HOUSTON — Despite being elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame on Monday, Allen Iverson knows he still won’t be able to shake his infamous rant about practice.
“I’m in the Hall of Fame, and I can go outside today and go to a restaurant or whatever and somebody will say to me: ‘Practice? We talking about practice,’” he said with a laugh, adding that even his children mock him for the 2002 news conference in which he repeated the phrase about 20 times. “Man, I am a Hall of Famer and that’s all you can think about — me saying practice.”
Along with Iverson, Shaquille O’Neal, Yao Ming, Sheryl Swoopes, Tom Izzo and Jerry Reinsdorf were elected to the Hall of Fame on Monday.
Posthumous honorees this year include 27-year NBA referee Darell Garretson; John McLendon, the first African-American coach in a professional league; Cumberland Posey, who also is in the Baseball Hall of Fame; and Zelmo Beaty, who led Prairie View to an NAIA title in 1962.
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Iverson, selected by the Philadelphia 76ers with the first overall pick in the 1996 NBA draft, was named rookie of the year and went on to become an 11-time All-Star. John Thompson, his coach at Georgetown, was there to celebrate the latest honor with his former player.
“I’m proud of the fact of knowing him as a person and knowing the challenges he’s had to overcome,” Thompson said. “Allen is legitimate. There’s a lot of impersonators of what he is. But he is a kid who came from basically nothing and had to be thrust into a whole different way of life and been successful as he has been in his profession.”
O’Neal, the top overall pick in the 1992 draft by the Orlando Magic, was the NBA MVP in 2000, a three-time NBA Finals MVP and 15-time All-Star. When he was introduced Monday at the media event, the jokester scolded the announcer for not mentioning his work in the 1996 movie “Kazaam,” in which he played a genie.
The man who has a plethora of nicknames was asked if he hopes to get a new one when he’s inducted in September.
“No, just Hall of Famer,” he said.
Izzo, Michigan’s State coach, won a national title in 2000 and has taken the Spartans to the Final Four seven times.
“This is the biggest thrill of my life,” Izzo said. “I needed a lot of other guys to help me get here.”
Reinsdorf has been the owner of the Chicago Bulls and White Sox for more than two decades.
“An award like this has to be the most important accomplishment you can have,” he said.
Olympics
Gold in golf will bring exemptions
AUGUSTA, Ga. — When golf returns to the Olympics in Rio, the winners will receive more than a gold medal.
They’ll also get a free pass to all the major championships.
The governing bodies for men’s and women’s golf announced the exemptions Monday at Augusta National, adding a little extra incentive for the Olympic champions.
The men’s winner will be assured of a spot in the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship in 2017.
The winner on the women’s side will automatically qualify for the final major of 2016, which is the Evian Championship in September, and the first four majors the following year: ANA Inspiration, Women’s PGA Championship, U.S. Women’s Open and Women’s British Open.
Miscellaneous
UA men’s golf tied for seventh
- The University of Arizona men’s golf team is tied for seventh place after the opening two rounds of the Wyoming Cowboy Classic. UA’s
- Jordan Gumberg
- is tied for fourth among individuals with a 6-under 138.
- U.S. speedskater
- Mitchell Whitmore
- has been given a one-year ban for injuring a Dutch team coach during a late-night scuffle outside a hotel. Whitmore, a two-time Olympian, will remain ineligible through March 2017, the international skating federation announced Monday.
- British boxer
- Nick Blackwell
- woke from his induced coma a week after collapsing following a fight and is speaking from his hospital bed, promoters said Monday. Blackwell collapsed soon after the end of the British middleweight title fight on March 26 against
- Chris Eubank Jr.
- Antonio Conte
- will take charge of Chelsea after completing his spell as Italy coach at the European Championship. Chelsea announced that the 46-year-old Italian signed a three-year contract to become head coach of the London club. Euro 2016, which starts June 10, is to finish on July 10.
- Stan Drobac
- , who spent more than three decades as the coach of Michigan State’s men’s tennis team and became a member of the Intercollegiate Tennis Hall of Fame, has died. He was 88.
- Nicole Hampton
- finished with 22 points, 13 rebounds, nine assists and seven steals Monday to send Lubbock Christian past Alaska-Anchorage 78-73 for the women’s Division II national championship.
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