Report: Naismith Hall of Fame to Postpone 2020 Enshrinement
We'll have to wait a little while longer to see Oklahoma State legend Eddie Sutton in the Naismith Hall of Fame.
According to a report Wednesday evening by ESPN reporter Jackie MacMullen, the board of governors for the Hall of Fame has decided to move the 2020 enshrinement ceremony to the spring of 2021.
The original dates of the enshrinement ceremony were set for Aug. 28-30, and even the proposed new dates of Oct. 10-12 are "just not feasible" due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, according to the chairman of the board of governors, Jerry Colangelo.
"We're definitely canceling," Colangelo told ESPN. "It's going to have to be the first quarter of next year. We'll meet in a couple of weeks and look at the options of how and when and where."
However, Colangelo said that the Hall will not be combining the 2020 and 2021 classes, which is the right thing to do.
"We won't be combining them," Colangelo said. "The class of 2020 is a very special class and deserves its own celebration."
This year's enshrinement class was certainly a historic one. Obviously, for Oklahoma State fans, it's a class that certainly eased a lot of pain as legendary coach Eddie Sutton was finally selected after being snubbed the past six years.
Sutton passed away at the age of 84, less than two months after being selected for the Hall.
He put together one of the best coaching careers in the history of college basketball as he compiled an impressive 806-328 record, with a bulk of his wins coming at his alma mater, Oklahoma State.
In fact, there are only 10 coaches throughout the history of Division I college basketball to have at least 800 wins. Sutton was the first coach to take four different teams to the NCAA tournament, as well as one of the few coaches to take two different schools to the Final Four.
During his career, Eddie Sutton was a two-time AP College Coach of the Year, 1978 and 1986, and was the NABC Coach of the Year in 1986. He was also the Southwest Conference Coach of the Year four times (1975, '77, '79 and '81), the SEC Coach of the Year in '86, the Big Eight Coach of the Year in '93 and the Big 12 Coach of the Year in '98.
Joining Sutton in the 2020 class is one of the greatest basketball players to ever play the game, Kobe Bryant, who died tragically in a helicopter crash in late January 2020, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Kim Mulkey, Tamika Catchings, Barbara Stevens and Rudy Tomjanovich.
