Ewing, Hakeem headline 2008 Naismith Hall of Fame class
ESPN.com news services
Updated: April 7, 2008, 2:18 PM ET
SAN ANTONIO -- Coach Pat Riley, broadcaster [richard] Vitale, players Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing, plus three others have been elected to basketball's Hall of Fame.
Also among the Class of 2008 are player Adrian Dantley, Immaculata coach Cathy Rush and NBA team owner Bill Davidson.
"It's unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable," said Riley, the Heat coach who won four NBA titles with the Los Angeles Lakers, then grabbed another two years ago with Miami. He also has one championship as an assistant and another as a player.
Vitale was overcome with emotion during Monday's announcement and admitted he "cried like a baby" upon learning he was in the Hall of Fame.
"I sit here in awe," Vitale said. "I can't run, can't jump, can't shoot but just have had a tremendous -- I'd like to think -- passion about the game."
It's a passion he shares with every member of the new class, which will be inducted Sept. 5 in Springfield, Mass., home of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Olajuwon and Ewing both played in three Final Fours, with Ewing's Georgetown team beating Olajuwon's Houston squad for the 1984 national championship. Olajuwon got his revenge as a pro, leading the Houston Rockets to the first of two straight titles with a seven-game victory over Ewing's New York Knicks in the 1994 NBA finals -- a team coached by Riley.
"Growing up in Nigeria, I didn't really understand the magnitude of what it means to be in the Hall of Fame," 12-time All-Star Olajuwon said.
"I still cannot believe I'm in the same company with all these great legends."
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