| Larry
Bird leads Class of 1998 The Associated Press 06/28/98 SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Larry Bird, whose talent and tenacity led the Boston Celtics to three championships and the NBA into a new era of prominence, was elected to the Hall of Fame today with five others. Also chosen were another basketball wizard, Marques Haynes of the Harlem Globetrotters, former coach Alex Hannum, early NBA big man Arnie Risen, current Texas women's coach Jody Conradt, and ex-Yugoslavian coach Aleksandar Nikolic. Last Monday, Lenny Wilkens joined John Wooden as the only two-time inductees. Already in as a player, Wilkens was honored as a coach. Bird's candidacy in his first year of
eligibility -- having been retir Bird thanked his high school, college and NBA teammates and coaches. "I hope they all share in this because, like other awards I have received, this is as much a team accomplishment as an individual accomplishment," he said in a statement. "I'm very honored to be part of the Hall of Fame." He planned to comment further at a news conference in Indianapolis on Tuesday. "All the Celtics who made the Hall of Fame deserved it," said Red Auerbach, Boston's former coach, general manager and president who is among 23 other Celtics already in the Springfield, Mass., shrine. "Larry absolutely deserves it." Bird was rookie of the year in 1980, MVP in 1984, 1985 and 1986 and Finals MVP in 1984 and 1986. With him, the Celtics won titles in 1981, 1984 and 1986 and the league soared to unprecedented popularity. He was designated one of the NBA's 50 best players ever and often is mentioned among the top five. And he was chosen coach of the year with the Indiana Pacers last season, his first as an NBA coach. He went to Indiana State after playing high school ball in tiny West Baden, Ind., and took the Sycamores to the 1979 NCAA title game where they were beaten by Michigan State, their only loss of the season. Bird joined Boston in 1979-80 and transformed a franchise that had missed the previous two playoffs. The Celtics went from 29 to 61 wins in his rookie season and won the championship the next year with coach Bill Fitch. The other two titles came under K.C. Jones.
Back problems forced him to retire after the 1991-92 season, his 13th. He was chosen for 12 all-star games and had career averages of 24.3 points, 10 rebounds and 6.3 assists. He and Magic Johnson could have been inducted together at ceremonies set for Oct. 2 had Johnson not ended his retirement on Jan. 29, 1996, when he returned to the Los Angeles Lakers for 32 regular-season and four playoff games. Johnson had sat out 4{ seasons, just short of the five-year eligibility requirement. Now he must wait until 2002. Haynes, nominated for the first time, graduated from Langston University in 1947 after leading it to a 112-3 record over four seasons. In more than 12,000 games over more than 40 years with the Harlem Globetrotters and Harlem Magicians, his ballhandling and showmanship dazzled audiences in 97 countries. Hannum spent 16 seasons as a coach with seven NBA and ABA teams, winning three championships. Hannum, retired and living in San Diego, reacted to his election with "utter and complete shock." "I think it's a tremendous honor and it's something you can only dream about," he said. He led the Philadelphia 76ers to a 68-13 record in 1966-67, when they won the NBA title, a team Hannum still considers the best of all time. They were 62-20 in 1967-68. The next season, he took the Oakland Oaks to the ABA title, becoming the first coach to win championships in both leagues. Bill Sharman did it later. Hannum began coaching as player-coach of the St. Louis Hawks in 1956-57, when they lost Game 7 of the finals to Boston, then won his first NBA title as coach of the Hawks the next season. Conradt, the winningest women's coach of all time, has spent the last 22 seasons as coach of Texas. Her 709 wins make her one of 14 college coaches of men's or women's teams with at least 700, and she took Texas to 14 of the last 16 NCAA tournaments. "If I had dreamed every dream imaginable, I could not think this could be a reality," said Conradt, reached during a recruiting trip in Indianapolis. "It's just amazing to me the whole process by which women's basketball has claimed credibility." Risen, 6-foot-9 and about 200 pounds, had the size of a small forward in today's game. But he was an aggressive rebounder in a 13-year career that began with Indianapolis of the National Basketball League in 1945-46. He moved to Rochester of the NBA in 1947-48 and stayed there until his last three NBA seasons in Boston. With him and Bird, the Celtics will have 25 Hall of Famers. Nikolic began coaching the Yugoslavian national team in 1953 and led it to two silver medals and a bronze in European Championships in the 1960s. He later became an outstanding coach in Italy. Nominees not selected were: Larry Costello, Adrian Dantley, Artis Gilmore, Gus Johnson, Sidney Moncrief, Chet Walker and coaches John Thompson and Tex Winter in the regular category, former Wayland Baptist coach Harley Redin in the women's basketball category, shoe company executive Grady Lewis in the veterans category and Ubiratan Pereira Maciel of Brazil in the international category.
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ed five years -- probably didn't require much
discussion from the 24-member selection committee. 
"Larry
was the epitome of what a player should be," Jones said. "He had the total game
... great shooting, passing, defense, rebounding, court sense and heart, as demonstrated
every time he dove for a loose ball."