Jo Jo White Inducted Into Naismith Hall of Fame
Kansas Naismith Hall of Fame Inductees |
Jayhawk // Year Inducted |
Dr. James Naismith // 1959 |
Dr. F.C. “Phog” Allen // 1959 |
E.C. Quigley // 1961 |
John Bunn // 1964 |
Adolph Rupp // 1959 |
Paul Endacott // 1971 |
Arthur Lonborg // 1972 |
William C. Johnson // 1976 |
John McClendon // 1978 |
Wilt Chamberlain // 1978 |
Dean Smith // 1984 |
Ralph Miller // 1988 |
Clyde Lovellette // 1988 |
Larry Brown // 2002 |
Lynette Woodard // 2004 |
Roy Williams // 2007 |
Allen Kelley // 2010 |
Jo Jo White // 2015 |
INDIANAPOLIS – Two-time Kansas men’s basketball All-American and seven-time NBA All-Star Jo Jo White joined the best of the best among his life’s work on Monday. White was one of six individuals announced as making up the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s class of 2015.
White donned the Crimson and Blue from 1966-69 under the direction of head coach Ted Owens. An All-America selection in 1968 and 1969, White was a three-time All-Big Eight Conference honoree and KU’s Most Valuable Player for three-straight seasons. The Saint Louis native scored 1,286 career points, which still ranks 29th all-time at Kansas.
His four years at KU saw the Jayhawks win two Big Eight Championships, three Big Eight Holiday Tournaments, make two NCAA Tournament appearances and finish runner-up in the NIT. He was a member of the 1968 Gold Medal USA Olympic basketball team and played 11 seasons in the NBA.
Drafted by Boston with the ninth overall pick in 1969, White led the Celtics to NBA Championships in 1974 and 1976, where in the latter he was named NBA Finals MVP. A seven-time NBA All-Star, he averaged 18.3 points per game in his 10-year Celtics career, shooting 42.2 percent from the field and 83.3 percent from the free throw line, while he averaged 21.5 points per game in 80 playoff games.
A major impact at the collegiate and professional levels, White’s No. 10 was retired by the Celtics in 1982, one of 21 numbers that hang in the TD Garden rafters. His Kansas jersey was officially retired on Jan. 27, 2003.
The electees will be enshrined during Hall of Fame weekend, Sept. 10-11, at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. Along with White, fellow former NBA players Dikembe Mutombo and Spencer Haywood also were voted in, as was longtime referee Dick Bavetta, college and NBA coach John Calipari, and WNBA legend Lisa Leslie.
White marks the 18th Jayhawk all-time to be enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame is named in honor of the game’s inventor and KU’s first head coach, Dr. James Naismith.
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