Arp native and former University of Houston coach Guy V. Lewis, the architect of the Phi Slama Jama dynasty of the 1980s, was enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Sunday in Springfield, Mass.
Lewis, 91, led the Cougars to five NCAA Final Four appearances (1967-68, 1982–84) and won 592 games. He led UH to 27 straight winning seasons and 14 seasons with 20 or more wins, including 14 trips to the NCAA Tournament.
Lewis was joined by UH royalty as Hall of Famers Elvin Hayes, Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler were in attendance for the ceremony.
Another coach Jerry Tarkanian, 83, who led UNLV to the 1990 NCAA championship, was also inducted. Tarkanian, who had heart surgery less than two months ago, came on stage with a walker. Lewis was in a wheelchair. Both smiled as they received standing ovations.
Others inducted were Louisville Rick Pitino; Gary Payton, the only NBA player with 20,000 points, 8,000 assists, 5,000 rebounds and 2,000 steals; Bernard King, who averaged 22.5 points in 15 NBA seasons with five teams; North Carolina women’s coach Sylvia Hatchell; five-time WNBA All-Star Dawn Staley; former Knicks guard Richie Guerin; former NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik; and Oscar Schmidt, who played in five Olympics for Brazil.
E.B. Henderson, who learned basketball at Harvard in 1904 then introduced it to African-American students in Washington, D.C., and four-time ABA All-Star Roger Brown of the Indiana Pacers were enshrined posthumously.