Zigeunerzelt » years with the

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Rick Pitino remembers the training meals at the pizza place where his Boston University teams ate more than 30 years ago. Even Hall of Famers have to start somewhere. That obscure beginning provided a foundation for a coaching career that took him to two NBA teams and three other colleges, all reaching the Final Four and two winning NCAA championships. "Coaches dont get in the Hall of Fame," Pitino said Sunday at his induction. "Players put them in the Hall of Fame and Ive had a great journey along the way." It started for him as a head coach in 1978 just 90 miles east of Springfield Symphony Hall, where the ceremony was held for him and 11 other honorees. He had to "learn the trade from the bottom" at Boston University, Pitino said. There were those "training meals," he said, and the time when champagne was served at Midnight Madness. "Nine drunks showed up," he said, "and no one else." He spent five years with the Terriers, then two as an assistant with the New York Knicks before spending the next two as head coach at Providence, leading the Friars to a surprising berth in the Final Four. He kept moving -- two years as head coach with the Knicks, eight with Kentucky, four with the Boston Celtics and the past 12 with Louisville. Just five months ago, he led the Cardinals to the championship. "At BU, you learn how to build the right way. At Providence, I learned how to dream. I always thought anything is possible after coaching that team," Pitino said during his 20-minute speech, the last of the day. "At Kentucky, I learned all about pressure every single day. It was unbelievable pressure and it was very difficult and that pressure brought out the best in everybody." Two former college coaches were inducted as part of the second straight 12-member class, the largest in the Halls history -- Jerry Tarkanian, 83, who led UNLV to the 1990 NCAA championship, and Guy Lewis, 91, who took Houston to five Final Fours. Tarkanian, who had heart surgery less than two months ago, came on stage with a walker. Lewis was in a wheelchair. Both smiled as they received standing ovations. Also inducted Sunday into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame were Gary Payton, the only NBA player with 20,000 points, 8,000 assists, 5,000 rebounds and 2,000 steals; Bernard King, who averaged 22.5 points in 15 NBA seasons with five teams; North Carolina womens coach Sylvia Hatchell; five-time WNBA All-Star Dawn Staley; former Knicks guard Richie Guerin; former NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik; and Oscar Schmidt, who played in five Olympics for Brazil. E.B. Henderson, who learned basketball at Harvard in 1904 then introduced it to African-American students in Washington, D.C., and four-time ABA All-Star Roger Brown of the Indiana Pacers were enshrined posthumously. Henderson "laid the foundation" for the progress of African-Americans "from exclusion to domination" of basketball, Nikki Graves Henderson, wife of Hendersons grandson, said in a recorded message. Payton was known for his defensive prowess, aggressiveness and trash-talking. "I played hard because I wanted to win every time," he said of his 17-year career, nearly 13 of them with the Seattle SuperSonics. "It was all for my crazy love for the game." For King, playing basketball as a kid involved sometimes clearing snow from a playground court in Brooklyn. "I fell in love with basketball the first time I made a basket," he said. Ten days before his 61st birthday, Pitino stood on stage with Hubie Brown, head coach of the Knicks when he was an assistant, and Dick Vitale, the pair he chose to present him for induction. Pitino never came close in the pros to the success he had in college. He had losing records in five of his six NBA seasons. After a loss to Toronto on March 1, 2000, an agitated Pitino urged people to focus on the future, saying, "Larry Bird is not walking through that door, fans. Kevin McHale is not walking through that door, and Robert Parish is not walking through that door. And if you expect them to walk through that door, theyre going to be grey and old." On Sunday, while Pitino posed for photos before the ceremony, a blonde-haired Bird showed up. "He finally walks through the door, and I said, What took you so long to walk through that door? And he said to me, You dont want me now," Pitino said, grinning. Bird had his turn on stage as the presenter of Schmidt, a prolific scorer who said he chose not to play in the NBA because that would have barred him from playing for his national team. "Its too easy to have Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant as an idol, a guy (who) flies around and does whatever he wants. Its easy," Schmidt said. "My guy doesnt run, doesnt jump and played the best of everybody else." Bird was enshrined in 1998. On Sunday, he was joined by 12 others. "There is nothing better than this," Schmidt said. Cheap Nike Air Max Wholesale .35 million, avoiding arbitration. Davis led the majors last season with 53 home runs and 138 RBIs, both career highs. He earned $3. Cheap Air Max On Sale . The Raptors have to get through the pesky New York Knicks Wednesday at Madison Square Garden and can lock up the third spot in the Eastern Conference with a win or a Chicago loss in Charlotte. http://www.cheapairmaxshop.com/ . Long snapper Patrick Mannelly announced Friday that he is retiring after a 16-year-career with the Bears, a span in which he played in a team record 245 games and snapped the ball 2,282 times. Buy Air Max .35 million, avoiding arbitration. Davis led the majors last season with 53 home runs and 138 RBIs, both career highs. He earned $3. Cheap Air Max Shop . -- The road to the Masters got off to a bumpy start Sunday for Tiger Woods when he withdrew from the Honda Classic with what he said was a lower back injury.INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- Lleyton Hewitt scratched out a 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-3 victory over fellow Australian Matthew Ebden on Thursday night in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open to move within one of becoming the third active ATP Tour player to win 600 matches. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are the only active players to reach the milestone. The 33-year-old Hewitt will face 17th-seeded Kevin Anderson in the second round. "Ive always been pretty successful," said Hewitt, who won his 29th career title this year by beating Federer in the final at Brisbane, Australia. Hewitt won the 29th title of his career by beating Federer in the final at Brisbane, Australia, this year and said what has been most important to him in his 15-plus years on the toour is "that never-say-die attitude; hang in there and fight for every point.dddddddddddd" He did that against Ebden, shaking off the loss of a 5-1 lead in the first set to win the final five points of a tiebreaker, after Ebden slipped and fell pursuing a ball, and finally holding serve to close the match after being up 5-1 in the final set. In other matches, 35-year-old Michael Russell beat Donald Young for the fourth time in a row and fifth in six tries, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, and Tim Smyczek topped Jack Sock 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 in another battle of American men. In womens play, Aleksandra Wozniak of Blainville, Que., routed Polands Urszula Radwanska 6-2, 6-0, and Croatias Ajla Tomljanovic topped Spains Lourdes Dominguez Lino 6-4, 7-6 (2). Authentic Nike Tampa Bay Buccaneers Jerseys Cheap Authentic Nike Tennessee Titans Jerseys Cheap Authentic Nike Washington Redskins Jerseys Cheap Authentic Nike Arizona Cardinals Jerseys Cheap Authentic Nike Denver Broncos Jerseys Cheap Authentic Nike Green Bay Packers Jerseys Cheap Authentic Nike Los Angeles Chargers Jerseys Cheap Authentic Nike New England Patriots Jerseys Cheap Authentic Nike Oakland Raiders Jerseys Cheap Authentic Nike Seattle Seahawks Jerseys Cheap Authentic Nike Carolina Panthers Jerseys Cheap Authentic Nike Cleveland Browns Jerseys Cheap Cheap Throwback Baseball Arizona Diamondbacks Jerseys Cheap Throwback Baseball Atlanta Braves Jerseys Cheap Throwback Baseball Baltimore Orioles Jerseys Cheap Throwback Baseball Boston Red Sox Jerseys Cheap Throwback Baseball Chicago Cubs Jerseys Cheap Throwback Baseball Chicago White Sox Jerseys Cheap Throwback Baseball Cincinnati Reds Jerseys Cheap Throwback Baseball Cleveland Indians Jerseys ' ' '