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 former Nugget 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.
The selections were announced in Houston before Monday night’s NCAA Tournament championship game between North Carolina and Villanova.
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.
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.
Yao, the top overall pick in 2002 by the Houston Rockets, was an eight-time all-star. He did not attend the event because he was in Shanghai.
Swoopes helped Texas Tech to a national title, won four WNBA titles with the Houston Comets, was a three-time WNBA MVP and won three Olympic gold medals.
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 other guys to help me get here.”
Reinsdorf has been the owner of the Chicago Bulls and White Sox for more than two decades.
