Sports

Henson, Havlicek Among Those Headed Into College Hoops Hall

Published

10 years ago

February 18, 2015

FILE - In this Oct. 17, 1995 file photo, Illinois men's basketball coach Lou Henson gives directions to his team during practice after the team's media day in Champaign, Ill. The team started practice this week at the Assembly Hall in Champaign, Ill. On Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2015, Henson learned he was headed for the College Basketball Hall of Fame. (AP Photo/Mark Cowan, File)

In this Oct. 17, 1995 file photo, Illinois men’s basketball coach Lou Henson gives directions to his team during practice after the team’s media day in Champaign, Ill. The team started practice this week at the Assembly Hall in Champaign, Ill. On Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2015, Henson learned he was headed for the College Basketball Hall of Fame. (AP Photo/Mark Cowan, File)

DAVE SKRETTA, AP Sports Writer

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — When he arrived at Illinois in 1975, the first thing Lou Henson did was preach patience.

The new coach wanted to build the Fighting Illini into a national contender, but he wanted to do it with in-state prospects, even if it’d take a while. So that first year, Henson and his young assistants met with more than 400 high school coaches, building relationships for the future.

It took five years before they paid off, and even then it was a trip to the NIT. It wasn’t until 1981 that Henson finally took his team to the NCAA tournament. But with the foundation laid, Henson would take them to 11 more tournaments and a Final Four appearance in 1989, along the way becoming one of the most respected tacticians in the college game.

On Tuesday, he learned he was headed for the College Basketball Hall of Fame.

Henson will be joined in this year’s class by fellow coaches Don Donoher of Dayton and C. Felton “Zip” Gayles of Langston, and five players: Ohio State All-American John Havlicek, Indiana standout Quinn Buckner, Kansas State star Rolando Blackman, North Carolina trailblazer Charlie Scott and Long Beach State star Ed Ratleff.

They will be enshrined Nov. 20 during a ceremony at the Arvest Bank Theatre in Kansas City.

“Don Donoher and Lou Henson took their teams to the NCAA Final Four while Zip Gayles was a trailblazer and role model for athletes and coaches,” said Reggie Minton, the deputy executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches and chair of the Hall of Fame selection panel. “The men selected as players include some great all-around athletes who helped lead their teams to championships in the NCAA, Olympic Games and the NBA.”

Henson began his coaching career at Hardin-Simmons, then built a perennial winner at New Mexico State. But it wasn’t until he arrived at Illinois that he established a powerhouse, and even then, it was only after the kind of patience that few coaches are granted these days.

“We had a lot of great talent in Illinois, and I said, ‘Look, we’re not going to win for a while,'” Henson recalled, “but we’re going to try to build relations in our state. And we did.”

By the time he took the Fighting Illini to the Final Four, where they fell to Big Ten rival Michigan, all of his starters had grown up in Chicago or elsewhere in the state.

Henson had plenty of opportunities over the years to coach against Donoher, his fellow Hall of Fame inductee. Donoher spent his entire 25-year career at Dayton, leading the Flyers to eight NCAA tournaments and the 1967 title game, where they lost to John Wooden and UCLA.

Gayles also coached football and baseball for Langston. He won nearly 600 games in basketball with teams that included longtime Harlem Globetrotters star Marques Haynes.

Among the players in this year’s Hall of Fame class is a pair whose iconic coaches recently passed away: Scott, who was North Carolina’s first black scholarship player for Dean Smith, and Ratleff, who starred in the 1970s for Jerry Tarkanian at Long Beach State.

Blackman was the Big Eight player of the year for Kansas State before embarking on a 13-year NBA career with the Mavericks and Knicks; Buckner was a member of Bob Knight’s national title team at Indiana in 1976 before winning NBA and Olympic titles; and Havlicek helped the Buckeyes win a national title before winning eight NBA titles over a 16-year career with the Celtics.

The latest round of inductees will follow a star-studded class from last year that included former LSU standout Shaquille O’Neal and Duke icon Grant Hill.

“I still think they made a mistake,” Henson said, offering a good-natured laugh. “There are a lot of people out there that deserve it more than me.”

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Bay Area

Love Life Organization Shows Love

As part of Love Life Week, the Love Life Foundation was honored to produce the 1974-75 World Champion Golden State Warrior Day. It’s a shame that our first Bay Area World Championship team’s unique accolades had been lost in the pre social media era and the cultural revolution of the 1970s.

Published

5 days ago

October 28, 2024

Oakland Post

Members of the 1975 NBA championship team, Charles Dudley (left) and Clifford Ray (right) embrace Love Life Foundation leader Donald Lacy for his antiviolence mission. Courtesy photo.

City of Oakland Celebrates 1975 NBA World Championship Team

By Donald Lacy

Special to The Post

As part of Love Life Week, the Love Life Foundation was honored to produce the 1974-75 World Champion Golden State Warrior Day.

It’s a shame that our first Bay Area World Championship team’s unique accolades had been lost in the pre social media era and the cultural revolution of the 1970s.

The 1975 NBA World Championship team were invited back to the City of Oakland last Friday, to be properly celebrated for their ground-breaking performance in 1975.

The heartwarming ceremony highlighted the recent passing of the legendary coach of that team, Al Attlles, and his former players Clifford Ray and Charles Dudley were on hand to represent the “Cardiac Kids” as they were called back then for their ability to make great comeback victories during their run for the title.

Warriors great Chris Mullin and former spiritual advisor Gary Reeves gave heartfelt testimonies of their experiences under Attles’ leadership and their relationship with the inspiration they received from the NBA 1975 World Champion Golden State Warriors.

The City of Oakland provided proclamations to all parties with speeches made by city leadership including Mayor Sheng Thao and Deputy Mayor Dr. Kimberly Mayfield and activity host Love Life non-profit founder and Executive Director Donald E. Lacy Jr..

There will be a celebration of life event Nov. 9 honoring Attles’ legacy at Alameda College.

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California Black Media

Several Black Californians Are Playing Key Roles in LA 28 Olympics Planning

From politicians and businesspeople to athletes and community leaders, a number of Black Californians are contributing to the thought leadership that is shaping the planning of LA28, the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. At the forefront is Los Angeles’ first Black woman mayor, Karen Bass, who has, in many ways, become the face of the Games in the City of Angels.

Published

2 weeks ago

October 22, 2024

Oakland Post

From left to right: IOC Member Hong Zhang, IOC Vice President Nicole Hoevertsz, Rex Richardson, Mayor of Long Beach, LA28 President Casey Wasserman, James T. Butts, Mayor of Inglewood, IOC President Thomas Bach, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, the President of the Los Angeles City Council (IOC/Greg Martin)

By Lila Brown, California Black Media

At the forefront is Los Angeles’ first Black woman mayor, Karen Bass, who has, in many ways, become the face of the Games in the City of Angels.

“The 2028 Games present an incredible opportunity to unite our city and lift up every corner of Los Angeles,” said Bass during a historic event at Los Angeles City Hall on Sept. 13, when the Olympic and Paralympic flags were unveiled and installed.

The event marked the return of the Olympic flag to L.A. since 1984, when the city hosted the Olympics for the second time. It was the first time the Paralympic flag was raised in California’s largest city.

“From creating jobs to supporting small businesses, we are committed to ensuring that these Games benefit all Angelenos — not just for the summer of 2028, but for decades to come,” Bass added.

Nearly two months after the Olympic flag handover from Paris to Los Angeles, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach visited Los Angeles.

Bach toured several of the city’s newest world-class sporting venues, including the SoFi Stadium and the recently opened Intuit Dome, both located in Inglewood. At the stadiums, he was joined by two other Los Angeles County Black mayors, whose cities will be key to hosting LA28 events: Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts and Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson.

SoFi Stadium, known as the home of NFL teams the LA Rams and LA Chargers, will host swimming competitions during the LA28 Games, with a temporary pool set to make it the largest swimming venue in Olympic history, boasting 38,000 seats. Intuit Dome, Inglewood’s newest state-of-the-art venue and home to the LA Clippers, will host the Olympic basketball tournament in the 18,000-seat arena.

In an interview with California Black Media ( CBM), Butts highlighted Inglewood’s central role in the upcoming Games, stating, “Inglewood will host the Opening and Closing ceremonies, basketball, and swimming competitions of the 2028 Olympic Games. This will be our second hosting of Olympic Basketball, the first in 1984.”

Marqueece Harris-Dawson, President of the Los Angeles City Council, also attended the tour.

Harris-Dawson is one of the leading backers of PlayLA, a parks development program that promises to provide sports programming to “young Angelenos of all abilities.” The initiative is funded by a $160 million investment from the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the International Olympic Committee.

Black Californians serving on the LA28 Board include Businesswoman Mellody Hobson; decorated Paralympian Lex Gillette; former Netflix Executive Dana Smith; President of the LA County Federation of Labor AFL-CIO Yvonne Wheeler; and television host, retired sprinter and four-time Olympic champion Michael Johnson.

Rosalyn Brant Clark, a 1976 Olympic silver medalist and mother of three-time Paralympian Breanna Clark, said while the “Games for All” theme is promising, she is looking for more concrete action that impacts the lives of ordinary people, including Black Californians.

“They are going to need to show me more on that one before it gets my stamp of approval,” she added, challenging organizers to ensure genuine inclusivity.

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Bay Area

Ohemaa Nyanin Named GM of Valkyries WNBA Team

The Bay Area is filled with excitement, and much of the conversation is about the Bay Area’s newest WNBA team — the VALKYRIES! The Golden State Warriors were awarded the 13th team in the WNBA last October, and just four months ago, the team’s General Manager was announced — Ohemaa Nyanin.

Published

2 weeks ago

October 22, 2024

Oakland Post

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By Y’Anad Burrell

Nyanin’s parents are from Ghana, and she was born in Maryland. Nyanin’s experience in this industry precedes her both as a former college player and on the business side. Nyanin is an American University alumna who played on the Eagles’ women’s basketball team. In 2019, Nyanain joined the WNBA team, The New York Liberty, initially serving as the director of basketball operations before she became assistant general manager.

“No excuses,” Nyanin said. “We are here, first and foremost, as humans, and secondly to win basketball games. So how do we do that, and how do we do that in the most inclusive way?”

From viewing interviews that Nyanin has done since her arrival in the Bay Area, a constant theme in her conversations is talking about taking a “people first” approach. Nyanin talks about how she will be focused on the players, staff, and fans as she navigates and executes her role as general manager. Health, both mentally and physically, is important to Nyanin, as I’ve seen in her many interviews.

Just days ago, The Golden State Warriors announced the head coach for the Valkyries — Natalie Nakase.

Nakase has been the assistant coach for the Las Vegas Aces for the past three seasons, where she was a part of the Aces’ back-to-back championship run in 2022 and 2023. Before joining the Aces’ coaching staff, Nakase spent ten seasons with her hometown team, the Los Angeles Clippers, and their G League.

The Valkyries will practice at downtown Oakland’s Golden State Warrior space and play games at Chase Center in San Francisco. This is an excellent opportunity to experience both sides of the water.

The Valkyries WNBA season opens May 2025 at Chase Center in San Francisco, and the Valkyries website shows over 18,000 season-ticket deposits. For clarity, if someone is ‘interested’ in purchasing season tickets, a $25 deposit is required. The Chase Center’s capacity is a little over 18,000, so you can imagine how electrifying the stadium will be during all home games.

Ohemaa, welcome to the Bay and The Town!