Basketball Hall of Fame Has New Inductees
During his speech Gasol looked skyward while paying tribute to his beloved former Lakers teammate Kobe Bryant. They won back-to-back NBA titles together in 2009 and 2010.
By Earl Heath
Contributing Sports Writer
1946, the first NBA game at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto Canada where New York Knickerbockers beat the Toronto Huskies 68-66. The league stated with a Global base.
this year Basketball Hall of Fame saw players enshrined internationally.
Pau Gasol (Spain), Dirk Nowitzki (Germany), Tony Parker (France) were part of the group. There was also Dwyane Wade, Becky Hammon.
Coaches included Gene Bess, Gary Blair, David Hixon, Jim Valvano, Gregg Popovich, Also the 1976 Women’s basketball team.
During his speech Gasol looked skyward while paying tribute to his beloved former Lakers teammate Kobe Bryant. They won back-to-back NBA titles together in 2009 and 2010.
“I wouldn’t be here without you brother,” Gasol said. “I wish more than anything that you and Gigi were here today with us.”
Tony Parker, who became the first Frenchmen to make the Basketball Hall of Fame, picked former teammate Tim Duncan as one of his presenters.
“He (Duncan) has a special power, superpower with his eyes,” Parker said. “… He never talked to get the ball. Never. He will just look at me. And when you 19 years old coming from France, it’s very scary when Tim Duncan looks at you.
Wade, a 13-time NBA All-Star and a three-time NBA champion, told his father in the crowded hall. “I owe you a debt of gratitude that I’ll never be able to repay” We had the same exact dream and we carry the exact name, Dwyane Tyrone Wade. To know we hustled all the way to the Basketball Hall of Fame is God’s will. So Pops, I know your knees are a little sore, but will you join me on stage as we take our rightful step into basketball heaven?”
The 1976 womens Olympic basketball team was the first to compete in the games.
“As the games approached, more than 1,000 women attended the regional tryouts, paying their one way with the dream of making the team,” Juliene Brazinski Simpson, one of the team’s two captains, told the crowd. “There was no national training center. There was no Olympic development teams. No funding and definitely no air-conditioned gyms.’’
But there was a Dr. Mildred Barnes and Central Missouri State, which Simpson said she wanted to thank “for allowing the final tryouts and training to be held at their facility for free.”
One member who shared her experience was Gail Marquis. The Queens College 2-time All- American share some of her thoughts during that time.
“Marching to the stadium as we got closer you could see this big domed building. As we were entering the stadium the announcer said and from the United States- There was a roar, that roar kind of pushed you back. From there I realized this is not a parade it was euphoria- You just didn’t make a team you made the Olympic team you representing your country.”
