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For a long time, basketball has been one of America’s most brilliant sports to watch. Different teams and players have constantly tried to make their mark on NBA history, but only a few have achieved such a feat.
One of the greatest recognitions in national basketball is becoming a ‘Hall of Famer’, which essentially solidifies a talented player’s status as one of the best to ever touch a basketball in the league. In this article, we’ll dive into multiple interesting facts surrounding the NBA Hall of Fame history, including its foundation, who the first inducted players were and how the voting process works.
The NBA’s Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame was first established in 1959 in Springfield, Massachusetts. Named after James Naismith, a physician who practically invented the sport in Springfield, and the former athletic director of Colby College, Lee Williams created the NBA Hall of Fame museum.
Although there was no physical Hall of Fame location yet due to funding, the idea was to preserve and record the history surrounding the best basketball teams, players and coaches to ever play in the NBA. By 1968, the Hall of Fame community raised enough money to open its first museum-like facility.
Originally, the home base for the Hall of Fame was at Springfield College until it grew in massive popularity, allowing the building of an entirely new site near the Connecticut River in 1985. This would become what we refer to now as the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, a site where the best pro male and female basketball athletes would be recognized for their incredible accomplishments.
Before the 1968 museum, the first set of seven administrative inductees was announced in 1959 when the Hall of Fame concept was first created, which were all crucial to the construction of the NBA. Inductees from as far back as 1959 include:
As for some of the earliest players inducted into NBA Hall of Fame history, there were only four that were announced back in 1959:
Like any other voting process, the Hall of Fame induction process for the NBA is no different. Currently, there are 24 voting members on the two Honors Committees consisting of Hall of Famers, basketball executives, analysts, experts and media members. To be accepted into the Hall of Fame, you must first be a player, coach, referee or contributor who significantly impacts the NBA.
There are two screening committees (each with 24 members) that essentially nominate their potential candidates for the annual NBA Hall of Fame review. This process is transparent and involves a heavy consideration of the inductee’s collective impact and statistics on the sport of basketball, such as having a lot of championships won coaching a team, games won as a player, or matches officiated as a referee! After this process, the Board of Trustees will review the analysis from the Honors Committee for a final say. A finalist must receive at least 75% of the cast votes to earn a spot as a forever NBA Hall of Famer.
Liam has been a major sports fan and soccer player for over a decade, with a particular focus on major top-level soccer leagues, including the EPL, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and MLS. He has written numerous promotional articles for various top sportsbooks and continues to publish historical and factual sports articles covering the NFL, MLS, NHL, MLB, EPL and more.