Guru’s Induction Acceptance Speech Entering the Philadelphia Black Basketball Hall of Fame

Reader Note – from best memory since did several audibles off the copy l brought with me.

 

Marilyn Stephens at end of intro: You got two minutes Mel!

 

Mel: Gee the email said 3-5 (laughter)

 

First a note not to count on my time: Michael Horsey, l’m glad you’re here tonight because when I get inquiries, ‘How can we get a WNBA team in Philly?’ I send them right to you ‘cause I know you and Dawn (Staley) can get things done, especially involving the first hurdle.

 

Secondly, Ollie Johnson (Temple), I was there that night (as a manager),  when our freshman team played yours (a local junior college), and I remember right after on the way back Skippy Wilson saying, ‘We have to get that guy to come to us.’

 

I was told 3-5 minutes, and in an upset, I will try to stay near that, though when the Naismith Hall of Fame gave John Chaney their request for brevity, if you look online at his speech, you’ll notice the video minutes marker is listed at 41.2. 

 

When I got the Gowdy Media Award several years ago in Springfield (Mass) from the Naismith folks, l thought now I had the complete set – the closest previous to a grand slam was reading the menu at Denny’s. 

 

Apparently not and I am thrilled to be up here.

 

Congrats to all the other inductees here tonight, l’m exceptionally thrilled that the event feels like a homecoming with two Temple teammates from my days as a men’s basketball manager in John Baum and Clarence Brookins.

 

But I’d like to make a technological correction, all those stats you (audience) heard earlier, l’m the one who scored most of their points seated as a manager on the book at the table. (Laughter response).

 

Dawn Hoover is a former Owl I covered, and then there’s the great Cheyney women’s team under C. Vivian Stringer who I was privileged to cover the inaugural NCAA year when they advanced to the title game.

 

 Hopefully we’ll soon see this team on induction night in Springfield.

 

Getting old for me is having covered Yolanda Laney on that team and now I’m still standing, not counting the piece of metal inserted in my right hip last May, seeing her All-Star daughter Betnijah perform in the WNBA.

 

A shout-out to my guest here in national Associated Press women’s writer Doug Feinberg as well as to Mike Flynn, the Philly Belles AAU honcho here for me and several other of his past stars in the class.

 

In the ‘friend’ category you (the hall) placed me for tonight you need to think about Mike in the future as well as the great Daily News high school writer Ted Silary, responsible for so much coverage of stars you watched and sadly he passed away earlier this summer.

 

When I got into this back in 1976, l was just trying to figure it out in an era that featured the last days of typewriters, though it also included weekly calls from Coach Chaney berating me cause Viv’s team hadn’t made it yet, never mind that I was just a ballot counter of the coaches’ votes.

 

But soon thereafter, in a tournament at Queens, they crushed the Kansas squad featuring Lynette Woodard and the home team, and then got voted in the next week and stayed a long, long time.

 

If you count the total components of what has been part of my era, the players and coaches did most of the work, though I will admit one does undergo beads of sweat when games are still undecided down the stretch and the newspaper deadline is 15 minutes away. 

 

I’ll conclude leaving you with this: on several notable occasions when l have had to take the podium, especially in my role running the women’s side of the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA), and stay tuned on that for a big announcement in the near future involving coach Stringer, l have said there are times in one room, we are not players, coaches, referees, fans, or media.

 

We are just one big basketball family and certainly tonight is one of those nights. 

 

Thank you.