Cazzie Russell elected to college hoops HOF
True story.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=6166817
He'll go in with Ralph Sampson, Bobby Knight, Eddie Sutton, James Worthy, Chris Mullin, Joe Vancisin, and Eddie Einhorn.
February 28th, 2011 at 2:17 PM ^
I'm only surprised it took this long.
February 28th, 2011 at 2:35 PM ^
No kidding. I still can't get over everybody dissing our obsolete basketball venue-- the one my eldest brother (and no doubt a few others) always called "The House that Cazzie Built."
February 28th, 2011 at 3:04 PM ^
Well, the CBB HOF has only been around for like four years. I was going to get indignant and huffy over them waiting so long to induct Ralph Sampson (if he was a Dookie he'd have been in ages ago etc. etc.), but then I realized how old the institution actually is, and if they made Bobby Knight wait, I guess I can live with Sampson too.
February 28th, 2011 at 2:42 PM ^
My first Michigan sports hero. Used to go and see him at Yost. the stands were rocking! The man was smooth and humble. Unguardable.
February 28th, 2011 at 3:45 PM ^
Good induction class for you, eh? Sampson and Russell, not bad for a Hoos/Wolverines fan.
February 28th, 2011 at 9:06 PM ^
Basketball was a curiosity at Michigan before Cazzie got there. He almost single-handedly turned Michigan into a top-notch program. They don't call Crisler "The house that Cazzie built" for nothing. I was at the dedication of Crisler, and saw the "bucket" speech.
Also, he was our student gym teacher at Tappan. I remember him sinking 100 in a row from the line after school one day, winning a $20 bet from one of the teachers. I don't know which is more amazing in retrospect: the 100 FT's or the fact that athletes in major sports used to actually student teach during their senior years.
Anyway, I'm glad they put him in while he can still enjoy it. They really should have done this for him at least 20 years ago.
Cazzie should have been in the CBB HOF founding class. Several of his comtempories and rivals such as Dave Bing, Bill Bradley, and Gale Goodrich were.
http://www.collegebasketballexperience.com/halloffame.aspx
How Cazzie was not included in that class is baffling.
I think that's because all the "founding" members are Naismith HOF members, and Cazzie is not. Otherwise I'd have had the same beef about Ralph Sampson, only a thousand times louder. It's still baffling that Christian Laettner goes in before Sampson or Russell, except it's not because of what uniform Laettner wore.