THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
GENEVA — Playing greats Arvydas Sabonis, Vlade Divac and Cheryl Miller are being inducted into the International Basketball Federation’s Hall of Fame.
On Friday, FIBA named 17 players, coaches and officials to be inducted next month in Turkey for their achievements at Olympic Games, world championships and developing the global game.
Double Olympic record holder Oscar Schmidt is also being enshrined. The Brazilian is the top scorer in Games history, amassing 1,093 points in a record five Olympic tournaments from 1980-96.
"The 2010 class has stardom, character and countless merits for the promotion of our game," FIBA president Bob Elphinston said in a statement. "The inductees were and still are brilliant on and off the court."
Sabonis and Divac both were stars in Europe before joining NBA teams.
Sabonis helped the Soviet Union win the 1988 Olympic gold medal and a world title, then led his native Lithuania to two Olympic bronze medals in 1992 and ’96. He moved to the U.S. aged 30, and had two spells with the Portland Trail Blazers.
Like Sabonis, Divac played at centre with all-around skills to complement his size.
Divac helped Yugoslavia win two world titles and two Olympic silvers — losing to Sabonis in ’88, and at the 1996 Atlanta Games to a United States Dream Team.
He played in the NBA from 1989-05, including twice with the Los Angeles Lakers and had his No. 21 jersey retired by the Sacramento Kings. Divac is now president of Serbia’s Olympic Committee.
Miller won 1984 Olympic gold with the U.S., a world title two years later and was the first woman to dunk in a game.
She was a two-time college champion with the University of Southern California, which she later coached.
Miller, whose brother Reggie was an NBA great with the Indiana Pacers, then became coach and GM of the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury.
She’s joined in FIBA’s 2010 Hall class by Lithuania-born Natalia Zassoulskaya who helped the Russian federation team win the women’s gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
Other players to be inducted are Italy’s four-time Olympian Dino Meneghin, and Serbian Dragan Kicanovic, a two-time European player of the year who won gold at the 1980 Olympics with Yugoslavia.
The enshrinement ceremonies Sept. 12 in Istanbul include a presentation on court at the final of the men’s world championship which starts next week.
