Rick Patino Leads Class of Hall of Fame Inductees
08 Apr, 2013
Rick Pitino, who will coach Louisville in the NCAA championship game Monday night, is among seven people elected to the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame.
The others announced Monday at a ceremony at the Final Four were college coaches Guy Lewis of Houston, Jerry Tarkanian of UNLV and Sylvia Hatchell of North Carolina, former NBA stars Bernard King and Gary Payton and former University of Virginia star Dawn Staley.
The inductions will take place in Springfield, Mass., on Sept. 8.
Inductees announced previously were: Edwin E.B. Henderson, a direct elect by the Early African Pioneer Committee; longtime Indiana Pacers guard Roger Brown; Oscar Schmidt of Brazil, the leading scorer in Olympic history; Richie Guerin, a star for the New York Knicks in the 1950s; and, Russ Granik, the longtime assistant commissioner of the NBA.
It was Pitino, however, who stole the show.
His Cardinals are in the championship game and a win would make him the first coach to win a title at two schools. He won it all with Kentucky in 1996.
On Saturday, Goldencents, a horse which Pitino co-owns, won the Santa Anita Derby, a major prep race for the Kentucky Derby.
“I was looking around for lightning,” Pitino joked. “This was such a special moment.”
Pitino, the only coach to take three schools to the Final Four, has won 661 games in 28 seasons as a college coach and his 47-16 record in the NCAA tournament is the third-highest winning percentage among active coaches.
He also had two stints in the NBA with the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks.
Payton was known as “The Glove” for his defensive prowess in his years with the Seattle SuperSonics. He was a two-time Olympic gold medalist.
“I was an offensive-minded guy when I went to Oregon State and coach Ralph Miller pulled me to the side and said `You’ll be one of the greatest defensive point guards ever and I said to myself `Yeah right. I’m shooting every time I get the ball.’ I got really good at it and started liking it and took it from there,” Payton said.
Lewis led Houston to five Final Fours in his 30 years with the Cougars. His teams featured future Hall of Famers Clyde Drexler, Elvin Hayes and Hakeem Olajuwon.
Tarkanian took three schools to the NCAA tournament but he will always be known for his teams at UNLV that made four Final Four appearances and won it all in 1990.
Hatchell joins North Carolina men’s coaches Dean Smith and Roy Williams as Hall of Famers. She is one of three women’s coaches to record 900 victories and she has won national championships on three levels – AIAW, NAIA and NCAA.
Staley was a three-time Olympic gold medalist, a five-time WNBA All-Star and two-time national college player of the year with the Cavaliers. She is the only player in women’s college basketball to record 2,000 points, 700 assists and 400 steals.
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