Just Another Champion From Philadelphia
Thomas Haugh is Just the Latest in Philadelphia Sports Champions.
PHOTO: Bob Donnan/Imagn Images
Like as not —chances are that most of the time, one of Philadelphia’s athletes is competing for some award in sports. That is no doubt part of the reason that it was so difficult for all of us to come to the realization that not six weeks after the Eagles won Super Bowl LIX and paraded down Broad Street, we didn’t have one regional team in the 2025 NCAA March Madness.
In 2018, two months after the Eagles stunned the world by winning Super Bowl LII over the Patriots, Villanova had another celebration on Market Street that culminated in a ten-week slice of Philadelphia sports heaven when the Wildcats ran over the Michigan Wolverines in the NCAA Championship Game.
This year was the third in a row that no Philadelphia NCAA basketball team has made it into March Madness.
But Philadelphia would be represented nonetheless.
Approximately fifty miles north of Philadelphia, Thomas Haugh won a State Championship in basketball in 2023 alongside Xaivian Lee and Ryan Dunn. It was not Thomas Haugh’s first time on the big stage. As a high school sophomore, Haugh would lead New Oxford High School to the state quarterfinals with a 26–5 record.
When it came time to select a collegiate option, Haugh (ranked 167th in the nation) chose Florida. As a freshman, the six-foot-nine and 215-pound Haugh scored seventeen points against Georgia. This past February, he even became the first SEC Player since John Wall to score a near triple-double.
As the Florida Gators moved through to the 2025 NCAA Tournament, defeating #16 Norfolk State, #8 UConn, #4 Maryland, #3 Texas Tech, #1 Auburn, and finally winning the Championship by beating #1 Houston 65–63. At each part of the Tournament, Haugh did what was necessary to help his team advance, even scoring twenty points against #3 Texas Tech. Whether rebounding, scoring, or playing defense, Haugh gave the Gators exactly what they needed to be champions.
Thomas Haugh knows how to be a champion. He learned it in Pennsylvania.
PHOTO: Bob Donnan/Imagn Images
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