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
Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball
The Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball program represents the University of Virginia in the Atlantic Coast Conference in Division I of the NCAA. The team is coached by Tony Bennett. Since 2006 the team has played at John Paul Jones Arena, an on-campus arena on the North Grounds of the university, in front of 14,593. A consistent winner in the early years of college basketball under the tutelage of Pop Lannigan, the Cavalier program lay dormant between 1930 and 1975 before Terry Holland arrived to win their first ACC Championship and earn their first NCAA Tournament appearance in his second year. UVA has since finished first in the ACC basketball standings nine times, third best all-time, they have won the ACC Tournament three times. Virginia won the 2019 NCAA Tournament Championship, has been to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament three times, won the last third-place game played at the event; the Cavaliers have been in the Top 5 of the AP Poll a total of 96 weeks in the past four decades, ranking the program 9th since 1980.
Never making the Top 5 from the first poll in 1949 until 1981, the program still ranks 16th all-time by this measure. The Wahoos, as they are unofficially known, began their history under the tutelage of a Welshman and American immigrant known best as "Pop", Henry Lannigan. Lannigan began the program in 1905 after training Olympic Games hopefuls in track and field and brought the basketball program into near-dominant form, he led the Cavaliers to a perfect record of 17–0 in 1914-15 and a Southern Conference title in its inaugeral season of 1921-22. After reaching prominence the team was invited to help the nationally known Kentucky Wildcats showcase their new Alumni Gymnasium. Virginia dominated Kentucky, 29–16. Inviting Kentucky back to Memorial Gymnasium in 1928, Virginia again won, 31–28. Lannigan's record of 254–95 held the Virginia record for best career winning percentage by a head coach until surpassed by a man, hired 104 years after he started the program. After Lannigan's sudden death in 1930 and with limited administration interest at the onset of the Great Depression, Virginia basketball did not maintain its momentum into the next several decades.
Buzzy Wilkinson scored 32.1 points per game in 1954-55 and is still the all-time ACC leader in scoring per game for both the single-season and career categories. He was selected by the Boston Celtics in the 1955 NBA Draft. Virginia teams of the era were not as great at defense and high scoring did not lead to many wins. Barry Parkhill was named ACC Men's Basketball Player of the Year in 1971–72 and was drafted in the first round by the Portland Trail Blazers but the program had not regained its early standing. Terry Holland was hired from Davidson in 1975, with star Wally Walker surprised the ACC in just his second year as head coach when his sixth-seeded Virginia defeated AP No. 17 NC State, No. 9 Maryland and No. 4 North Carolina en route to winning the school's first ACC Championship. Played in Landover, Maryland, it was and fittingly the first ACC Tournament held outside of North Carolina. Athletic and seven-foot-four, Ralph Sampson was the most desired high school recruit in college basketball history when he chose to play with Jeff Lamp at Virginia over Kentucky in 1979.
He lived up to that hype would become one of the most dominant college players the game has known, winning three consecutive Naismith College Player of the Year awards to tie him with Bill Walton as the most awarded individual player in NCAA history. Virginia would attain its first AP Top 5 rankings and go to its first Final Four in Sampson's era, but would be stonewalled by Dean Smith and North Carolina both in that Final Four and in ACC Tournaments. Carolina notoriously held the ball in a four corners offense for most of the last seven minutes of the game, despite having UNC’s most celebrated NBA superstars Michael Jordan and James Worthy on the floor, to defeat Virginia in the 1982 ACC Tournament 47–45. Both the shot clock and three-point line were implemented into college basketball during the same decade in part to combat such shenanigans. In 1984, after Sampson was drafted first in the 1983 NBA Draft, Virginia made a Cinderella run back to the Final Four. There they lost 49–47, in overtime, to a Houston team led by the first pick of the 1984 NBA Draft, Hakeem Olajuwon, who joined Sampson to form the original Twin Towers of the NBA on the Houston Rockets.
John Crotty and Bryant Stith took the darkhorse 1988–89 team to the Elite Eight after defeating a No. 1 seed Oklahoma team which returned most of its lineup from the team that reached the 1988 NCAA Tournament Championship Game. After Holland retired, the Cavaliers were coached by Jeff Jones, Pete Gillen, Dave Leitao. Highlights of those teams include a Jones team headlined by Cory Alexander and Junior Burrough that reached the Elite Eight after a first-place finish in the ACC standings of 1995. There were no championship teams under Gillen, but his recruits Sean Singletary and J. R. Reynolds led the 2007 team to Virginia's next conference-topping finish in Leitao's second season. While there were flashes of brilliance under each of the three coaches, the program regained and expanded its national prominence under the one who followed them. Tony Bennett arrived in March 2009 and got to work in building ”a program that lasts." His 2013–14 team led by Joe Harris and Malcolm Brogdon brought Virginia its first ACC Tournament Championship in 38 years and its first Sweet Sixteen appearance in 19 years.
The 2014–15 squad, led by Justin Anderson and Brogdon, started 19–0 and was more dominant throughout the season as this team more than doubled up the scores of Georgia Tech and Wake Forest, only
UCLA Bruins men's basketball
The UCLA Bruins men's basketball program represents the University of California, Los Angeles in the sport of men's basketball as a member of the Pac-12 Conference. Established in 1919, the program has won a record 11 NCAA titles. Coach John Wooden led the Bruins to 10 national titles in 12 seasons, from 1964 to 1975, including seven straight from 1967 to 1973. UCLA went undefeated a record four times. Coach Jim Harrick led the team to another NCAA title in 1995. Former coach Ben Howland led UCLA to three consecutive Final Four appearances from 2006 to 2008; as a member of the AAWU, Pacific-8 and Pacific-10, UCLA set a NCAA Division I record with 13 consecutive regular season conference titles between 1967 and 1979 which stood until passed by Kansas in 2018. UCLA men's basketball has set several NCAA records. 11 NCAA titles 7 consecutive NCAA titles 13 NCAA title game appearances* 10 consecutive Final Four appearances 25 Final Four wins* 38 game NCAA Tournament winning streak 134 weeks ranked No. 1 in AP Top 25 Poll 221 consecutive weeks ranked in AP Top 25 Poll 54 consecutive winning seasons 88 game men's regular season winning streak 13 consecutive Div-I regular season conference titles ** 4 undefeated seasons * 1980 tournament final vacated by NCAA ** Surpassed by Kansas in 2018 In 1919, Fred Cozens became the first head coach of the UCLA basketball and football teams.
Cozens coached the basketball team for two seasons, finishing with an overall record of 21–4. Caddy Works was the head coach of the Bruins from 1921 to 1939. Works coached the team only during the evenings. According to UCLA player and future Olympian Frank Lubin, Works was "more of an honorary coach" with little basketball knowledge. Wilbur Johns was the UCLA basketball head coach from 1939 to 1948, guiding the Bruins to a 93-120 record. From 1948 to 1975, John Wooden, nicknamed the "Wizard of Westwood", served as UCLA's head coach, he won ten NCAA national championships in a 12-year period, including a run of seven in a row that shattered the previous record of only two consecutive titles. Within this period, his teams won a men's basketball-record 88 consecutive games. Prior to Wooden's arrival, UCLA had only won two conference championships in the previous 18 years. In his first season, Wooden guided a UCLA team that had finished with a 12–13 record the previous year to a 22–7 record—then the most wins in a season in program history—and the Pacific Coast Conference Southern Division championship.
In his second season, Wooden led the Bruins to a 24 -- the PCC championship. The Bruins would win the division title in each of the next two seasons and the conference title in the latter season. Up to that time, UCLA had won only two division titles since the PCC began divisional play, it had not won a conference title of any kind since winning the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 1927. In 1955–56, Wooden guided the Bruins to their first undefeated PCC conference title and a 17-game winning streak that only came to an end in the 1956 NCAA Tournament at the hands of a University of San Francisco team that featured Bill Russell. However, UCLA was unable to maintain this level of performance over the immediate ensuing seasons, finding itself unable to return to the NCAA Tournament as the Pete Newell-coached California teams took control of the conference at the end of the decade. Hampering the fortunes of Wooden's team during that time period was a probation imposed on all UCLA sports in the aftermath of a scandal involving illegal payments made to players on the school's football team, along with USC, Cal and Stanford, resulting in the dismantling of the PCC conference.
By 1962 the probation was no longer in place and Wooden had returned the Bruins to the top of their conference. This time, they would take the next step, go on to unleash a run of dominance unparalleled in the history of college sports. A narrow loss due to a controversial foul call in the semifinal of the 1962 NCAA Tournament convinced Wooden that his Bruins were ready to contend for national championships. Two seasons the final piece of the puzzle fell into place when assistant coach Jerry Norman persuaded Wooden that the team's small-sized players and fast-paced offense would be complemented by the adoption of a zone press defense; the result was a dramatic increase in scoring, giving UCLA a powerhouse team led by Walt Hazzard and Gail Goodrich that went undefeated on its way to the school's first basketball national championship. Wooden's team repeated as national champions the following season before the squad fell in 1966 when it finished second in the conference to Oregon State. UCLA was ineligible to play in the NCAA tournament that year because in those days only conference champions went to the tournament.
However, the Bruins' incarnation returned with a vengeance in 1967 with the arrival of sophomore All-America and MVP Lew Alcindor. The team reclaimed not only the conference title but the national crown with an undefeated season. In January 1968, UCLA took its 47-game winning streak to the Astrodome in Houston, where Alcindor squared off against Elvin Hayes in the Game of the Century, the nation's first nationally televised regular season college basketball game. Houston upset UCLA 71-69 behind Hayes' 39 points. In a post-game interview, Wooden stated, "We have to start over." They did, went undefeated the rest of the year, avenging Houston 101-69 in the semi-final rematch of the NCAA tournament en route to the national championship. Hayes, who had bee
Point guard
The point guard called the one or point, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run the team's offense by controlling the ball and making sure that it gets to the right player at the right time. Above all, the point guard must understand and accept their coach's game plan. While the point guard must understand and accept the coach's gameplan, they must be able to adapt to what the defense is allowing, they must control the pace of the game. A point guard, like other player positions in basketball, specializes in certain skills. A point guard's primary job is to facilitate scoring opportunities for his/her team, or sometimes for themselves. Lee Rose has described a point guard as a coach on the floor, who can handle and distribute the ball to teammates; this involves setting up plays on the court, getting the ball to the teammate in the best position to score, controlling the tempo of the game.
A point guard should know when and how to instigate a fast break and when and how to initiate the more deliberate sets. Point guards are expected to be vocal floor leaders. A point guard needs always to have in mind the times on the shot clock and the game clock, the score, the numbers of remaining timeouts for both teams, etc. Among the taller players who have enjoyed success at the position is Ben Simmons, who at 6’ 10” won the 2018 National Basketball Association Rookie of the Year Award. Behind him is Magic Johnson, who at 6’ 9” won the National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player Award three times in his career. Other point guards who have been named NBA MVP include Russell Westbrook, Bob Cousy, Oscar Robertson, Allen Iverson, Derrick Rose and two-time winners Steve Nash and Stephen Curry. In the NBA, point guards are about 6' 4" or shorter, average about 6' 2" whereas in the WNBA, point guards are 5' 9" or shorter. Having above-average size is considered advantageous, although size is secondary to situational awareness, speed and ball handling skills.
Shorter players tend to be better dribblers since they are closer to the floor, thus have better control of the ball while dribbling. After an opponent scores, it is the point guard who brings the ball down court to begin an offensive play. Passing skills, ball handling, court vision are crucial. Speed is important. Point guards are valued more for their assist totals than for their scoring. Another major evaluation factor is assist-to-turnover ratio, which reflects the decision-making skills of the player. Still, a first-rate point guard should have a reasonably effective jump shot; the point guard is positioned on the perimeter of the play, so as to have the best view of the action. This is a necessity because of the point guard's many leadership obligations. Many times, the point guard is referred to by announcers as a "coach on the floor" or a "floor general". In the past, this was true, as several point guards such as Lenny Wilkens served their teams as player-coaches; this is not so common anymore, as most coaches are now specialized in coaching and are non-players.
Some point guards are still given a great deal of leeway in the offense. Point guards who are not given this much freedom, are still extensions of their coach on the floor and must display good leadership skills. Along with leadership and a general basketball acumen, ball-handling is a skill of great importance to a point guard. Speaking, the point guard is the player in possession of the ball for the most time during a game and is responsible for maintaining possession of the ball for his team in the face of any pressure from the opponents. Point guards must be able to maintain possession of the ball in crowded spaces and in traffic and be able to advance the ball quickly. A point guard that has enough ball-handling skill and quickness to be able to drive to the basket in a half-court set is very valuable and considered by some to be a must for a successful offense. After ball-handling and scoring are the most important areas of the game for a point guard; as the primary decision-maker for a team, a point guard's passing ability determines how well a point guard is able to put his decision into play.
It is one thing to be able to recognize the player, in a tactically advantageous position, but it is another thing to be able to deliver the ball to that player. For this reason, a point guard is but not always, more skilled and focused on passing than shooting. However, a good jump shot and the ability to score off a drive to the basket are still valuable skills. A point guard will use his ability to score in order to augment his effectiveness as a decision maker and play maker. In addition to the traditional role of the point guard, modern teams have found new ways to utilize the position. Notably, several modern point guards have used a successful style of post play, a tactic practiced by much larger centers and forwards. Working off of the fact that the opposing point guard is in all probability an undersized player with limited strength, several modern point guards have developed games close to the basket that include being able to utilize the drop step, spin move, fade away jump shot. In recent years, the sport's shift from a fundamental style of play to a more athletic, scoring-oriented game resulted in the proliferation of so-called combo guards at the po
Larry Bird
Larry Joe Bird is an American former professional basketball player, former coach, former executive who most served as President of Basketball Operations for the Indiana Pacers in the National Basketball Association. Nicknamed "The Hick from French Lick," Bird has been described as one of the greatest basketball players and greatest shooters of all time. Drafted into the NBA by the Boston Celtics with the sixth overall pick in the 1978 NBA draft, Bird started at small forward and power forward for the Celtics for 13 seasons. Bird was a 12-time NBA All-Star and received the NBA Most Valuable Player Award three consecutive times, he played his entire professional career for Boston, winning three NBA championships and two NBA Finals MVP awards. Bird was a member of the gold-medal-winning 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team known as "The Dream Team", he was voted to the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1996, was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998, was inducted into the Hall of Fame again in 2010 as a member of "The Dream Team".
After retiring as a player, Bird served as head coach of the Indiana Pacers from 1997 to 2000. He was named NBA Coach of the Year for the 1997-1998 season and led the Pacers to a berth in the 2000 NBA Finals. In 2003, Bird was named President of Basketball Operations for the Pacers, holding the position until retiring in 2012, he was named NBA Executive of the Year for the 2012 season. Bird returned to the Pacers as President of Basketball Operations in 2013 and remained in that role until 2017; as of 2012, Bird is the only person in NBA history to be named Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player, NBA Finals MVP, All-Star MVP, Coach of the Year, Executive of the Year. Bird was born in West Baden Springs, Indiana, to Georgia and Claude Joseph "Joe" Bird, a veteran of the Korean War, he was raised in nearby French Lick, where his mother worked two jobs to support Larry and his five siblings. Bird has said that being poor as a child still motivates him "to this day". Georgia and Joe divorced when Larry was in high school, Joe committed suicide about a year later.
Larry used basketball as an escape from his family troubles, starring for Springs Valley High School and averaging 31 points, 21 rebounds, 4 assists as a senior on his way to becoming the school's all-time scoring leader. Bird received a scholarship to play college basketball for the Indiana University Hoosiers in 1974. After less than a month on campus he dropped out of school, finding the adjustment between his small hometown and the large student population of Bloomington to be overwhelming, he returned to French Lick, enrolling at Northwood Institute in nearby West Baden, working municipal jobs for a year before enrolling at Indiana State University in Terre Haute in 1975. He had a successful three-year career with the Sycamores, helping them reach the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history with a 33-0 record where they played the 1979 championship game against Michigan State. Indiana State lost the game 75 -- 64, with Bird scoring 19 points; the game achieved the highest television rating for a college basketball game, in large part because of the matchup between Bird and Spartans' point guard Earvin "Magic" Johnson, a rivalry that lasted throughout their professional careers.
Despite failing to win the championship, Bird earned numerous year-end awards and honors for his outstanding play, including the Naismith College Player of the Year Award. For his college career, he averaged 30.3 points, 13.3 rebounds, 4.6 assists per game, leading the Sycamores to an 81–13 record during his tenure. Bird appeared in one game for the baseball team, going 1-for-2 with 2 RBI. Bird was selected by the Boston Celtics with the sixth overall pick in the 1978 NBA draft, he did not sign with the Celtics immediately. Red Auerbach publicly stated that he would not pay Bird more than any Celtic on the current roster, but Bird's agent bluntly told Red that Bird would reject any sub-market offers and enter the 1979 NBA Draft instead, where Boston's rights would expire the second the draft began and Bird would have been the top pick. After protracted negotiations, Bird inked a five-year, $3.25 million contract with the team, making him the highest paid rookie in league history at the time.
Shortly afterwards, NBA draft eligibility rules were changed to prevent teams from drafting players before they were ready to sign, a rule known as the Bird Collegiate Rule. In his rookie season, Bird transformed the Celtics into a title contender; the team improved its win total by 32 games from the year before he was drafted and finished first in the Eastern Conference. With averages of 21.3 points, 10.4 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 1.7 steals per game for the season, he was selected to the All-Star Team and named Rookie of the Year. In the Conference Finals, Boston was eliminated by the Philadelphia 76ers. Before the 1980–81 season, the Celtics selected forward Kevin McHale in the draft and acquired center Robert Parish from the Golden State Warriors, forming a Hall of Fame trio for years to come. Behind Bird's leadership and Boston's upgraded roster, the Celtics again advanced to the Conference Finals for a rematch with the 76ers. Boston fell behind 3–1 to start the series but won the next three games to advance to the Finals against the Houston Rockets, winning in six games and earning Bird his first championship.
He averaged 21.9 points, 14 rebounds, 6.1 assists, 2.3
Wendy's
Wendy's is an American international fast food restaurant chain founded by Dave Thomas on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio. The company moved its headquarters to Dublin, Ohio, on January 29, 2006; as of December 31, 2018, Wendy's was the world's third largest hamburger fast food chain with 6,711 locations, following Burger King and McDonald's. On April 24, 2008, the company announced a merger with Triarc Companies Inc. a publicly traded company and the parent company of Arby's. Despite the new ownership, Wendy's headquarters remained in Dublin. Wendy's had rejected more than two buyout offers from Triarc. Following the merger, Triarc became known as Wendy's/Arby's Group, as The Wendy's Company; as of December 31, 2018, there were a total of 6,711 locations, including 353 that are company-owned. 6,358 restaurants are franchised, 92% of the system-wide restaurants are located in North America. While Wendy's sets standards for exterior store appearance, food quality, menu, individual owners have control over hours of operations, interior decor, staff uniforms, wages.
The chain is known for its square hamburgers, sea salt fries, their signature Frosty, a form of soft serve ice cream mixed with frozen starches. Wendy's menu consists of hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, French fries, beverages such as the Frosty. Since phasing out their famous "Big Classic", the company does not have a signature sandwich, such as the Burger King Whopper or the McDonald's Big Mac - although, by default, the "signature sandwich" spot seems to have been filled by Dave's 1/4 lb Single, a square-pattied burger made with fresh ground beef rather than round frozen patties. Wendy's uses square hamburger patties – which hang over the edge of a circular bun – as its signature item; the idea for Wendy's "old fashioned" hamburgers was inspired by Dave Thomas's trips to Kewpee Hamburgers in his home town of Kalamazoo, Michigan. The Kewpee sold square hamburgers and thick malt shakes, much like the well-known restaurant that Thomas founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1969. Square patties had corners that stuck out so that customers could see the quality of the meat.
The Columbus location added a Tim Hortons and was closed on March 2, 2007, after 38 years of business due to declining sales. Thomas named the restaurant after his fourth child Melinda Lou "Wendy" Thomas. Photographs of her were on display at the original Wendy's restaurant. In August 1972, the first Wendy's franchisee, L. S. Hartzog, signed an agreement for Indianapolis, Indiana. In 1972, Wendy's aired its first TV commercials that were only broadcast locally in Ohio; this series of commercials was titled "C'mon to Wendy's" because they stressed Wendy's superiority through the "Quality Is Our Recipe" slogan and featured an animated Wendy similar to the one from the corporate logo along with dancing hamburgers. The first Canadian restaurant opened in Hamilton, Ontario in 1976. In December 1976, Wendy's opened its 500th restaurant, located in Ontario. In March 1978, Wendy's opened its 1000th restaurant in Tennessee. Wendy's founded the fried chicken chain Sisters Chicken in 1978 and sold it to its largest franchiser in 1987.
In 1979, the first European Wendy's opened in Munich. The same year, Wendy's became the first fast-food chain to introduce the salad bar. Wendy's entered the Asian market by opening its first restaurants in Japan in 1980, in Hong Kong in 1982, in the Philippines and Singapore in 1983. In 1984, Wendy's opened its first restaurant in South Korea. In response to a 1986 slowdown in the chain's performance, Wendy's restructured its cleanliness standards and other operational details to ensure that stores met the goals and standards of the parent company so that its franchises were competitive in the market. Wendy's closed all its outlets in Singapore in the following year. From 1988 to 1990, Wendy's expanded operations globally to Mexico, New Zealand, Greece, Guatemala, as well as the U. S. Naval Base in Naples, Italy. In 1988, Wendy's expanded its bar to a full-blown buffet called the Superbar for $2.99. The Superbar had various stations: "Mexican Fiesta", the Italian "Pasta Pasta," and the "Garden Spot", salad and fruit.
The Superbar was popular but difficult to maintain and thus was discontinued in 1998. In 1989, Wendy's opened its first restaurant in Greece at Syntagma Square being the first foreign fast-food chain in the country. After opening 12 restaurants in 3 cities, the company abandoned the Greek market in 2002. In 1996, the chain expanded in Argentina by opening 18 local restaurants. However, all of them closed only four years due to the economic crisis in the country. In 1998, Wendy's pulled out of South Korea by closing all its 15 restaurants and in 2000 exited from the UK, Hong Kong. Garden Sensations salads were added in 2002. Wendy's signed a franchise agreement to re-enter the Singapore market in 2009 though that agreement was short-lived. In 2011, Wendy's returned to Japan and Argentina announcing a development agreement for 50 restaurants in the country, it entered the Russian market for the first time with plans to open 180 restaurants over a 10-year period. However, only three years in 2014, Wendy's closed all its restaurants in the country.
In 2013, Wendy's opened the first restaurant in Georgia and made a deal to open 25 restaurants in Georgia and the Republic of Azerbaijan. In September 2014, several pork based products were introduced to be on sale until early November; these included a stand
North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball
The North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball program is the intercollegiate men's basketball team of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels have won six NCAA men's college national championships. North Carolina's six NCAA Tournament Championships are third-most all-time, behind University of California, Los Angeles and University of Kentucky, they have won 18 Atlantic Coast Conference tournament titles, 32 Atlantic Coast Conference regular season titles, an Atlantic Coast Conference record 20 outright Regular Season Championships. The program has produced many notable players who went on to play in the NBA, including three of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History: Billy Cunningham, Michael Jordan and James Worthy. Many Tar Heel assistant coaches have gone on to become head coaches elsewhere. From the Tar Heels' first season in 1910–11 through the 2017–18 season, the program has amassed a.738 all-time winning percentage, winning 2,232 games and losing 792 games in 108 seasons.
The Tar Heels have the most consecutive 20-win seasons with 31 seasons from the 1970–71 season through the 2000–2001 season. On March 2, 2010, North Carolina became the second college basketball program to reach 2,000 wins in its history; the Tar Heels are ranked 3rd all time in wins trailing Kentucky by 31 games and Kansas by 16 games. The Tar Heels are one of only four Division I Men's Basketball programs to have achieved 2,000 victories. Kentucky and Duke are the other three. North Carolina has averaged more wins per season played than any other program in college basketball. Carolina has played 160 games in the NCAA tournament; the Tar Heels have appeared in the NCAA Tournament Championship Game 11 times, have been in a record 20 NCAA Tournament Final Fours. The Tar Heels have made it into the NCAA tournament 50 times, have amassed 123 victories. North Carolina won the National Invitation Tournament in 1971, appeared in two NIT Finals with six appearances in the NIT Tournament. Additionally, the team has been the number one seed in the NCAA Tournament 17 times, the latest being in 2019.
North Carolina has been ranked in the Top 25 in the AP Poll an all-time record 908 weeks, has beaten #1 ranked teams a record 14 times, has the most consecutive 20-win seasons with 31, the most consecutive top-3 ACC regular season finishes with 37. North Carolina has ended the season ranked in the Top-25 of the AP Poll 50 times and in the Top-25 of the Coaches' Poll 52 times. Further, the Tar Heels have finished the season ranked #1 in the AP Poll 5 times and ranked #1 in Coaches' Poll 6 times. In 2008, the Tar Heels received the first unanimous preseason #1 ranking in the history of either the Coaches' Poll or the AP Poll. In 2012, ESPN ranked North Carolina #1 on its list of the 50 most successful programs of the past 50 years. North Carolina played its first basketball game on January 27, 1910, beating Virginia Christian 42-21. In 1921, the school joined the Southern Conference; the 1924 Tar Heels squad went 26–0, was retroactively awarded a'national championship' by the Helms Athletic Foundation in 1943 and by the Premo-Porretta Power Poll.
Overall, the Tar Heels played 32 seasons in the Southern Conference from 1921 to 1953. During that period they won 304 games and lost 111 for a winning percentage of 73.3%. The Tar Heels won the Southern Conference regular season 9 times and the Southern Conference Tournament Championship 8 times. In 1953, North Carolina split from the Southern Conference and became a founding member of the Atlantic Coast Conference; the Tar Heels won their first NCAA Championship in 1957 under fifth year head coach Frank McGuire, who led an undefeated 32-0 squad dominated by Lennie Rosenbluth and several other transplants from the New York City area to a 54-53 triple overtime victory over Wilt Chamberlain's Kansas Jayhawks. C. D. Chesley, a Washington, D. C. television producer, piped the 1957 championship game in Kansas City to a hastily created network of five stations across North Carolina—the ancestor to the current syndicated ACC football and basketball package from Raycom Sports—which helped prove pivotal in basketball becoming a craze in the state.
The title game was the only triple overtime final game in championship history, which followed a triple overtime North Carolina defeat of Michigan State 74-70 the previous night. In 1960, the Tar Heels were placed on NCAA probation for "improper recruiting entertainment" of basketball prospects; as a result, they were barred from the 1961 NCAA tournament and withdrew from the 1961 ACC Tournament. Following the season, Chancellor William Aycock forced McGuire to resign; as a replacement, Aycock selected one of Kansas alumnus Dean Smith. Smith's early teams were not nearly as successful, his first team went only 8–9–as it turned out, the last losing season UNC would suffer for 41 years. His first five teams never won more than 16 games; this grated on a fan base used to winning. However, Smith would go on to take the Tar Heels to a reign of national dominance; when he retired in 1997, Smith's 879 wins were the most for any NCAA Division I men's basketball coach, his 77.61% winning percentage ninth best.
During his tenure, North Carolina won or shared 17 ACC regular season titles and won 13 ACC Tournaments. They went to the NCAA tournament 27 times–including 23 in a row from 1975 to 1997–appeared in 11 Final Fours, won NCAA national tournament titles in 1982 and 1993, they won the NIT in 1971. The 1982 National Championship team was led by James Worthy, Sam Perkins, a young Michael J
