Something to Blog About.....: January 2008

Basketball Archeology

We had a most delightful surprise when Phil's college basketball coach, Myron Finkbeiner and wife Gwen came to town. Myron is a most amazing and interesting person! He scouts for Oral Roberts Universtiy where his son is a basketball coach and has he founded the "Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame" www.http://sportshumanitarian.com in 1997 and since that time has recognized philanthopic athletes for what they have done to "give back" to society. The Hall of Fame is located at Smurf-Turfed football stadium at Boise State.

Shown here are 2007 inductees, Dikembo Mutombo, Edgar Martinez and Kyle Petty.

Thirty-eight sports-humanitarians have been enshrined in the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame including tennis great Arthur Ashe, major league baseball pioneer Jackie Robinson, NFL coaching legend Tom Landry, the NBA's David Robinson, and soccer
great Pelé and the Harlem Globetrotters.

2007: Kyle Petty (NASCAR), Dikembe Mutombo (Basketball), Edgar Martinez (Baseball)
2006: Steve Largent (Football), Harmon Killebrew (Baseball), Steve Smith (Basketball)
2005: Drew Bledsoe (Football), Louis Zamperini (Track & Field) , Kathy Kusner (Equestrian)
2004: Jesse Owens (Track & Field), Jackie Robinson (Baseball), Babe Didrikson-Zaharias (Golf)
2003: Steve Young (Football), Harlem Globetrotters (Basketball)
2001: Johann Koss (Speed Skating), Andrea Jaeger (Tennis), A.C. Green (Basketball)
2000: Mary Lou Retton (Gymnastics), Nate Archibald (Basketball), Kirby Puckett (Baseball)
1999: Tom Landry (Football), Wilma Rudolph (Track & Field), Tony Gwynn (Baseball)
1998: Pelé (Soccer), Jackie Joyner-Kersee (Track & Field), David Robinson (Basketball)
1997: Billy Mills (Track & Field), Kevin Johnson (Basketball), Mel Blount (Football)
1996: Bonnie Blair (Speed Skating), Kip Keino (Track & Field), Pat McCormick (Diving)
1995: Dale Murphy (Baseball), Roberto Clemente (Baseball), Julius Erving (Basketball)
1994: Chi Chi Rodriguez (Golf), Arthur Ashe (Tennis), Rafer Johnson (Track & Field)

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"Coach" as we affectionately call him, is writing a book entitled, "Vanishing Hardwoods" which highlights "ancient basketball ruins" (my term) from all around the country, and records the anecdotes along with them. He had discovered an impressive collection of gyms around our area. Today, we chauffeured them all around dicovering the old gyms. He had researched stories already written about them in the library. It was quite interesting. In one community we discovered the pictures of a team of seven players who beat Albuquerque High School in a state Championship in 1931 and 1933!