Rick Pitino, Dawn Staley among basketball hall of fame inductees

ATLANTA - Rick Pitino got the phone call of a lifetime and an incredible text at the same time.

On Wednesday, John Doleva, the president of the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame, called seven people to tell them they would be in the class of 2013.

Pitino was one of those seven calls.

"When I got the call I was trying to call my wife over so she could hear it and I'm trying to put it on speaker phone and a text keeps beeping as I'm getting this special call," Pitino said Monday, just hours before he led Louisville over Michigan, 82-76, for the national championship. "[Then] I saw the text: 'Go Gophers. I got the job.' "

It was his son, Richard, who had just found out he had been hired to be the head coach at Minnesota.

And on Saturday, Goldencents, a horse which Rick Pitino co-owns, won the Santa Anita Derby, a major prep race for the Kentucky Derby.

It has been that kind of week for Pitino, who is among 12 overall who will join the class of 2013.

The others announced Monday at a ceremony in Atlanta were Philadelphia native and former University of Virginia star Dawn Staley; college coaches Guy Lewis of Houston, Jerry Tarkanian of UNLV, and Sylvia Hatchell of North Carolina; and former NBA stars Bernard King and Gary Payton. The inductions will take place in Springfield, Mass., on Sept. 8.

Inductees announced previously were: Edwin E.B. Henderson, a direct elect by the Early African Pioneer Committee; longtime Indiana Pacers guard Roger Brown; Oscar Schmidt of Brazil, the leading scorer in Olympic history; Richie Guerin, a star for the New York Knicks in the 1950s; and, Russ Granik, the longtime assistant commissioner of the NBA.

Maurice Cheeks, the former 76ers star player and coach, was one of the finalists but did not gain enough votes for entry.

Staley, the former women's coach at Temple now at South Carolina, was a three-time Olympic gold medalist, a five-time WNBA all-star and two-time national college player of the year with Virginia. She is the only player in women's college basketball to record 2,000 points, 700 assists and 400 steals.