Rudy Tomjanovich says it’s “hard to explain the joy” after his long road finally leads to the Hall of Fame.
Former Rockets coach, star admits it’s ‘hard to explain the joy’ after arduous road finally leads to basketball Hall of Fame selection
Perhaps the greatest Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class ever has its coach.
Rudy Tomjanovich, a Houston icon who led the Rockets to consecutive NBA championships after making five All-Star teams as a Rockets player, was named Saturday to the Hall of Fame’s class of 2020.
He joins a Hall of Fame class that includes Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett and Tamika Catchings in their first year of eligibility, and Kobe Bryant roughly two months after his death in late January. The class of 2020 also includes former Oklahoma State, Kentucky and Arkansas coach Eddie Sutton and women’s college coaches Kim Mulkey (Baylor) and Barbara Stevens (Bentley).
“I didn’t know, had no idea how I would feel,” Tomjanovich said. “When it actually happens, it’s hard to explain the joy. I get flashes in my mind about some of the adversity and the ups and downs. I think of those things and how just sticking with it, putting one foot in front of the other to have it turn out so good.”
Though Tomjanovich was elected for his accomplishments as a coach, his selection after many years falling short as a Hall of Fame finalist celebrates a career spent in basketball overcoming obstacles.
He went from poverty as a child in Hamtramck, Mich., to become an AllAmerican at Michigan, where he averaged 25.1 points and 14.4 rebounds in three seasons.
He came back from a lifethreatening injury when he was punched during a 1977 game to earn a fifth NBA AllStar appearance.
Even the greatest basketball triumphs of his coaching career were marked by challenges. When he led the Rockets to consecutive titles, the Rockets went from “Choke City” to “Clutch City” in 1994 and produced the still unmatched run from the sixth seed to the championship in 1995.
The doubts preceding that unsurpassed march past three top-three seeds to reach the NBA Finals inspired his iconic quote: “Don’t ever underestimate the heart of a champion.”
In that sense, the inexplicably long wait for Tomjanovich to be voted into the Hall of Fame since becoming eligible in 2011 was fitting.
“I’m so happy for Rudy T,” Rockets Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler said. “He was always underrated as a player, and he was as a coach. He finally gets his just due, and we’re all excited for him.
“I played for a Hall of Fame coach in college, Guy Lewis. And for my first four years in Portland, I played for a Hall of Fame coach, Jack Ramsay. My last 3½ years were under a Hall of Fame coach, Rudy Tomjanovich. Hall of Fame coaches are distinguished by their ability to communicate to their players, (their) excitement, passion and knowledge they bring to the game. Rudy had it all.”
He had been the only coach to have led teams to multiple NBA championships and an Olympic gold medal who wasn’t in the Hall of Fame. He was the only eligible coach — Warriors coach Steve Kerr and the Heat’s Erik Spoelstra do not meet the criteria for active coaches — to have won consecutive titles who was not in.
Tomjanovich had come to look at the years he was passed over as a reward of another sort because of all the calls he would get from friends.
“The conversation will be different,” Tomjanovich said. “The silver lining in this thing was in those years
I didn’t get the vote, I had so many positive responses from people I really respect and love and (from) some people I don’t know that well. It’s humbling. That is really touching. Every one of those people I’m going to make sure I let them know how I feel for that support.”
Though he had a relatively short 13-year coaching career after his 11 seasons as a player and stints as a scout and assistant coach, Tomjanovich’s achievements were impressive.
Besides the 2000 Olympic championship, he led a team of undrafted free agents and minor league players to a bronze medal in the 1998 World Championships in Athens. He helped negotiate the deal to bring Yao Ming, the first pick of the 2002 draft, from China to the NBA.
He was so revered by and cooperative with the media, the Professional Basketball Writers Association annually honors “the coach who best combines excellence in his craft with cooperation with the media and fans” with the Rudy Tomjanovich Award.
Most of all, former players and coaches said Tomjanovich achieved greatness because of the relationships he built.
“His coaching style is something I think should be emulated by all coaches,” said former Rockets forward and longtime broadcaster Matt Bullard, who was one of the first stretch fours, a role Tomjanovich helped make commonplace in today’s NBA. “The fact that Rudy was a player, and a really good player, helped his coaching. He coached us like he was still in a player’s mindset. He would include us in conversations, in decisions. Me being a big man that shot 3s, he put me in a position to succeed. Looking back, man, he really was innovative.
“Obviously, the fact that he got two NBA championships and a gold medal as an Olympic coach, if you’re going to put coaches in the Hall of Fame, those two things are obvious that he belongs. The fact that it took so long is a little disturbing. The fact that he is in makes me really, really happy, really proud for him.”
That also makes the day worth the wait.
“I am very proud of all of it,” Tomjanovich said. “When I look at how I began and the dream and where I came up and how I came up to see how it all worked out, I was just very lucky. In my city, the great players from my area would come and play, and I benefited from that. It could have been different. But it is pretty cool. I’m the guy that came out on top. What basketball did for me is so phenomenal.
“It’s just a blessing I got to live a life with something that I love so much. Basketball was so good to me, just so good to me.”
The feeling is now officially mutual.