Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as the sport's most complete library, in addition to promoting and preserving the history of basketball. Dedicated to Canadian-American physician and inventor of the sport James Naismith, it was opened and inducted its first class in 1959; as of the induction of the Class of 2018, the Hall has formally inducted 389 individuals. The Naismith Hall of Fame was established in 1959 by Lee Williams, a former athletic director at Colby College. In the 1960s, the Basketball Hall of Fame struggled to raise enough money for the construction of its first facility. However, during the following half-decade the necessary amount was raised, the building opened on Feb. 17, 1968, less than one month after the National Basketball Association played its 18th All-Star Game. The Basketball Hall of Fame's Board named four inductees in its first year.
In addition to honoring those who contributed to basketball, the Hall of Fame sought to make contributions of its own. In 1979, the Hall of Fame sponsored a pre-season college basketball exhibition; this Tip-Off Classic has been the start to the college basketball season since, although it does not always take place in Springfield, Massachusetts it returns every few years. In the 17 years that the original Basketball Hall of Fame operated at Springfield College, it drew more than 630,000 visitors; the popularity of the Basketball Hall of Fame necessitated that a new facility be constructed, in 1985, an $11 million facility was built beside the scenic Connecticut River in Springfield. As the new hall opened, it recognized women for the first time, with inductees such as Senda Berenson Abbott, who first introduced basketball to women at Smith College. During the years following its construction, the Basketball Hall of Fame's second facility drew far more visitors than anticipated, due in large part to the increasing popularity of the game but to the scenic location beside the river and the second Hall's interesting modern architecture.
In 2002, the Basketball Hall of Fame moved again—albeit 100 yards south along Springfield's riverfront—into a $47 million facility designed by renowned architects Gwathmey Siegel & Associates. The building's architecture features a metallic silver, basketball-shaped sphere flanked by two symmetrical rhombuses; the dome is illuminated at night and features 80,000 square foot, including numerous restaurants and an extensive gift shop. The second Basketball Hall of Fame was not torn down but rather converted into an LA Fitness health clubs; the current Basketball Hall of Fame features Center Court, a full-sized basketball court on which visitors can play. Inside the building there are a game gallery, many interactive exhibits, several theaters, an honor ring of inductees. A large theater for ceremonies seats up to 300; the honorees inducted in 2002 included the Harlem Globetrotters and Magic Johnson, a five-time NBA champion, three-time NBA finals MVP and Olympic gold medalist. As of 2011, the current Basketball Hall of Fame has exceeded attendance expectations, with basketball fans traveling to the Hall of Fame from all over the world.
Despite the new facility's success, a logistical problem remains for the Basketball Hall of Fame and the City of Springfield. The two entities are separated by the Interstate 91 elevated highway—one of the eastern United States' busiest highways—which inhibits foot-traffic and other interaction between the Basketball Hall of Fame and Springfield's lively Metro Center. Both the Hall and Springfield have made public statements about cooperating further so as to facilitate more business and recreational growth for both. Urban planners at universities such as UMass Amherst have called for the I-91 to be moved, or to be re-configured so as to be pedestrian-friendly to Hall of Fame visitors. In 2010, the Urban Land Institute announced a plan to make the walk between Springfield's Metro Center and the Hall of Fame easier. In contrast to the Pro Football and the National Baseball Halls of Fame, Springfield honors international and American professionals, as well as American and international amateurs, making it arguably the most comprehensive Hall of Fame among major sports.
From 2011 to 2015 seven committees were, as of 2016 six committees are employed to both screen and elect candidates. Four of the committees screen prospective candidates: North American Screening Committee Women's Screening Committee International Screening Committee Veterans Screening Committee, with "Veterans" defined as individuals whose careers ended at least 35 years before they are considered for election. Since 2011, the Veterans and International Committees vote to directly induct one candidate for each induction class. Three committees were formed in 2011 to directly elect one candidate for each induction class: American Basketball Association Committee - This committee was permanently disbanded in 2015 because it had fulfilled its purpose over the previous five years. Contributor Direct Election Committee Other committees may choose to elect contributors. For example, the 2014 class included two contributors. Early African-American Pioneers of the Game CommitteeIndividuals who receive at least seven votes from the North American Screening Committee or five votes from one of the other screening committees in a given year are eligible to advance to an Honors Committee, composed of 12 members plus rotating groups of 12 specialists (one group for
Glory Road (film)
Glory Road is a 2006 American sports drama film directed by James Gartner, based on a true story surrounding the events leading to the 1966 NCAA University Division Basketball Championship. Don Haskins portrayed by Josh Lucas, head coach of Texas Western College, coached a team with an all-black starting lineup, a first in NCAA history. Glory Road explores racism and student athletics. Supporting actors Jon Voight and Derek Luke star in principal roles; the film was a co-production between the motion picture studios of Walt Disney Pictures, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Texas Western Productions, Glory Road Productions. It was commercially distributed by Buena Vista Pictures theatrically and by the Buena Vista Home Entertainment division for the video rental market, it premiered in theaters nationwide in the United States on January 13, 2006, grossing $42,938,449 in box office business despite mixed reviews from critics. Glory Road was nominated for a number of awards including the Humanitas Prize.
On January 10, 2006, the original motion picture soundtrack was released by the Hollywood Records music label. The soundtrack was orchestrated by musician Trevor Rabin; the DVD release, featuring theatrical trailers, extended interviews with players and colleagues of coach Haskins, deleted scenes, among other highlights, was released in the U. S. on June 6, 2006. Newly appointed men's basketball coach Don Haskins gets a new job at Texas Western College in El Paso. Lacking necessary financial resources, he makes an effort to recruit the best players regardless of race to form a team that can compete for a national championship; some of the young men he brings in possess skill, but are raw in talent when it comes to organized teamwork focusing on defense and ball distribution. In the end, his Texas Western Miners team comprises seven black and five white athletes. Haskins puts his players through a rigorous training program, threatening to cut anyone who doesn't work as hard as he demands, while trying to integrate his players into a single team with a common goal.
Following initial victories against mediocre local teams, Haskins discovers that he has to give his black players more free room on the court. Yet, the more victories his team achieves with its flamboyant style, up until this point seen in college basketball, the more racial hatred mounts on his squad; this culminates in threats to his own family, the beating of a player while on the road and the vandalism of his team's motel rooms by racists while they are at an away game. Frightened, the team loses its last game of the regular season after the black players stop playing with passion. Thus, the Texas Western Miners finish the 1965-66 regular season with a 23–1 record, entering the 1966 NCAA tournament ranked third in the nation. Going on to the NCAA final, played at College Park, they take on the top-ranked University of Kentucky under legendary coach, Adolph Rupp. Rupp, with a well-organized and more experienced all-white Wildcats squad believes that his opponent stands no chance. On the eve of the decisive game, Haskins decides to experiment with a bold strategy, informing his team that he intends to start an all-black lineup in the game, only using the two other black players in the rotation.
In the midst of insurmountable odds, Texas Western encounters mounting problems with forward and team captain Harry Flournoy leaving the game with an injury, their center David Lattin in foul trouble. In a close game, the Miners narrowly lead at halftime, but manage to beat Kentucky 72–65 with some impressive steals and passing techniques in the second half; the film ends with the players exiting the plane that brought them back to El Paso to the greeting of a raucous crowd. Josh Lucas as Don Haskins Derek Luke as Bobby Joe Hill Austin Nichols as Jerry Armstrong Jon Voight as Adolph Rupp Evan Jones as Moe Iba Red West as Ross Moore Schin A. S. Kerr as David Lattin Alphonso McAuley as Orsten Artis Mehcad Brooks as Harry Flournoy Sam Jones III as Willie Worsley Damaine Radcliff as Willie Cager Emily Deschanel as Mary Haskins, wife of Don Haskins Al Shearer as Nevil Shed Tatyana M. Ali as Waltina "Tina" Malichi Wilbur Fitzgerald as Wade Richardson David Dino Wells Jr. as John Anderson Glory Road was inspired by a true story, as described by Texas Western's head coach Don Haskins in his autobiography of the same title, a national bestseller released in 2005 by Hyperion Books.
The book details Haskins' early life as a player and women's basketball coach. Like the film, it focuses on the 1966 Texas Western men's basketball team and the aftermath of the championship, it was reprinted five times in its first four months of release and was selected as an "Editor's Choice" by the New York Times Book Review. Additionally, Glory Road is the name of a street on the UTEP campus near the Sun Bowl, renamed to commemorate the 1966 NCAA championship. Asked about his decision to start five black players, Haskins downplayed the significance of his decision. "I didn't think about starting five black guys. I just wanted to put my five best guys on the court. I just wanted to win the game." Though credited with advancing the desegregation of college basketball teams in the South, he wrote in his book "I did not expect to be some racial pioneer or to change the world."Dunking was banned in the NCAA from 1967 to 1976, not the least due to the success of the
El Paso, Texas
El Paso is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, United States, in the far western part of the state. The 2017 population estimate for the city from the U. S. Census was 683,577, its metropolitan statistical area covers all of El Paso and Hudspeth counties in Texas, has a population of 844,818. El Paso stands on the Rio Grande across the Mexico–United States border from Ciudad Juárez, the most populous city in the Mexican state of Chihuahua with 1.4 million people. Las Cruces, in the neighboring U. S. state of New Mexico, has a population of 215,579. On the U. S. side, El Paso metropolitan area forms part of the larger El Paso–Las Cruces CSA, with a population of 1,060,397. Bi-nationally, these three cities form a combined international metropolitan area sometimes referred to as the Paso del Norte or the Borderplex; the region of 2.5 million people constitutes the largest bilingual and binational work force in the Western Hemisphere. The city is home to three publicly traded companies, former Western Refining, now Andeavor. as well as home to the Medical Center of the Americas, the only medical research and care provider complex in West Texas and Southern New Mexico, the University of Texas at El Paso, the city's primary university.
The city hosts the annual Sun Bowl college football post-season game, the second oldest bowl game in the country. El Paso has a strong military presence. William Beaumont Army Medical Center, Biggs Army Airfield, Fort Bliss call the city home. Fort Bliss is one of the largest military complexes of the United States Army and the largest training area in the United States. Headquartered in El Paso are the DEA domestic field division 7, El Paso Intelligence Center, Joint Task Force North, United States Border Patrol El Paso Sector, the U. S. Border Patrol Special Operations Group. In 2010 and 2018, El Paso received an All-America City Award. El Paso ranked in the top three safest large cities in the United States between 1997 and 2014, including holding the title of safest city between 2011 and 2014; the El Paso region has had human settlement for thousands of years, as evidenced by Folsom points from hunter-gatherers found at Hueco Tanks. The evidence suggests 10,000 to 12,000 years of human habitation.
The earliest known cultures in the region were maize farmers. When the Spanish arrived, the Manso and Jumano tribes populated the area; these were subsequently incorporated into the Mestizo culture, along with immigrants from central Mexico, captives from Comanchería, genízaros of various ethnic groups. The Mescalero Apache were present. Spanish explorer Don Juan de Oñate was born in 1550 in Zacatecas, Zacatecas and was the first New Spain explorer known to have observed the Rio Grande near El Paso, in 1598, celebrating a Thanksgiving Mass there on April 30, 1598. However, the four survivors of the Narváez expedition, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Alonso del Castillo Maldonado, Andrés Dorantes de Carranza, his enslaved Moor Estevanico, are thought to have passed through the area in the mid-1530s. El Paso del Norte was founded on the south bank of the Río Bravo del Norte, in 1659 by Fray Garcia de San Francisco. In 1680, the small village of El Paso became the temporary base for Spanish governance of the territory of New Mexico as a result of the Pueblo Revolt, until 1692 when Santa Fe was reconquered and once again became the capital.
The Texas Revolution was not felt in the region, as the American population was small. However, the region was claimed by Texas as part of the treaty signed with Mexico and numerous attempts were made by Texas to bolster these claims. However, the villages which consisted of what is now El Paso and the surrounding area remained a self-governed community with both representatives of the Mexican and Texan government negotiating for control until Texas irrevocably took control in 1846. During this interregnum, 1836–1848, Americans nonetheless continued to settle the region; as early as the mid-1840s, alongside long extant Hispanic settlements such as the Rancho de Juan María Ponce de León, Anglo settlers such as Simeon Hart and Hugh Stephenson had established thriving communities of American settlers owing allegiance to Texas. Stephenson, who had married into the local Hispanic aristocracy, established the Rancho de San José de la Concordia, which became the nucleus of Anglo and Hispanic settlement within the limits of modern-day El Paso, in 1844: the Republic of Texas, which claimed the area, wanted a chunk of the Santa Fe trade.
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo made the settlements on the north bank of the river part of the US, separate from Old El Paso del Norte on the Mexican side. The present Texas–New Mexico boundary placing El Paso on the Texas side was drawn in the Compromise of 1850. El Paso remained the largest settlement in New Mexico as part of the Republic of Mexico until its cession to the U. S. in 1848, when the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo specified the border was to run north of El Paso De Norte around the Ciudad Juárez Cathedral which became part of the state of Chihuahua. El Paso County was established in March 1850, with San Elizario as the first county seat; the United States Senate fixed a boundary between Texas and New Mexico at the 32nd parallel, thus ignoring history and topography. A military post called "The Post opposite El Paso" was established in 1849 on Coons' Rancho beside the settlement of Franklin, which became the nucleus of the future El Paso, Texas.
Benjamin, Texas
Benjamin is a city in Knox County, United States. It is the county seat of Knox County; the population was 258 at the 2010 census. The community was founded in 1884 by Hilory G. Bedford and controlling stockholder in the Wichita and Brazos Stock Company, he named it Benjamin after his son, killed by lightning. To attract additional settlers, Bedford gave his stockholders a 50-acre tract of land and set aside 40 more acres for a town square. Benjamin was designed as the Knox County seat when it was organized in 1886. A school opened in 1886, as well. A jail built in 1887 still stands as a private residence and the old bank stands next to the sheriff's office. Benjamin was incorporated in 1928 and the population was 485 in the 1930 census. Two structures in the community, a courthouse and school building, were constructed with Works Projects Administration labor; that courthouse replaced the previous stone structure built in 1888. The number of inhabitants reached a high of 599 in 1940, but that figure decreased during the latter half of the 20th century.
Benjamin is situated at the junction of U. S. Highway 82 and State Highway 6 in central Knox County 90 miles north of Abilene and 85 miles southwest of Wichita Falls. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.0 square mile, all of it land. According to the Köppen climate classification system, Benjamin has a semiarid climate, BSk on climate maps; as of the census of 2000, 264 people, 97 households, 64 families resided in the city. The population density was 254.5 people per square mile. The 119 housing units averaged 114.7 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 89.77% White, 3.03% African American, 1.89% Asian, 4.92% from other races, 0.38% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 11.36% of the population. Of the 97 households, 36.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.5% were married couples living together, 14.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 33.0% were not families. The average household size was 2.59 and the average family size was 3.31.
In the city, the population was distributed as 33.3% under the age of 18, 5.3% from 18 to 24, 25.8% from 25 to 44, 19.7% from 45 to 64, 15.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 88.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.3 males. The median income for a household in the city was $31,023, for a family was $38,125. Males had a median income of $29,750 versus $19,375 for females; the per capita income for the city was $13,138. About 14.5% of families and 14.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.7% of those under the age of 18 and 8.7% of those 65 or over. The Knox County Museum, located in the county courthouse, features a barbed wire exhibit and numerous other frontier artifacts; the Knox County Veterans Memorial, located at the corner of U. S. Highway 82 and State Highway 6, honors all Knox County veterans from the Spanish–American War through current conflicts. Benjamin's Moorhouse Park, dedicated by the state highway department in 1965, an area know the Narrows located four miles east of the city are popular tourist attractions.
Texas photographer Wyman Meinzer lives in Benjamin. The city of Benjamin is served by the Benjamin Independent School District and home to the Benjamin High School Mustangs
University of Texas at El Paso
The University of Texas at El Paso is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the U. S. to have a majority Mexican American student population after the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and the university's School of Engineering is the nation's top producer of Hispanic engineers with M. S. and Ph. D. degrees. On January 9, 2019, it was announced that UTEP is now classified as an "R1: Research University" in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education; this designation is reserved for doctoral universities with the highest levels of research activity. UTEP is home to the Sun Bowl stadium, which hosts the annual college football competition the Sun Bowl every winter; the campus is one of the few places in the world outside of Bhutan or Tibet to have buildings created with the Dzong architectural style. It sits on hillsides overlooking the Rio Grande river, with Ciudad Juárez in view across the Mexico–United States border.
On April 16, 1913, SB 183 was signed by the Texas governor allocating funding for a new educational institution which would become UTEP, making it the second oldest academic institution in the University of Texas system. The school opened on September 28, 1914, with 27 students in buildings belonging to the former El Paso Military Institute on a site adjacent to a former Fort Bliss location, at Hart's Mill; the school was founded in 1914 as the State School of Mines and Metallurgy, a practice mineshaft survives on the campus. By 1916, enrollment had grown to 39 students, including its first two female students, Ruth Brown and Grace Odell. On October 29, 1916, a devastating fire destroyed the main building of the school, prompting its relocation. In 1917, the new school facility was constructed on its present site above Mundy Heights, with the land donated by several El Paso residents. In a period when United States architects were designing in styles adopted from Europe, Kathleen Worrell, wife of the university's dean, was attracted by photographs of the Kingdom of Bhutan in a 1914 issue of National Geographic magazine, which showed the dzong architecture style of its Buddhist monasteries.
The resemblances between the local terrain and mountainous features of Bhutan inspired her to propose designing early buildings of the mining school in the dzong style. Liking its distinctiveness, administrations have continued to choose that style for additional facilities, including the Sun Bowl football stadium and parking garages. Dzong architecture has characteristics such as sloping sides, markedly overhanging roofs, bands of colored decoration; the University of Texas Board of Regents changed the name of the institution in 1919 first to the Department of Mines and Metallurgy and to the College of Mines and Metallurgy of the University of Texas in 1920. The school's name was changed again in 1949 to Texas Western College of The University of Texas. Notable events at UTEP include the training in 1961 of the nation's first Peace Corps class, the construction of Sun Bowl Stadium in 1963, the winning of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship in 1966; when the 60th Texas State Legislature designated the University of Texas as The University of Texas System in 1967, the name of the school was changed to The University of Texas at El Paso.
While the 1967 law designated "U. T. El Paso" as the school's official abbreviated name, the school is more referred to by its trademarked name of "UTEP". Known as the Miners since the school's opening in 1914, TCM's students painted a large "M" for Miners on the Franklin Mountains in 1923; the school has had achievements in academic and sports areas. In 1969, UTEP won the first of seven NCAA Men's Cross Country Championships. In 1974, UTEP's first doctoral degree program in Geological Sciences was approved. In 1974, UTEP won the first of seven NCAA Men's Indoor Track and Field Championships. In 1975 UTEP won Indoor National Championships. UTEP is only one of a handful of universities to win at least 21 NCAA national championships in multiple sports; the campus expanded in 1976 with the completion of the Engineering-Science Complex. That same year, the College of Nursing was founded. In 1977, the Special Events Center was built, featuring a 12,000-seat capacity for sporting events, live concerts, other performances.
An expansion of Sun Bowl Stadium followed in 1982, increasing its capacity to 52,000. The six-story University Library opened its doors to the public for the first time in 1984. In 1988, Diana Natalicio became UTEP's first woman president and is today the longest-serving still sitting president of a major public research university; the next year, UTEP's second doctoral program was approved. Doctoral programs in computer engineering and environmental science and engineering followed in 1991, 1993, 1995, respectively; the university's cooperative pharmacy and nursing doctorate programs began in 1996 and 2000, respectively. A biological sciences doctorate program was started in 1997 and a history doctorate followed in 1999. Doctoral programs in international business, civil engineering, rhetoric and composition were started in 2003. UTEP coach Don Haskins, who compiled a 719–353 record, suffering only five losing seasons, was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1997 and the special events center was renamed the Don Haskins Center.
He retired from coaching in 1999, died in 2008. The entire 1966 UTEP team was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007. In 1999, UTEP launched its MBA online deg
Tim Hardaway
Timothy Duane Hardaway Sr. is an American retired basketball player. Standing at six feet tall, he was best known for his crossover dribble, dubbed the "UTEP Two-step" by television analysts, he is the father of current NBA player Tim Hardaway Jr. Hardaway was born in Chicago and graduated from Carver Area High School there, he attended the University of Texas at El Paso and played under coach Don Haskins, a future member of the Basketball Hall of Fame. He was twice named MVP of El Paso's Sun Bowl Invitational Tournament, in 1987 and 1988, he played on teams that went to the NCAA Tournaments in 1988 and 1989. At UTEP he won the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award as the best college player in the nation six feet tall or under, he was selected as the 14th pick of the first round, in the 1989 NBA draft by the Golden State Warriors. In his rookie season, Hardaway wore number "5", as Manute Bol wore Hardaway's "10". After Bol left the Warriors, Hardaway inherited it. Hardaway, Mitch Richmond, Chris Mullin formed "Run TMC".
As part of the Warriors' attack, Hardaway was responsible for leading Run TMC's fast break, displaying his excellent passing and one-on-one skills to complement Richmond's slashing and Mullin's shooting. Golden State made the playoffs during the 1990–91 season, Hardaway's second season and his first season in the playoffs. In the first round, the 7th seeded Warriors defeated the 2nd seeded San Antonio Spurs led by All-Star David Robinson in 4 games to advance to face the 3rd seeded Los Angeles Lakers led by NBA legend Magic Johnson; the Warriors managed to steal a game on the road in game 2, but could not defeat the more experienced Lakers, falling in 5 games despite Hardaway averaging 26.8 points, 12.8 assists and 3.8 steals for the series. Hardaway averaged a career-high 23.4 points a game in the 1991–92 season, as the Warriors fell in the first round of the playoffs to the Seattle SuperSonics. The following season Hardaway averaged a career-high 10.6 assists a game to get with his scoring average of 21.5, but the Warriors did not make the playoffs and would not return to postseason action for the remainder of Hardaway's tenure with the team.
As a Warrior, Hardaway made the NBA All-Star Game three straight years, a knee injury kept him out of the entire 1993–94 season. He reached 5,000 points and 2,500 assists faster than any other NBA player except Oscar Robertson. Hardaway played for the Warriors until the middle of 1995–96 season when he was traded to the Miami Heat along with Chris Gatling in exchange for Kevin Willis and Bimbo Coles. Following the midseason trade to Miami, Hardaway started 28 games to finish the season, averaging 17.2 points a game with 10 assists. Miami were swept in the first round by the 72 win Chicago Bulls; the following season was a huge success for Miami and for Hardaway, as he finished 4th in voting for the NBA Most Valuable Player Award, was selected to the All-NBA First Team as Miami won a franchise record 61 wins. Hardaway started in 81 games, averaging 20.3 points, 8.6 assists, while placing fourth in the league with 203 three-point baskets. He played in the 1997 NBA All-Star Game, scoring 10 points in 14 minutes.
In the playoffs, Hardaway averaged 26 points a game as the Heat defeated the Orlando Magic in the first round in 5 games, defeated the New York Knicks in 7 games in the semifinals, in which Hardaway scored 38 points in the 7th game. Miami would once again fall to the defending champion Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals in 5 games. In the 1997–98 NBA Season, Hardaway averaged 18.9 points and 8.3 assist per game, was selected to play in the 1998 NBA All-Star Game. The Heat won 55 games and won the Atlantic Division, but lost to the Knicks in 5 games in the first round of the playoffs. In the lockout shortened 1998–99 season, he averaged 17.4 points a game with 7.3 assists, Miami won the Atlantic Division again but could once again not defeat the Knicks in the first round of the playoffs despite having home court advantage and the Knicks being the 8th seed in the playoffs. Hardaway's production slipped in the 1999–2000 season, with Alonzo Mourning and Jamal Mashburn carrying more of the offensive load.
Hardaway averaged 13.4 points with 7.4 assists a game, but shot a personal best.367 percent from beyond the three-point arc. After playing just 52 games, Hardaway was further limited in the playoffs, as Miami defeated the Detroit Pistons but once again fell to New York in 7 games; that summer and Mourning won a gold medal playing for the U. S. A. men's basketball team at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Australia. Before the 2000–01 season Mourning would be diagnosed with a rare kidney disease, would be sidelined for much of the season. Hardaway upped his offensive production to 14.9 points a game with 6.3 assists a game as Miami won 50 games and captured the East's third best record, only to be swept in the first round by the Charlotte Hornets. Following the 2001 season, with his skills declining with age, Hardaway was traded to the Dallas Mavericks on August 22, 2001, for a second-round draft pick, he was at one time Miami's all-time leader in assists. With Dallas, Hardaway was utilized off the bench, starting only two games out of 54 and averaging ten points a game.
In the middle of the season, he was traded to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for controversial point guard Nick Van Exel. Hardaway was traded to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for controversial point guard Nick Van Exel. With the Nuggets he started all fourteen games he played with them before retiring and becoming a basketball analyst for ESPN. While playing for the Nuggets, Hardaway was suspended for two
Amateur Athletic Union
The Amateur Athletic Union is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs, it has more than 700,000 members nationwide, including more than 100,000 volunteers. The AAU was founded on January 21, 1888, by James E. Sullivan with the goal of creating common standards in amateur sport. Since most national championships for youth athletes in the United States have taken place under AAU leadership. From its founding as a publicly supported organization, the AAU has represented US sports within the various international sports federations; the AAU worked with the United States Olympic Committee to prepare U. S. athletes for the Olympic Games. As part of this, the AAU Junior Olympic Games were introduced in 1949, with athletes aged 8 to 16 years, or older in certain sports, can participating. Many future World and Olympic champions have appeared in these events, which are still held every year.
In the 1970s, the AAU received growing criticism. Many claimed. Women were banned from participating in certain competitions and some runners were locked out. There were problems with sporting goods that did not meet the standards of the AAU. During this time, the Olympic Sports Act of 1978 organized the United States Olympic Committee and saw the re-establishment of independent associations for the Olympic sports, referred to as national governing bodies; the rise of professionalism in all sports in the latter half of the 20th century hurt the AAU's viability. As a result, the AAU lost its influence and importance in international sports, focused on the support and promotion of predominantly youthful athletes, as well as on the organization of national sports events; the AAU was founded in 1888 by William Buckingham Curtis to establish standards and uniformity in amateur sport. During its early years the AAU served as a leader in international sport representing the United States in the international sports federations.
The AAU worked with the Olympic movement to prepare athletes for the Olympic Games. After the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 broke up the AAU's responsibility as the national Olympic sports governing body, the AAU focused on providing sports programs for all participants of all ages beginning at the local and regional levels; the philosophy of the AAU is "Sports for All, Forever." In 1923 the AAU sponsored the First American Field championships for women. The AAU is divided into 56 distinct district associations, which annually sanction 34 sports programs, 250 national championships, over 30,000 age division events; the AAU events have over 50,000 volunteers. The Amateur Sports Act of 1978 was precipitated by grumblings of the inefficiency of the AAU to manage the multitude of sports at the Olympic level. USA Gymnastics was formed as a feeder program in 1963 as a response to perceived poor performance by the American performers in the Olympics and at World Championships; the USWF was formed in 1968 as an effort to take wrestling as an independent governing body.
Their position was supported when FILA the world governing body refused to accept membership of "umbrella" sports organizations like the AAU. After years of grumbling by athletes, the International Track Association was formed after the 1972 Olympics to provide track and field athletes an opportunity to make money from their sporting efforts. Participants in the professional league were "banned for life" from the Olympics and their record-breaking performances were never accepted. In the early 1970s, The AAU became the subject of criticism, notably by outspoken track star Steve Prefontaine, over the living conditions for amateur athletes under the AAU, as well as arbitrary rules. Congress adopted the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 in response to such criticisms removing the organization from any governance role; the AAU now continues as a voluntary organization promoting youth sports. In 2008, The AAU found itself under scrutiny over the privacy of information of athletes. A local news station near the AAU Headquarters found boxes of personal information thrown out in dumpsters, raising questions about the organization's handling of private data.
In 2015, Kobe Bryant criticized the AAU, describing it as "Horrible, terrible AAU basketball. It's stupid, it doesn't teach our kids how to play the game at all so you wind up having players that are big and they bring it up and they do all this fancy crap and they don't know how to post. They don't know the fundamentals of the game. It's stupid." Kobe, who moved to Italy at age 6 because of his father playing basketball there, stated that the AAU has been "treating like cash cows for everyone to profit off of". Steve Kerr has spoken out against the AAU, stating that the AAU's structure devalues winning, with many teams playing about as many as four times a day and some players changing teams as early as from one morning to an afternoon the same day. Kerr states that "The process of growing as a team basketball player — learning how to become part of a whole, how to fit into something bigger than oneself — becomes lost within the AAU fabric."In the wake of sexual scandals that hit two U. S. universities, Penn State and Syracuse, involving acts of sexual abuse with children, charges have reached the AAU in Memphis, through the alleged misconduct of President Robert W.
"Bobby" Dodd. In 2016, the AAU was sued for allowing Rick Butler, a youth volleyball coach accused of sexually abusing his players in the past, coach an under-18 team in the AAU Girls' Junior National Volleyball
