Cathy Rush elected to Basketball Hall of Fame

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - She was a pioneer, taking a tiny school, Immaculata College, from obscurity to immortality. And now Cathy Rush, who helped bring national attention to athletic participation for women, will finally get the ultimate reward, acceptance into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Rush felt that perhaps the time had passed for recognition as the head coach of Immaculata's pioneering women's basketball champs.

But after five "sorry" calls from Hall officials in previous years, the sixth - and best - call came last week, making Rush the first representative of the Mighty Macs' three Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) championship seasons of 1972, 1973 and 1974 to reach the pinnacle of basketball.

Her election was announced yesterday at the site of the NCAA Men's Final Four.

"I was so excited," she said after being introduced as part of the seven-person Hall of Fame Class of 2008 yesterday on her 61st birthday. "I tend to be a pretty mild-mannered person, but I did cry. It choked me up.

"More importantly, all of the players at Immaculata, they need the recognition because they accomplished so much with so little, and they deserve this, too."

She was voted in along with former NBA greats Adrian Dantley, Patrick Ewing and Hakeem Olajuwon, five-time NBA championship coach Pat Riley, Detroit Pistons owner William Davidson, and ESPN announcer Dick Vitale.

To be elected, a finalist needs 18 of 24 votes from the Hall of Fame's honors committee.

Rush was first nominated for the Hall of Fame in 2000, then nominated again in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005.

Rush discussed this during the inductees' on-stage interview yesterday with master of ceremonies Jim Nantz. She said she told John Doleva, president and CEO of the Hall of Fame, "I lost more nominations for the Hall of Fame than I lost games."

"I had reached a point that I didn't think this would happen," she said later. "I really thought that Theresa [Grentz] or Marianne [Stanley] or one of my players would get inducted and represent Immaculata, and that would have been fine, too.

"The first year, I was very disappointed. In succeeding years, I was less and less disappointed because my anticipation was less and less all the time as well. But it's much more exciting than I ever thought it would be."

Rush, a graduate of Oakcrest High School and West Chester University who now lives in Sarasota, Fla., compiled a record of 149-15 in her seven seasons at Immaculata, making the AIAW Final Four in her last six years (1972-77).

In those days, however, the Mighty Macs did everything on a shoestring budget. Rush said she could take only eight of the 11 players on her roster to Illinois for the 1972 championship tournament, where the team had to play four games in a 48-hour period.

They had just one uniform, a blue tunic, so if the other team wore blue, "We asked them to wear white because we only had one color," she said.

The women who played for Rush were delighted to hear the good news.

"It's nice because you never expect it," said Judy Martelli, who was present at the announcement. Martelli, the wife of St. Joseph's men's coach Phil, was Judy Marra back then. "You just played basketball and went to school because that's what your life was. You never expected any of this to happen. It's kind of like icing on the cake."

"I'm thrilled," said Stanley, now a Rutgers assistant, speaking from Tampa, site of the Women's Final Four. "I'm just happy that the Hall finally recognized somebody of her stature. As a former player of hers, I feel very fortunate to have played under her, and she has been instrumental in a lot of the success I've been able to enjoy."

Connecticut women's coach Geno Auriemma, also a member of the Hall of Fame, said he was "absolutely elated" when he heard the news.

"When you think about it, the start of women's basketball as we know it and the early successes, no one is more synonymous with all of them than Cathy Rush," he said.

Auriemma used to work camps in the Poconos with Rush. It was there and in other venues that she had a chance to rub elbows with some of the Philadelphia area's great basketball minds, including Herb Magee, Jim Lynam and Paul Westhead, and set her coaching style and philosophy.

"My first job in coaching was at a junior high school," she said. "But I really didn't know a whole lot. As I approached the job at Immaculata, all of a sudden I've got all this input from these coaches. Herb Magee has a fabulous basketball mind. He would give me an offense and talk about what we're doing."

"I spoke at her camp," a thrilled Magee said yesterday. "She was about six months pregnant, and we're out playing golf in the rain. We play this course, the ladies' tees were like 100 yards up every hole. We got back to camp and people said: 'How'd you do?' Not real good; she killed me."

An independent film about the Mighty Macs' first championship in 1972, Our Lady of Victory, is in postproduction and without a release date.

Rush is divorced from Ed Rush, a retired NBA referee. They have two children, Eddie and Michael.

The induction ceremonies will take place Sept. 4 and 5 at the Hall's home in Springfield, Mass.

Grentz, now assistant to the president at Immaculata, said she can't wait. "I'm ecstatic," she said. "My teammates and I are in Tampa celebrating. I couldn't be happier for her."