Saturday, August 13, 2011
by Tania Ganguli, Florida Times-Union

SPRINGFIELD, MASS. — Just seconds after the crowd filled with basketball royalty sat after giving him a standing ovation, Artis Gilmore introduced himself in a way he never could before Friday night.

“My name is Artis Gilmore,” he said, simply and powerfully. “And I am a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame.”

The room erupted in cheers.

On Friday night, the former Jacksonville University star was enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Gilmore joined eight other inductees at Springfield Symphony Hall, just down the road from the Hall of Fame.

The 2011 Hall of Fame class consists of Gilmore and former NBA players Dennis Rodman, Arvydas Sabonis, Tom “Satch” Sanders and Chris Mullin, Olympic gold medalist Teresa Edwards, the late Harlem Globetrotter Reece “Goose” Tatum and coaches Tex Winter, Tara VanDerveer and Herb Magee.

They became part of a group of 303 people and a group to which millions of others want to belong.

But Gilmore promised one thing in his induction speech: “None of them, however, will appreciate it more than I do.”

It took 17 years from the time Gilmore became eligible for the Hall for him to finally receive the honor. It has been 23 years since his last NBA game, 25 years since the last of his six NBA All-Star selections, 36 years since he won an ABA championship with the Kentucky Colonels and 41 years since he led Jacksonville University to the NCAA championship game.