The complete list includes 10 candidates from the North American Screening Committee – players Dennis Johnson, Jordan, Bernard King, Chris Mullin, Robinson and Stockton and Coaches Hurley, Don Nelson and Sloan and Contributor Al Attles. Two candidates each comprise Finalists from the Women’s Screening Committee – Cooper and Coach Stringer– and International Screening Committee – coach Vladimir Kondrashin and Brazilian Legend Maciel “Ubiratan” Pereira, with Legends Richard Guerin and Johnny “Red” Kerr representing the nominees from the Veteran’s Screening Committee.
Jordan, Robinson, Stockton, Sloan and Cooper are Finalists in their first year of consideration by their respective Screening Committees. Stringer, Kondrashin and Attles are first-time Finalists who have previously been reviewed by Screening Committees. Hurley, Nelson, Johnson, Mullin, King, Ubiratan, Guerin and Kerr have been named Finalists in prior years.
The Class of 2009 will be announced on Monday, April 6 at a news conference in Detroit prior to the NCAA’s Men’s Championship game. A Finalist needs 18 of 24 votes from the Honors Committee for election into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The Class of 2009 will be enshrined during festivities in Springfield, MA September 10-12. Tickets to the 2009 Enshrinement Gala and Induction Celebration are available by calling the Hall of Fame at (413) 781-6500.
NORTH AMERICAN COMMITTEE FINALISTS
AL ATTLES – Contributor, has contributed over 49 consecutive years of service to the Golden State Warriors as a player, player-coach, coach, general manager, vice president and consultant. He led the Warriors to the most wins in Team history and led them to the 1975 NBA Championship. Currently, Attles serves as the Vice President / Assistant General Manager of the Warriors, a position he has held since 1987.
ROBERT “Bob” HURLEY, Sr. – Coach, has spent his entire life in New Jersey, born in Jersey City and playing college ball at St. Peter’s before becoming the head coach at St. Anthony’s High School in Jersey City in 1972. Hurley has since compiled over 900 wins at St. Anthony’s while leading the team to 25 State Parochial Championships and three USA Today National Championships (1989, 1996, 2008). His legendary selflessness and dedication to St. Anthony’s and high school basketball is evidenced by all but one of his players in 36 years of coaching going on to college, including 100+ players receiving college scholarships and five becoming NBA first-round draft picks. Hurley was twice named National Coach of the Year by USA Today (1989, 1996), was elected to the New Jersey Sports Hall of Fame in 2000 and, if elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame, will become only the third person elected exclusively for their service to high school basketball (Morgan Wootten, Bertha Teague).
DENNIS JOHNSON – Player, was one of basketball’s toughest defenders earning nine consecutive NBA All Defensive Team honors during his 14 year professional career. He was part of three NBA Championship Teams and won MVP honors during the 1979 NBA Finals. “D.J.” was also named to five NBA All-Star Teams while scoring more that 15,000 points and compiling 5,000 assists before retiring in 1990.
MICHAEL JORDAN – Player, is one of the most recognized figures in the sporting world. Jordan was a unanimous collegiate All-American twice (1983, 1984) at the University of North Carolina where he won an NCAA Championship and received both Naismith and Wooden Award Honors. He went on to a storied NBA career with the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards where he was named a 14-time NBA All-Star, five-time NBA MVP, six-time NBA Finals MVP, multiple All-NBA First Team honors while winning six NBA Championships. Jordan was also named NBA Defensive Player of the Year (1988) and was a nine-time member of the NBA All-Defensive First Team. The NBA’s Rookie of the Year in 1985, Jordan was also named to the NBA’s 50th Anniversary Team and won two Olympic Gold Medals including one with the original “Dream Team” in 1992.
BERNARD KING – Player, spent 15 seasons in the NBA where he would be named to four NBA All-Star Teams and two All-NBA First Teams while averaging 22.5 points per game. A prolific scorer, King was a collegiate All-American at the University of Tennessee and went on to be named to the NBA All-Rookie Team in 1978. He was also named NBA Comeback Player of the Year in 1981 and scored nearly 20,000 points in his storied NBA career.
CHRIS MULLIN – Player, a McDonald’s High School All-American from New York, NY, was a five-time NBA All-Star and collegiate standout at St. John’s, where he was named Big East Player of the Year an unprecedented three times. A two-time Olympic gold medalist (1984, 1992), Mullin played 16 NBA seasons for Golden State and Indiana, amassing 17,911 points while averaging more than 20 ppg for six consecutive seasons. He was only the 17th player in NBA history to compile 17,000 points, 3,000 rebounds and 3,000 assists, and was an NBA First Team pick in 1992. He is the all-time scoring leader at St. John’s where he was named the Wooden Award winner and Sporting News First Team All-America in 1985.
NORTH AMERICAN COMMITTEE FINALISTS
DON NELSON - Coach, a native of Muskegon, Michigan, began his career as an NBA player for the Chicago Zephyrs (1962-1963) and went on to play for the Los Angeles Lakers (1963-1965) and the Boston Celtics (1965-1975), playing a record 465 consecutive games with the Celtics. He then went on to coach in the NBA leading the Milwaukee Bucks (1976-1987) to seven consecutive division titles (1979-1986) and recorded seven straight 50-plus win seasons. He currently coaches with the Golden State Warriors where he previously coached together with stints with the New York Knicks (1995-1996) and the Dallas Mavericks (1997-2005). Nelson is one of only two coaches in NBA history to record 250 victories with three different teams. He is a three-time NBA Coach of the Year winner, and currently ranks second in NBA Coaching history for wins and was named to the NBA’s Ten Best Coaches of All-Time in 1996 Nelson has over 40 years of NBA experience as a player, coach and general manager. His number #19 jersey was retired by the Boston Celtics.
DAVID ROBINSON – Player, would spend his entire NBA career with the San Antonio Spurs guiding them to two NBA Championships while being named to 10 NBA All-Star Teams, four NBA First Team Selections, NBA MVP (1995) and being selected to the NBA’s 50th Anniversary Team. Also know as “The Admiral, he won two Olympic Gold Medals including being a member of the Legendary 1992 “Dream Team”. During Robinson’s college career at the U.S. Naval Academy, he earned Player of the Year (1987), Naismith and Wooden Honors while leading the nation in rebounding and blocked shots.
JERRY SLOAN- Coach, began his coaching career as an Assistant Coach with the Chicago Bulls before beginning his long career with the Utah Jazz. He is the only coach in NBA history to win over 1,000 games with a single team while compiling a winning percentage of over .600. Sloan led the Jazz to two NBA Finals, 18 playoff appearances and is fourth on the NBA list of coaching victories. Sloan was also named as the Sporting News NBA Coach of the Year in 2004.
JOHN STOCKTON – Player, spent his entire NBA career with the Utah Jazz accumulating 15,806 assists and 3,265 steals – both NBA records at his retirement. He was named to 10 NBA All-Star Teams and was selected as a member of the NBA’s 50th Anniversary Team while leading the Jazz to two NBA Finals. He was also named to two All-NBA First Teams in 1994 and 1995. Stockton was a member of the original “Dream Team” that captured a Gold Medal as well as the 1996 Gold Medal winning USA Basketball team.
WOMEN’S COMMITTEE FINALISTS
CYNTHIA COOPER – Player, competed at USC where she won two NCAA Championships and participated in three Final Fours. With the Houston Comets, she would win four WNBA Championships while capturing a WNBA Finals MVP with each title. Named to three WNBA All-Star Teams, she was also selected WNBA MVP twice and was named as an All-WNBA First Team Selection. Cooper won an Olympic Gold Medal in 1988 and an Olympic Bronze Medal in 1992 to go along with two World Championship Gold Medals and two Goodwill Games’ Gold Medals.
C.VIVIAN STRINGER – Coach, has compiled an overall coaching record with over 750 wins which ranks her third in NCAA Women’s Basketball History. She is the first coach to lead three different schools to the NCAA Final Four including Cheyney State, the University of Iowa and Rutgers University where she coaches today. In 1993, she was named consensus National Coach of the Year. Coach Stringer is enshrined at the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.
INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE FINALISTS
VLADIMIR KONDRASHIN – Coach, was known as the founder of basketball in Leningrad where he would compile an overall record of 727-365. He led the Soviet Union National Team to the Olympic Gold Medal in 1972, the Olympic Bronze Medal in 1976, the World Championship Gold Medal in 1974 and won European Championships in Germany, Spain and the former Yugoslavia.
MACIEL “UBIRATAN” PEREIRA– Player, was known as “The King” in his native Brazil. He would earn a gold medal at the 1963 World Championships and a Bronze Medal at the 1964 Olympics while winning five South American Championships and 11 titles in the Paulista League in Brazil. “The King” played in three Olympic Games with Brazil and was awarded the “Order of Merit” Award from FIBA in 2002.
VETERAN’S COMMITTEE FINALIST
RICHARD GUERIN – Player, was a six time NBA All Star (1958-1963) and scored 14,676 points, 4,278 rebounds and 4,211 assists during a pro career with the Knicks (1956-63), St. Louis Hawks (1963-67) and Atlanta Hawks (1968-70). Guerin was the first Knick to score 2,000 points in a single season, and averaged 20.1 ppg as a member of the Knicks. Born in Bronx, NY, Guerin played at Iona College, where as a senior he averaged 24.7 ppg and was named an All-America. Guerin was also a player/coach for both the St. Louis and Atlanta Hawks, compiling a 327-291 record while being named NBA Coach of the Year in 1968.
JOHNNY “RED” KERR – Contributor, has a career that included playing, coaching, executive and broadcaster. A three-time NBA All-Star and member of the NBA Champion Syracuse Nationals as a player, Kerr would be named NBA Coach of the Year in 1967 with the Chicago Bulls and was the only coach in league history to lead an expansion team to the playoffs in their first season. Since 1975, Kerr has served as color commentator for the Bulls.
No comments:
Post a Comment