Buckeyes Represented Well in Inaugural Induction Class into Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/24/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
May 24, 2006
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The inaugural induction class into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame was enshrined May 20, with 13 of the 26 individuals being former Buckeyes or having Ohio State ties. The ceremony, held at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, also honored four high school teams and five college teams, including the Buckeyes’ 1960 squad that won the national championship.
Former Buckeye Jay Burson was one of two high school players inducted and all five college players honored played at Ohio State, including Bill Hosket Sr., Bill Hosket Jr., Clark Kellogg, Cindy Noble Hauserman and Katie Smith. Among the four inductees who were college national players of the year, two were Buckeyes – Gary Bradds and Jimmy Jackson – and two of the three college coaches in the national hall of fame wore the Scarlet and Gray, including Fred Taylor and Bobby Knight. Also honored in the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame were players Jerry Lucas and John Havlicek and administrator Lynn W. St. John, all three national hall of fame members.
Burson, who would go on to score 1,756 points at Ohio State and become the school’s all-time steals leader (204), scored a state-record 2,958 points and collected 530 assists at John Glenn High School in New Concord. He was the state’s player of the year as a junior and senior and a three-time first-team All-Ohio selection. Burson averaged 33 points per game in his career and went on to earn All-Big Ten honors in 1989 and OSU team MVP honors in 1988 and 1989.
Hosket Sr., a 6-foot, 5-inch center, led Dayton Stivers High School to a record three consecutive state titles (1928-30) and went on to earn All-Big Ten honors at Ohio State in 1933, leading the Buckeyes to the league title. In the era before the NBA, Hosket Sr. played semipro basketball and later officiated at the high school and collegiate levels. He and his son, Bill Hosket Jr., both are members of the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame and still are the only father-son duo to be named first-team All-Big Ten in league history. Hosket Jr. led Dayton Belmont to the 1964 state championship and went on to receive All-Big Ten and All-America honors at Ohio State, leading the Buckeyes to the 1968 league title and to a third-place finish at the NCAA Final Four. A three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree, he and Lucas are the only Buckeyes in school history to lead the team in scoring and rebounding in three seasons. Hosket Jr. was a member of the 1968 gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic team and won a NBA championship with the 1970 New York Knicks.
An All-American and the Big Ten’s Most Valuable Player in 1982, Kellogg led the Buckeyes in scoring and rebounding as a sophomore and a junior. A member of the OSU Athletics Hall of Fame, he was the No. 1 draft pick of the Indiana Pacers and was named to the NBA All-Rookie Team. He played for the Pacers for five seasons before moving to their radio team and is now a color analyst on television for CBS Sports. Kellogg has twice been nominated for an Emmy Award as best studio analyst.
A native of Clarksburg, Ohio, Noble Hauserman won state titles in volleyball, basketball and track at Adena High School before graduating in 1977. She was a high school All-American and played basketball for one season at Ohio State before transferring to Tennessee, where she was a Wade Trophy Finalist and a Kodak All-American. Noble Hauserman won Olympic Gold Medals with the U.S. women’s basketball team in 1980 and 1984.
Smith is the first and only women’s basketball player at Ohio State to have her jersey retired. A native of Logan, Ohio, she scored a school-record 2,578 points as a Buckeye and was named All-Big Ten three times, the 1993 Big Ten Freshman of the Year and the 1996 Big Ten Player of the Year. Smith earned Academic All-Big Ten honors three times and was named the 1996 GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year. She helped the U.S. win a gold medal in the 2004 Olympics and is the all-time leading scorer in U.S. women’s professional basketball history with over 5,000 points.
A two-time All-Ohio selection at Greeneview High School in Jamestown, Bradds averaged 33 points per game as a senior. His average per game is still the Greeneview record, as is his 61-point game. At Ohio State, Bradds was named the 1964 National Player of the Year and then was a first-round draft pick by the Baltimore Bullets. He retired from pro basketball in 1971 and went on to become a teacher, coach and school administrator.
Jackson led Toledo Macomber High School to a state championship and was a three-year starter for the Buckeyes, leading them to two Big Ten titles. He was the Big Ten freshman of the year in 1990, then the Big Ten player of the year in 1991 and 1992, starting 93 consecutive games along the way. He was a two-time All-American, the 1992 National Player of the Year and has his jersey hanging from the rafters in OSU’s Value City Arena. Jackson is in his 13th year in the NBA, currently as a member of the Phoenix Suns.
The men’s basketball coach at Ohio State for 18 seasons (1959-76), Taylor led the Buckeyes to seven Big Ten titles, the 1960 national championship and national runner-up finishes in 1961 and 1962. During those three years OSU was 78-6. His teams won four regional championships and went 14-4 overall in the NCAA tournament. Taylor went 297-158 (.654) at Ohio State, his alma mater and the school for which he played baseball. He was the national coach of the year in 1961 and 1962 and was a member of the Olympic Basketball Committee from 1964-72.
Before winning three national championships as the head coach at Indiana, Knight prepped at Orrville High School and played at Ohio State under Fred Taylor. He helped the Buckeyes win the 1960 NCAA title and to the Final Four the following two seasons before entering the coaching profession, where his Army teams led the nation in defense three-consecutive years. At Indiana he was named Big Ten Coach of the Year five times and led the Hoosiers to 11 league titles and five Final Fours. Now the head coach at Texas Tech, Knight is the winningest active collegiate coach with over 800 wins.
Lucas was an All-Ohio selection at Middletown High School in 1956, 1957 and 1958 and led the Middies to two state titles and 76 consecutive wins. He was a high school All-American in 1957 and 1958 and went on to earn the same honor at Ohio State three times, during which time he led the Buckeyes to the 1960 national championship and back to the Final Four in 1961 and 1962. Lucas was named the college player of the year in 1961 and 1962 and won a gold medal with the U.S. Olympic team in 1960. Known for his over-the-shoulder hook shot, he was a seven-time NBA All-Star.
Havlicek earned All-Ohio honors at Bridgeport High School and was an All-American at Ohio State. He captained the 1962 Buckeyes to their third-consecutive Final Four appearance, which began with the 1960 national championship. A 13-time NBA All-Star with Boston, “Hondo” helped lead the Celtics to eight NBA titles and his jersey was retired immediately following his retirement in 1978. He was the first player in NBA history to score 1,000 points in 16-consecutive seasons.
St. John may be best known for his work as athletics director at Ohio State from 1915-47 that included the building of Ohio Stadium and a nationally prominent athletics program, but his 1962 induction into the National Basketball Hall of Fame came largely from his leadership on the NCAA and International rules committees. St. John, for whom the former home of the basketball Buckeyes is named, attended Monroe High School and played football for Ohio State in 1900. He coached at the College of Wooster and Ohio Wesleyan before returning to OSU. He was chairman of the NCAA rules committee from 1912-37.
