Georgetown’s dominating center Patrick Ewing, Kansas legend Clyde Lovellette and North Carolina’s star guard Phil Ford headline the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame induction class of 2012. Joining them for enshrinement will be coaches Joe B. Hall and Dave Robbins, players Kenny Sailors, Earl Monroe and Willis Reed and contributors Jim Host and Joe Dean.
The Class of 2012 will be inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame Sunday, November 18, 2012, at the Midland Theatre in Kansas City as part of a three-day celebration of college basketball. The hall of fame is located in the College Basketball Experience, a world-class entertainment facility that provides a multifaceted interactive experience for fans of the game. On November 19-20, Kansas, Saint Louis, Texas A&M and Washington State will compete at Sprint Center in the CBE Classic.
The first freshman to start the first game of his North Carolina career under Hall of Fame coach Dean Smith, Phil Ford led UNC to the 1975 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championship and was the first freshman in ACC history to win the Everett Case Award as the most valuable player in the ACC Tournament. Carolina won 99 of 124 games with Ford, reached the NCAA tournament every year and advanced to the NCAA championship game in 1977. He scored 2,290 career points, was a first team All-ACC and All-America selection for his final three seasons and, as a senior, won the Wooden Award and was the consensus National Player of the Year.
One of college basketball’s most spectacular backcourt performers, Earl Monroe starred for Hall of Fame coach Clarence “Big House” Gaines at Winston-Salem State. His ball handling and shooting skills dazzled crowds as he led Winston-Salem to the NCAA Division II championship in 1967, averaging an incredible 41.5 points per game and was named the NCAA Division II Player of the Year.
In 2006 the first class was inducted into the newly formed National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. That class included the game’s inventor, James Naismith, and possibly its greatest coach in John Wooden. Since that time, five more classes have traveled to Kansas City for a weekend of festivities. Those classes have included the likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Danny Manning, Larry Bird and Earvin “Magic” Johnson.
The National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame was founded by the National Association of Basketball Coaches Foundation, Inc., to honor and celebrate those who have made extraordinary contributions to the game of men’s college basketball. Located at the College Basketball Experience in Kansas City, Mo., the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inducted its first class in November, 2006, with a Founding Class consisting of Dr. James Naismith, who invented the game; former University of North Carolina head coach Dean Smith; Oscar Robertson, considered by many to be the most outstanding all-around player in the history of college basketball while playing at Cincinnati; Bill Russell, who led the University of San Francisco to two NCAA championships and is one of the game’s greatest defensive players; and John Wooden, an All-America player at Purdue and long-time coach at UCLA, where he led the Bruins to 10 NCAA titles, including seven in a row.
Each year, a Blue Ribbon committee, composed of long-time coaches, administrators, former players, broadcasters and basketball writers selects a class of inductees including players, coaches and contributors.