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Naismith Corridor of Fame consists of Blair in 2023 class


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Texas A&M Athletics

Photograph: Tim Bradbury/Getty Photos

HOUSTON – Texas A&M ladies’s basketball legend Gary Blair was named to the 2023 Naismith Memorial Basketball Corridor of Fame Class, the group introduced Saturday.

“That is an unbelievable honor that I by no means thought was attainable,” Blair stated. “I’m grateful to the Naismith for this recognition, and I’m blessed to signify the 5 colleges that I used to be capable of coach for. When I’m enshrined in August, I shall be enshrined with the entire gamers, coaches, assist workers, directors and followers that helped me get there. That is our second, and I’m excited to have fun all the pieces we achieved.”

Blair turns into the 18th Division I ladies’s coach to enter the corridor of fame after solely two years on the poll. The ladies’s hoops icon is now a member of 10 halls of fame.

Blair holds the Thirteenth-most wins in Division I historical past, having received 852 video games all through his 37 years as a collegiate head coach. The Dallas native registered 35 profitable seasons and 30 20-win seasons. He’s considered one of 4 coaches to have taken two or extra colleges to the ultimate 4 (Arkansas, Texas A&M).

Blair is the namesake for the court docket at Reed Area. He’s considered one of solely six ladies’s basketball coaches to have ever had a Division I court docket named of their honor (Pat Summitt – Tennessee, Kay Yow – NC State, Doug Bruno – DePaul, Joe Foley – Little Rock, C. Vivian Stringer – Rutgers).

He received 444 video games, 5 convention titles and took the Aggies to 16 NCAA Tournaments in his 19 seasons main the Maroon & White.

A pioneer of the sport, Blair was an assistant coach for the Louisiana Tech ladies’s basketball workforce from 1980-85 that received two nationwide titles, together with the inaugural NCAA Ladies’s Basketball Event through the 1981-82 season.

He took the Aggies to the top of the game in 2011 when A&M defeated Notre Dame, 76-70, within the nationwide championship recreation.

Blair is considered one of 16 coaches in ladies’s basketball historical past to have a nationwide title on their resume. Through the Aggies’ NCAA championship run, Blair defeated 4 Naismith Memorial Basketball Corridor of Fame inductees (C. Vivian Stringer, Kim Mulkey, Tara VanDerveer, Muffet McGraw).

Blair’s teaching tree spans the highschool and collegiate ranks as practically 60 former gamers, assistants and assist workers members have gone on to success after their time with Blair, together with 9 present Division I head coaches (Kim Mulkey – LSU, Vic Schaefer – Texas, Mike Neighbors – Arkansas, Johnnie Harris – Auburn, Nell Fortner – Georgia Tech, A’Quonesia Franklin – Lamar, Kelly Bond-White – Southern Illinois, Sytia Messer – UCF, Vernette Skeete – Texas Southern).

Blair coached 16 Aggies whowere chosen within the WNBA Draft, and practically 30 former gamers have loved profitable skilled careers abroad.

The Class of 2023 shall be enshrined throughout festivities in Springfield, Massachusetts, on August 11-12. For extra info, please go to hoophall.com.

2023 Naismith Memorial Corridor of Fame Class

Gene Bess (Coach)

Gary Blair (Coach)

Pau Gasol (Participant)

Becky Hammon (Participant)

David Hixon (Coach)

Gene Keady (Coach)

Dirk Nowitzki (Participant)

Tony Parker (Participant)

Gregg Popovich (Coach)

Dwyane Wade (Participant)

Jim Valvano (Contributor)

1976 Ladies’s Olympic Workforce

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