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Clyde glides to B-Ball HOF

Cougar Sports Staff

One former Cougar should be named to the Basketball Hall of Fame on April 5. But when the HOF pares down its list of 16 finalists and opens its doors to Clyde "The Glide" Drexler at its Sept. 10 ceremony, it will keep them locked for former men's basketball head coach Guy V. Lewis.

Drexler, who was a perennial All-Star while a member of the Portland Trailblazers and won an NBA championship with the Houston Rockets, helped lead the Cougars to two NCAA Final Four appearances in 1982 and 1983. He was also a member of the original Dream Team in 1992 and was named to the NBA's list of 50 greatest players. The Glide returned to UH to become the men's basketball head coach in 1998. He resigned following the 1999-2000 season.

Although Lewis helped guide Drexler's college career, won 592 games, made it to 14 NCAA Tournaments and five Final Fours, the UH legend has yet to get a sniff of the HOF.

The other 15 finalists are Jim Calhoun, Jerry Colangelo, Drazen Dalipagic, Gus Johnson, Bobby Jones, Gene Keady, Johnny Kerr, Bernard King, Hortencia Marcari, Harley Redlin, Bill Sharman, Maurice Stokes, Dick Vitale, Chet Walker and Lynette Woodard.

Sharman is already in the hall as a player. He joins Calhoun, Keady and Redlin in the coaching category. Dalipagic is a former European Player of the Year and Marcari led the Brazilian women's team to a 1994 World Championship. Woodard was the first woman to play for the Harlem Globetrotters.

Although Vitale spent some of his career as a coach, it's as a broadcaster where he's made his name. His over-the-top analysis and hyperbole is a fixture of ESPN and ABC's coverage of college basketball.

But he never guided a team like Phi Slama Jama, and he didn't come close to winning 529 career games. Lewis suffered a stroke in February 2002.

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