U-M Legend Russell to be Inducted into College Basketball Hall of Fame
2/28/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 28, 2011
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Legendary University of Michigan men's basketball forward Cazzie Russell (1964-66) will be inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame as announced today (Monday, Feb. 28) by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Foundation.
Joining Russell in the Class of 2011 are players Ralph Sampson (Virginia), James Worthy (North Carolina) and Chris Mullin (St. John's), coaches Bob Knight and Eddie Sutton and contributors Joe Vancisin and Eddie Einhorn.
The Class of 2011 will be inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame on Sunday, Nov. 20, at the Midland Theatre in Kansas City as part of a three-day celebration of college basketball. The hall of fame is located in the College Basketball Experience, a world-class entertainment facility that provides a multi-faceted interactive experience for fans of the game
A three-time All-American and two-time Big Ten Player of the Year, Russell led the Wolverines to the NCAA Final Four as a sophomore and again as a junior, when U-M finished as national runner-up to UCLA. Russell was named National Player of the Year as a senior, when he averaged 30.8 points per game, and helped Michigan to the Elite Eight. He completed his collegiate career with 2,164 points while leading the Wolverines to a three-year mark of 65-17 and three consecutive Big Ten titles.
Russell was the first-round selection of the New York Knicks in the 1966 NBA draft and played a key role in the Knicks' NBA championship season in 1969-70. He played for 12 seasons in the NBA with the Knicks, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls and later coached for a number of seasons in the Continental Basketball Association, was an NBA assistant and the head coach at Savannah College of Art and Design.
Russell made such an impact that the university built Crisler Arena to accommodate fans who crowded into Yost Fieldhouse to see Russell and the Wolverines. Known as the "House that Cazzie Built," Crisler Arena houses five honored jerseys, with Russell having the honor as the first and only Wolverine player in history to have his number (33) retired. Russell was inducted into U-M's Hall of Honor in 1978.
In 2006, the first class was inducted into the newly formed National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. That class included the game's inventor, James Naismith, and legendary UCLA head coach John Wooden. Since that time, four more classes have traveled to Kansas City for a weekend of festivities. Those classes have included the likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Danny Manning, Larry Bird and Earvin Magic Johnson.
Contact: Tom Wywrot (734) 763-4423
