The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Bryant headlines Hall of Fame class
Vanessa Bryant got a private tour to see some of the newly remodeled Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on May 14, viewing the exhibit that will honor the life and legacy of her late husband before the rest of the world gets their first look.
By the Hall’s description, it’s an exhibit like none other.
Fitting, for a special Hall of Fame enshrinement class.
Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett officially become members of the Basketball Hall of Fame on May 15, the headline event of a three-day celebration of the game. They were rivals for the better part of two decades, three of the faces of the league throughout a critical period of growth for the league, and there is some symmetry in how they’ll enter the Hall together.
“You can go through the list of NBA greats,” Garnett said. “I couldn’t pick two better players — not just that, but two better people, to go in the Hall with. Both of these are class acts and unbelievable players. I’ve very privileged, if I’m being honest. Every since I stepped into the league it’s been like a big-ass dream and this is no different from it. I’m honored.”
The celebration kicked off Friday at the Mohegan Sun Casino — enshrinement weekend was moved there in part because that venue has more space to allow for social distancing — and will peak Saturday with the actual inductions. Then Sunday, about an hour away in Springfield, Massachusetts, the remodeled Hall of Fame will be formally unveiled and the 2021 class that will be enshrined there this September will be announced.
“It’s fitting that this class, the 2020 class, really breaks open the new Hall of Fame,” Hall chairman Jerry Colangelo said. “There’s been an incredible amount of money put into bringing it into the next century if you will. The Hall of Fame was tired, a lot of static kind of things to look at. But technology has changed it dramatically.”
It’s a group of nine being honored on Saturday night: Bryant, Duncan and Garnett are the NBA players going in; 1,000-game winner Barbara Stevens, two-time NBA champion coach Rudy Tomjanovich, three-time NCAA champion coach Kim Mulkey and three-time Final Four coach Eddie Sutton are getting enshrined, along with four-time women’s Olympic gold medalist Tamika Catchings and longtime FIBA executive Patrick Baumann.
Some of them spoke Friday of their modest beginnings and how reflecting on those days made the emotions for this weekend churn even stronger. Stevens said she thought she hit the jackpot when she landed her first coaching job as an assistant at Clark University for $400 in 1976.