Walton, Erving Meyers Elected to Hall of Fame

Bill Walton, Julius Erving, Ann Meyers and five others have been elected to the basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., and will be inducted during ceremonies there May 10.

Also voted into the Hall of Fame were former NBA stars Walt Bellamy, Dan Issel, Dick McGuire and Calvin Murphy, and Soviet Olympic standout Ulyana Semyonova.

Both Walton and Erving, who retired from the NBA in 1987, were elected in their first year of eligibility.

Walton, a 7-foot center who helped UCLA win two NCAA championships and won two NBA titles with Portland and Boston, was the NBA’s most valuable player in 1978.

Walton, who was in New York, said he had trouble sleeping Sunday night, knowing the balloting would be announced Monday.

“This is the greatest day of my life,” he said. “This is one of those days that makes me feel taller than I actually am.”

Meyers, the first four-time women’s basketball All-American, held 12 of 13 school records when she graduated. She led UCLA to the 1978 national championship in the Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, also played on the U.S. Olympic team that won a silver medal in 1976 and was the first MVP of the Women’s Professional League.

Meyers was unavailable for comment because she was flying to New York for a Hall of Fame news conference today. Her husband, former Dodger pitcher Don Drysdale, a member of the baseball Hall of Fame, said she was stunned when she heard the news.

“She was very happy, but yet it hadn’t sunk in,” Drysdale said.

” . . . I think the thing that she was so happy about was going in with Walton and Julius. I’m just tickled to death for her. A lot of people don’t realize the kind of pioneer she was (in women’s basketball).”

John Wooden, who coached UCLA to 10 NCAA championships, said Walton and Meyers were deserving inductees.

“Strictly on the fundamentals--shooting, rebounding, inspiration and all that--I’d have to rate Walton over any of the great centers that ever played the game,” Wooden told the Associated Press.

“Annie was one who really got women’s basketball going,” he said. “She was the first four-year women’s All-American and the only woman who ever signed a professional contract with the NBA. She was a complete player and great ballhandler.”

Meyers signed with the Indiana Pacers in 1979 and went to training camp with them but did not make the regular-season roster.

Said Walton: “I’m very proud to have been elected on the first ballot,” Walton said. “With all the disappointments and frustrations of my career and the injuries and the inability to play basketball, it’s just a tremendous achievement. It’s the ultimate achievement in my career. This is the culmination of everything. I’m joining a very select group of people. Now my name will be up on the wall with all the players and coaches and contributors that I idolized and tried to emulate in growing up.”

One of the most acrobatic dunkers in basketball history, Erving, nicknamed Dr. J, spent the first five years of his pro career with the Virginia Squires and the New Jersey Nets of the old American Basketball Assn. A two-time ABA player of the year, he helped the Nets win an ABA title in 1976.

Traded to the Philadelphia 76ers in 1976, Erving was an 11-time NBA All-Star and was the league’s MVP in 1981. He led the 76ers to the 1983 NBA title.

Bellamy, who helped the U.S. win a gold medal in the 1960 Olympics, had 20,941 points and 14,241 rebounds in a 14-year NBA career with Chicago, New York, Detroit, Atlanta and New Orleans.

Issel, the first-year coach of the Denver Nuggets, averaged 22.3 points during a 15-year pro career that included five years with the Kentucky Colonels of the ABA and 10 years with the Nuggets.

McGuire, whose brother Al was inducted into the Hall of Fame last year, had 2,950 assists in his 11-year NBA career, including eight years with the New York Knicks and three years with the Detroit Pistons. He later coached the Pistons and the Knicks.

Murphy, only 5-9, scored 17,949 points during a 13-year career with the Houston Rockets. He holds the NBA record for consecutive free throws at 78.

Semyonova, a 7-foot center who led the Soviet Union women’s team to the gold medal in the 1976 Olympics, was nominated by a committee established to honor international stars.