Guru Picking Up 9th Hall of Fame Honor Courtesy of the Philadelphia Black Basketball Hall of Fame

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

Greetings all as we near the end of the summer.

 

First, since I haven’t written since the conclusion of the summer league, though I have been following the WNBA by remote, this is week 16 since the right hip replacement surgery on May 5 and I am pleased to report things going well.

 

I’ve been doing either one or two one-hour physical therapy sessions a week nearby, many times in tandem with my brother-in-law Perry Swartz, who lives nearby and did a knee replacement three weeks after my procedure.

 

They’re pleased with the progress and many times recently in dining out I have parked the cane, though I will take it to unknown situations at times as a safety valve in bad weather or balancing needs.

 

Off what’s going on in the collegiate world, I am not looking forward to next summer when I will have to relocate a bunch of teams in the current conference affiliate column with a lot of AP poll appearances history in the database.

 

Now, a reason to address you all at the moment is upon the conclusion of earning the Gowdy Media Award for print in 2021 from the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, I figured I had the complete set of all the honors accumulate in later years.

 

Apparently not.

 

This Saturday, besides other major additional awards, the ninth in the Hall of Fame count will happen locally under the friend category from the Philadelphia Black Basketball Hall of Fame.

 

The event at 4 p.m. will be held in Northeast Philly at the Emerald Room, 14002 McNulty Road, which is very near the intersection of the Roosevelt Boulevard (Route 1) and Southampton Road and Philadelphia Community College.

 

If you want to attend, tickets are $80 covering a buffet dinner with a cash bar and while the public deadline was last Saturday, if you wish to attend, contact me and I’ll pass your name on to former local and University of Maryland great Moe Howard, one of the organizers.

 

Special thanks to former Temple great Marilyn Stephens, who had a hand I believe in my nomination.

 

This class, the total names which I learned over the weekend, is posted at the bottom, and has a strong Temple presence, including two Owls teammates from my basketball managing days in Clarence Brookins and our class of ’69 NIT championship leader John Baum. 

 

Marc Jackson is also on the list, as are two former Philadelphia Belles AAU stars in Val Phillips and Jaydean Day, and former La Salle standout Doug Overton.

 

Dawn Hoover is also an inductee as is the Cheyney 1982 NCAA women’s runner-up team.

 

That is all for the moment, feel free to communicate any more needed information from me. 

My email is poll416@gmail.com.