Our keynote speaker for this year’s Black History Month celebration is Fresno native and veteran NBA reporter/sideline journalist Chris Haynes. He will speak about his unconventional road to success on February 18, 2025, 7 p.m., at the DeRosa University Center ballroom on Pacific’s Stockton campus.

Haynes entered the profession of journalism in a non-traditional way, earning a bachelor’s degree in physical education and minor in kinesiology from California State University, Fresno. He pivoted from the typical path of becoming a teacher to follow his personal passion for covering basketball through freelancing. He even worked as a security guard for a year and covered games in the evening, often unpaid, to establish himself in the industry. Over the years he has leveraged this self-made path and become widely regarded as one of the NBA’s top insiders. He has held roles with ESPN, Yahoo Sports, TNT Sports, Bleacher Report and NBC Sports Northwest.