Reggie Miller and his sweet three-point shooting are going to be enshrined.
Monday, the former Indiana Pacer great was named to the 2012 basketball Hall of Fame, a year after getting turned away from voters.
Miller will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., in September. He was at home when he received the call that he would be joining a club that featured the best players, coaches and pioneers in the game. The first person he called was his sister Cheryl, who was inducted in 1995.
“I can still hear her screaming in my ear,” Miller said. “She was a role model. She is a role model. She set the bar high for the family, and I’m just glad I’m on her coat-tails, dragging me along to the Hall of Fame.”
Miller changed basketball in Indiana when the Pacers drafted him in 1987. Before he came, it was all about college basketball in Bloomington.
After a standout career at UCLA, Miller became one of the best perimeter shooters in the history of the game. He was part of the 1996 gold medal-winning Olympic team and played more games with the Pacers (18 seasons) than any player except John Stockton and Karl Malone for the Utah Jazz.
With him, Miller brought excitement, a winning tradition and an unforgettable love/hate relationship with the New York Knicks.
The night at Madison Square Garden that Miller scored an improbable eight points in 8.9 seconds, almost single-handedly winning Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, is chronicled in the Peabody Award-winning documentary, “Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. the New York Knicks.” And who could forget the famous choking gesture at filmmaker Spike Lee.
Don Nelson, Ralph Sampson, Jamaal Wilkes and another former Pacer, Mel Daniels, will join him in the Hall of Fame.
“It’s a humbling experience,” Miller said. “To be a part of this exclusive club is pretty special. It’s a proud day for me.”
Miller retired from the Pacers in 2005 and was the league’s all-time leader in three-pointers made until Boston’s Ray Allen broke the record last season. He is also the Pacers all-time leader in 13 categories including points (25,279) and steals (1,505).
“We’re very happy as an organization to have one of our own make the Hall of Fame,” team President Larry Bird said in a statement. “Reggie’s career speaks for itself, but he ranks at the top with any player at making end-of-game shots. I was fortunate enough to see it firsthand as a coach, and his ability and leadership helped drive this franchise to another level.”
Information from the Associated Press was used in this story.
