Alonzo Mourning leads class of 10 Basketball Hall of Fame inductees
Alonzo Mourning (left) was an NBA champion in 2006 and gold medalist in 2000. (Bruce Yeung/Getty Images)
Seven-time NBA All-Star and two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year Alonzo Mourning leads a class of 10 inductees into the Basketball Hall of Fame. The news was announced on Monday in North Texas, the site of the NCAA national championship game.
The other members of the Class of 2014 are: former commissioner David Stern, six-time NBA All-Star Mitch Richmond, former Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson, former Maryland coach Gary Williams, Immaculata University's AIAW national championship teams of the early 1970s, former ABA player and coach Bob Leonard, Nat Clifton, one of the first African American NBA players, Sarunas Marciulionis from the International Committee, and Guy Rodgers from the Veterans Committee.
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"I'm humbled and I'm truly honored to be able to stand here before you today and to know I'm going to be a part of such a prestigious group of individuals," Mourning told Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. "I stand here on the shoulders of so many other people.
"It really hasn't hit me quite yet."
Mourning's No. 33 was the first number retired in Heat franchise history. He played 17 years for three teams — the Charlotte Hornets, New Jersey Nets and Heat.
Richmond played 15 seasons for four teams — the Warriors, Kings, Wizards and Lakers.
Richardson's Arkansas Razorbacks won the 1994 NCAA title, and Williams' Maryland Terrapins won it in 2002.
