NEW ORLEANS: Only two weeks after the end of his 30-year reign as commissioner of the NBA, David Stern is heading for the Basketball Hall of Fame.
The 71-year-old American who oversaw the NBA’s rise from a struggling league to a global sport powerhouse was among five people announced yesterday as 2014 inductees to the sport’s shrine.
Stern, who was replaced by former deputy Adam Silver on February 1, spoke with Hall of Fame and USA Basketball executive Jerry Colangelo after learning of his Hall of Fame election.
“There’s a special spot for him. He deserves to be recognized in a huge way,” Colangelo said.
“He is a very humble person. He wasn’t sure he wanted that kind of notoriety. At the end of the day, he’s really excited and I think he’s looking forward to it.”
Joining him in being directly elected into the Hall of Fame were retired Lithuanian star Sarunas Marciulionis, former NBA coach Bobby “Slick” Leonard and posthumous honorees Guy Rodgers and Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton.
Ten others, including former Miami Heat stars Alonzo Mourning and Tim Hardaway, were named as finalists for induction from the North American committee. They will learn their fate on April 7.
Enshrinement ceremonies will be staged August 7-8 at the Hall of Fame’s home in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Marciulionis, 49, led the Soviet Union to gold at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and spent seven seasons in the NBA in the 1990s, one of the first Europeans to make the move to NBA prominence.
Leonard, 81, played for a US college championship team at Indiana and won 529 games as coach of the Indiana Pacers from 1968-1980. He has been a Pacers radio broadcast analyst for 29 seasons. REUTERS
