Who Holds the Record for Most Times as a Basketball Hall of Fame Presenter?
When Artis Gilmore was finally inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame he chose Julius Erving as his presenter, the fifth time Erving has been so honored; Erving previously presented Cheryl Miller (1995), Moses Malone (2001), Clyde Drexler (2004) and Dominique Wilkins (2006; that year, Charles Barkley joked that Wilkins had beaten him to the punch--which implies that someone could only present one honoree per year--but Phil Jackson presented both Dennis Rodman and Tex Winter in 2011). Erving is one of the most respected figures in basketball history and if the Basketball Hall of Fame corrects past injustices by inducting neglected ABA legends then he will probably get several more opportunities to be a presenter--but does Erving already hold the record for most times serving as a Basketball Hall of Fame presenter? My research did not uncover a complete list of presenters, so I contacted both the NBA and the Basketball Hall of Fame to find out the answer to that question; the NBA simply referred me to the Hall of Fame and a representative from the Hall of Fame informed me that their records in this regard only extend back to 2001: since 2001, Erving, Dr. Jack Ramsay and Lou Carnesecca each have served as presenters four times. Do any basketball historians/enthusiasts have complete lists of the Basketball Hall of Fame presenters?
Note (9/11/21): The Basketball Hall of Fame's official presenter records only go back to 2001, but I just confirmed that Erving was Alex English's presenter in 1997, which means that Erving had been a presenter at least six times when I wrote this post.
Labels: Basketball Hall of Fame, Dr. Jack Ramsay, Julius Erving, Lou Carnesecca
posted by David Friedman @ 2:28 AM
2 Comments:
http://www.apbr.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=4041
Tomislav:
It is interesting that several inductees tapped more than one presenter, including Charles Barkley (Jerry Colangelo/Moses Malone); I am not sure why Barkley did not "share" Erving with Wilkins just like Dennis Rodman and Tex Winter "shared" Phil Jackson this year.
Based on Robert Bradley's list (at the link you provided) we still do not have any evidence that anyone has been a presenter more often than Erving has; Erving's status as a multiple HoF presenter is impressive considering that Erving has never been a coach or GM (unlike West, Carnesecca, etc.).
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