgettable,” says Applebaum, who covered the third and fourth rounds of the tournament at TD Garden in Boston for the Eagle-Tribune newspaper.

An aspiring professional sports journalist, Applebaum began writing for the Eagle-Tribune during his senior year at Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School in his hometown of Haverhill, Massachusetts. Getting his first byline took some persistence.

“I emailed my bosses like 50 times before they finally responded and let me cover something,” says Applebaum, who started by covering high school games once a week. He was soon reporting on three or four games a week, and before he knew it, he was covering a New England Patriots preseason game.

“Just being in the locker room and seeing some of these people who I looked up to when I was younger was a cool experience,” he says.

At Whitter Tech, Applebaum was focused on becoming a welder — not on becoming the first in his family to get a college degree.

“I didn't think I was going to go to college,” he says. “But I took part in the Early College program through Northern Essex Community College and I realized, ‘I want to do this.’”

Applebaum chose UMass Lowell so he could live at home and commute to campus, which he did during his first year. But as his work at the Eagle-Tribune grew into “basically” a full-time role, he decided to become an online student as a sophomore. He now packs six classes into his Mondays and Tuesdays and devotes the rest of the week to his sports writing. By taking courses during summer and winter breaks, he expects to earn his Bachelor of Arts in English in just three years.

Applebaum was also drawn to UML by its Division I athletics program.  

“I’ve always wanted to see my school in March Madness,” says Applebaum, who served as team manager of the UML men’s basketball team during his freshman year. 

“Being around those guys and seeing the team from a different perspective than a fan was awesome,” says Applebaum, who gave up the job after one season to focus on his work as a sports reporter — which includes covering the River Hawks for the Eagle-Tribune.

In addition to writing stories on deadline, Applebaum live-tweets coverage of events to his 800-plus followers on X (@EvanApplebaum2). 

“That was where my editors first noticed I could do this and I found my role,” says Applebaum, who hopes to move on to bigger newspapers, such as the Boston Globe, after earning his degree.

“Being around all of those accomplished journalists (at the NCAA tournament) has only reinforced my drive for a long sports writing career,” he says. “I went from concentrating on being a welder at a vocational school and not going to college just two years ago, to now covering one of the biggest annual sporting events in the U.S. I never would've imagined this at only 19 years old.”