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The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Springfield, Massachusetts, honors players who have shown exceptional skill at basketball, all-time great coaches, referees, and other major contributors to the sport. It is named after Dr. James Naismith, who conceived the sport in 1891; he was inducted into the Hall as a contributor in 1959.
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To be considered for induction, nominees must meet certain prerequisites. Players must have been retired for at least five years before becoming eligible. Referees and coaches must have either been retired for at least five years, or, if they are still active, have coached or officiated for at least 25 years at high-school-level programs or higher. Those being considered for induction as contributors may be inducted at any time; the Hall of Fame and its committees evaluate whether contributions are significant enough for the nominee to be inducted as a contributor. Teams are also inducted at the committees' discretion.
As of the induction of the Class of 2016 on September 9, 2016, the Hall has formally inducted 354 individuals (174 players, 95 coaches, 4 as both players and coaches, 66 as contributors, one as both coach and contributor, and 16 referees) and 10 teams. The 2016 class consisted of six players, two coaches (one of whom had previously been inducted as a contributor), one contributor, and one referee.
The finalists for the class of 2017 were announced on February 18, 2017. The finalists were players Tim Hardaway, Tracy McGrady, Sidney Moncrief, and Chris Webber, coaches Robert Hughes, Rollie Massmino, Bo Ryan, Bill Self, Rudy Tomjanovich, Muffett McGraw, Kim Mulakey, referee Hugh Evans, contributor Rebecca Lobo, and team Wayland Baptist University.
Coaches
As part of the inaugural class of 1959, three coaches were inducted (Forrest C. "Phog" Allen, Henry Clifford Carlson and Walter E. Meanwell); in total, 100 coaches have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. Ten of the inducted coaches were born outside the United States: Cesare Rubini (Italy, 1994), Aleksandr J. Gomelsky (Soviet Union, now Russia, 1995), Antonio Díaz-Miguel (Spain, 1997), Aleksandar "Aca" Nikolić (Yugoslavia, now Serbia, 1998), Geno Auriemma (Italy, 2006), Alessandro "Sandro" Gamba (Italy, 2006), Mirko Novosel (Yugoslavia, now Croatia, 2007), Pedro Ferrándiz (Spain, 2007), Lidia Alexeeva (Soviet Union, now Russia, 2012), and Lindsay Gaze (Australia, 2015). Six of them have won championships in the EuroLeague or its historic predecessor, the FIBA Europe Champions Cup. Ten of the inducted coaches are women: L. Margaret Wade (1985), Jody Conradt (1998), Pat Head Summitt (2000), Sandra Kay Yow (2002), Sue Gunter (2005), Cathy Rush (2008), C. Vivian Stringer (2009), Tara VanDerveer (2011), Alexeeva (2012), and Sylvia Hatchell (2013). Four coaches have also been inducted as players: John Wooden, Bill Sharman, Lenny Wilkens, and Tom Heinsohn. The most recent coaches to be inducted are Tom Izzo and John McLendon; the latter, inducted as a contributor in 1979, is the first individual to be inducted separately as a coach and contributor.
Most of the inductees have been college head coaches. Thirty-two have led a team to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men's championship and six have led a team to the NCAA women's championship. Twenty inductees have coached in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Twelve of them have won at least one NBA championship as head coaches; one other, Don Nelson, has five NBA championships as a player. Additionally, Bobby "Slick" Leonard won three titles in the former American Basketball Association. Larry Brown is the only inductee to coach both a college basketball team and a professional basketball team to a title, having coached the Kansas Jayhawks (NCAA) and the Detroit Pistons (NBA) to championships.
Six coaching inductees have received the Hall's John Bunn Award, given annually for significant contributions to the sport—Red Auerbach, Henry Iba, Ray Meyer, Summitt, Wooden, and Morgan Wootten.
Twelve inductees have, either before or after their induction, won an Olympic medal coaching a men's national team to a top-three finish in the Olympic tournament. Eight coached the U.S. national team, while the other four coached foreign national teams. Six inductees—Summitt, Yow, Auriemma, Van Chancellor, VanDerveer, and Alexeeva—have led a women's national team to a top-three finish in the Olympics. Alexeeva led the Soviet Union to two golds, while all the others led the USA to golds (Auriemma after his induction, the others before being inducted).
Six individuals inducted as coaches were associated with teams that have been inducted to the Hall as units. Donald L. "Don" Haskins, inducted in 1997, was the head coach of the 1966 Texas Western basketball team, which was inducted into the Hall in 2007. Chuck Daly, inducted in 1994, was the head coach of the "Dream Team", the USA team at the 1992 Olympics that featured 11 Hall of Fame players and was inducted as a unit in 2010. Wilkens, inducted as a coach in 1998, and Mike Krzyzewski, inducted in 2001, were Daly's assistants in 1992. Dutch Lonborg, inducted in 1973, was team manager for the 1960 U.S. men's Olympic team that was also inducted as a unit in 2010. Cathy Rush, inducted in 2008, was the head coach of the Immaculata College women's team of 1972–1974 that was inducted in 2014.
Contributors
For a person to be inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor, they must have made "significant contributions to the game of basketball". Of the inaugural Hall of Fame class of 1959, seven individuals were inducted as contributors, including James Naismith, the inventor of basketball. All former NBA commissioners (Maurice Podoloff, Walter Kennedy, Larry O'Brien, and David Stern) have been inducted. Twelve individuals inducted as contributors have won the John Bunn Award, awarded by the Hall annually to a significant contributor: John Bunn (its inaugural recipient), Walter Kennedy, Clifford Fagan, Edward Gottlieb, Daniel Biasone, Larry O'Brien, Dave Gavitt, C. M. Newton, Tex Winter, Meadowlark Lemon, Tom "Satch" Sanders, and George Raveling. Two inductees in this category are women: Senda Berenson Abbott and Bertha Teague (both inducted in 1985). The most recent contributor to be inducted is Jerry Reinsdorf, who entered the Hall in 2016.
The exact number of individuals enshrined as contributors (as well as the number of player inductees) is subject to debate because of the Hall's treatment of 2014 inductee Nathaniel "Sweetwater" Clifton, one of the first African Americans to play in the NBA. While he was initially announced as a contributor, the Hall now classifies him as a player inductee.
Six inductees in this category were associated with teams that have been inducted to the Hall as units. Naismith organized The First Team, the group of players involved in the first-ever basketball game in 1891 and also inducted as part of the inaugural Class of 1959. Robert L. Douglas, inducted in 1972, was the founder and owner of the New York Renaissance, inducted in 1963. Pete Newell, inducted in 1979, was the head coach of the 1960 U.S. Olympic team inducted in 2010. Three were associated with the Harlem Globetrotters, inducted in 2002. Abe Saperstein, inducted in 1971, was the team's founder and owner. Kennedy, although best known for his time as NBA commissioner, had been the Globetrotters' public relations director in the 1950s. Lemon, inducted in 2003, was one of the team's most enduring on-court stars.
Ten individuals inducted in this category were born outside the United States—Naismith and Newell in Canada, Podoloff and Gottlieb in modern-day Ukraine (part of the Russian Empire when they were born in 1890 and 1898 respectively), Douglas in Saint Kitts and Nevis (part of the British West Indies at his birth in 1882), Saperstein in the United Kingdom, Biasone and Renato William Jones in Italy, Ferenc Hepp in modern-day Hungary (Austria–Hungary at his birth in 1909), and Borislav Stanković in what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina (the Kingdom of Yugoslavia at his birth in 1925).
In total, 65 or 66 individuals, depending on how Clifton is classified, have been inducted as contributors.
Players
As part of the inaugural class of 1959, four players were inducted, including George Mikan, who was the first NBA player to be enshrined. In total, 177 or 178 players, depending on Nathaniel Clifton's classification, have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. Of these, 110 or 111, again depending on Clifton's classification, have played in the NBA. The 1993 class had the most player inductees, with eight. No players were inducted in 1965, 1967, 1968 and 2007. Four players have also been inducted as coaches: John Wooden in 1973, Lenny Wilkens in 1998, Bill Sharman in 2004, and Tom Heinsohn in 2015. The most recent player inductees, all in 2016, are Zelmo Beaty, Allen Iverson, Shaquille O'Neal, Cumberland Posey, Sheryl Swoopes, and Yao Ming.
Eighteen player inductees are women: Lusia Harris-Stewart (1992), Nera D. White (1992), Ann E. Meyers (1993), Uļjana Semjonova (1993), Carol A. Blazejowski (1994), Anne T. Donovan (1994), Cheryl Miller (1995), Nancy I. Lieberman (1996), Joan Crawford (1997), Denise M. Curry (1997), Lynette Woodard (2004), Hortência de Fatima Marcari (2005), Cynthia Cooper-Dyke (2010), Teresa Edwards (2011), Katrina McClain Johnson (2012), Dawn Staley (2013), Lisa Leslie (2015), and Swoopes (2016). Among these, Lieberman, Woodard, Cooper-Dyke, Edwards, Staley, Leslie, and Swoopes have played in the Women's National Basketball Association. Harris-Stewart is the only female drafted by an NBA team, while Meyers is the only one to have been signed by an NBA team.
Two player inductees have won the John Bunn Award—Bob Cousy and Wooden.
Sixteen player inductees were born outside the United States. Canadian-born Robert J. "Bob" Houbregs (inducted 1987) was drafted by NBA's Milwaukee Hawks in 1953 and played five seasons in the league. Four of these individuals were born in the former Soviet Union—Sergei A. Belov, Šarūnas Marčiulionis, Arvydas Sabonis, and Uljana Semjonova. Belov, inducted in 1992, was born in modern-day Russia; Sabonis and Marčiulionis, respectively inducted in 2011 and 2014, were born in today's Lithuania. All three won gold medals for the USSR at the Olympic Games. Marčiulionis and Sabonis each added two bronze medals for Lithuania after the restoration of its independence in 1990; Marčiulionis is also credited by the Hall with resurrecting the Lithuania national team after independence. Semjonova, inducted in 1993, was born in what is now Latvia. She won two Olympic golds with the USSR women's team. Krešimir Ćosić, Dražen Petrović, and Dražen Dalipagić (inducted in 1996, 2002 and 2004 respectively) represented Yugoslavia internationally during their careers, and Petrović represented Croatia after the initial breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991. Italian-born Dino Meneghin (inducted 2003) spent much of his career playing in the Italian A League. Three Brazilians have represented their homeland internationally—Hortência de Fatima Marcari (inducted in 2005) for the women's national team, and Maciel "Ubiratan" Pereira (inducted in 2010) and Oscar Schmidt (inducted in 2013) for the men's national team. American Dominique Wilkins, inducted in 2006, was born in France during his father's posting in that country as a member of the U.S. Air Force. Isaacs (inducted in 2015) was born in Panama but raised in Harlem. Mutombo (inducted in 2015) was born in the country now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Yao, inducted in 2016, was born and raised in China.
Referees
The Referee category has existed since the beginning of the Hall of Fame and the first referee was inducted in 1959. Since then, 16 referees have been inducted, with Darell Garretson being the most recent entrant in 2016. Ernest C. Quigley, born in Canada, is the only inductee in this category born outside of the United States.
Teams
The Team category has existed since the beginning of the Hall of Fame and the first teams were inducted in 1959. Since then, 10 teams have been inducted, with the most recent being the Immaculata College women's team of 1972–1974, inducted in 2014.