ATLANTA, Ga. - The "Founding Fathers", a former Major League Baseball most valuable player and the man who made the skyhook into an art form, are among 12 former coaches and players to be honored at induction ceremonies for the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame on Sunday, November 18. The announcement was made Sunday, April 1, 2007, by the National Association of Basketball Coaches Foundation.

The ceremony will be held at the new College Basketball Experience (CBE) in Kansas City, Mo. The CBE, which will cover more than 40,000 square feet on two floors and will provide a fun, memorable and multi-faceted interactive experience for fans, shares a common lobby with the new Sprint Center and is the home of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.

The players to be inducted include Dick Groat, a two-time All-America basketball player at Duke University in 1951 and 1952, who went on to star in major league baseball and was the National League's most valuable player in 1962 with the Pittsburgh Pirates; three-time Tennessee State All-America Dick Barnett, who won two National Basketball Association (NBA) titles with the New York Knicks; and Notre Dame star Austin Carr, the 1971 national player of the year, who averaged 41.3 points in NCAA tournament games and holds five tournament records.

The coaches to be inducted include Missouri's Norm Stewart, who guided the Tigers for 32 seasons, including 16 NCAA tourney berths and eight regular season Big 8 championships; Guy Lewis, the University of Houston coach who led his teams to five Final Four berths and championship games in 1983 and 1984; and Charles "Lefty" Driesell, who coached four different teams to 786 wins over his 41 seasons as a head coach and led all four programs to the NCAA championship tournament.

Vic Bubas, who has been credited with pioneering the art of recruiting while head coach at Duke University, will be inducted as a contributor. Bubas also served as chairman of the NCAA men's basketball tournament committee and was the Sun Belt Conference's first commissioner, a post he held for 14 years.

Kareem Abdul Jabbar, one of basketball's most talented and recognizable figures with his trademark skyhook, will be recognized as a member of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame's founding class. The former UCLA star and two-time national player of the year helped the Bruins to three straight NCAA championships and retired from the NBA as the league's all-time leader in nine statistical categories, including points scored.

Coaches Forrest "Phog" Allen, John McLendon, Adolph Rupp and Henry Iba, the "Founding Fathers" of college basketball, will also be recognized and remembered as members of the hall's founding class.

Allen, whose efforts led to the formation of the NABC, coached for 48 seasons, including 39 at Kansas, and is the oldest coach, at 66, to win a NCAA championship. He was also instrumental in having basketball accepted as an Olympic sport.

McLendon was one of college basketball's leading ambassadors and was instrumental in integrating the game. He was the first coach to guide a team to three consecutive national championships, as his Tennessee State team won NAIA titles in 1957, 1958 and 1959.

Rupp, the "Baron of the Bluegrass", coached the University of Kentucky to five NCAA championships and won 27 Southeastern Conference titles. Rupp's 876 career victories was the benchmark for college coaches.

Iba's teams at Oklahoma A&M (State) won NCAA championships in 1945 and 1946 and he coached the United States men's Olympic team to two gold medals. An innovator in basketball, his swinging gate defense has been widely used throughout the years.

The founding class of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame includes all of the coaches, players and contributors who have been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.

In November, 2006, the inaugural class of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, all founding class members, included John Wooden, national player of the Year at Purdue and legendary coach at UCLA; former University of North Carolina coach Dean Smith, who entered the 2006-07 season as the all-time leader in career wins; Cincinnati's Oscar Robertson, generally regarded as the game greatest all-around player; consummate defender and team player Bill Russell, who led San Francisco to back-to-back NCAA championships; and Dr. James Naismith, the inventor of the great game of basketball.

2007 National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame Inductees

Vic Bubas, Contributor
As the head basketball coach at Duke University from 1959-69, he was widely credited with pioneering the art of recruiting college basketball players. Bubas took three of his Duke teams to the Final Four (1962-63, 63-64, 65-66) and won four Atlantic Coast Conference championships. A former chairman of the NCAA men's basketball tournament committee, Bubas was selected as the first commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference in 1976 and served for 14 years.

Guy Lewis, Coach
The head coach at the University of Houston for 30 seasons, Lewis led his program to 27 consecutive winning seasons and 14 seasons with at least 20 wins. Lewis' Cougars appeared in 14 NCAA tournaments, reached the Final Four five times and played in the NCAA championship game in 1983 and 1984. His career record at Houston was 592-279, a winning percentage of .680.

Norm Stewart, Coach
An All-America player at the University of Missouri, Stewart was Mizzou's head coach for 32 seasons (1967-99), after coaching for six seasons at the University of Northern Iowa. His teams won 731 games over those 38 seasons, which ranked seventh on the all-time list when Stewart retired in 1999. During his tenure at Missouri, the Tigers advanced to the NCAA tournament 16 times, won eight regular season Big 8 championships and six Big 8 tournament titles. Stewart was also instrumental in the founding of the NABC's Coaches vs. Cancer program.

Charles "Lefty" Driesell, Coach
In 41 seasons, Driesell coached four different Division I programs and all reached the NCAA championship tournament. He coached for nine seasons at Davidson, 17 at Maryland, eight at James Madison and closed out his career in his sixth season at Georgia State with an overall record of 786 wins and 394 losses. Driesell coached four teams to the Elite Eight and four to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament. Entering the 2006-07 season, he ranked eighth in career victories among Division I coaches.

Austin Carr, Player
The consensus player of the year for Notre Dame in 1971 and a unanimous first team All-America player, Carr holds the NCAA tournament career record for scoring average at 41.3 points per game. He also holds the tournament game records for points with 61, field goals with 25 and field goals attempted with 44. Carr was named to the ESPN Top 50 college players of all-time in 2005.

Dick Groat, Player
A two-time All-America a Duke and the Helms National Player of the Year in 1951, Groat was the Southern Conference Player of the Year and tournament most valuable player in 1951 and 1952. A first round draft pick of the Fort Wayne Pistons of the NBA in 1952, Groat played shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1952-62 and also played for the St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies and San Francisco Giants before retiring after the 1967 season. He was a five-time National League all-star and the National League MVP in 1962.

Dick Barnett, Player
A three-time All-America player at Tennessee State, Dick Barnett led his team to three consecutive NAIA national championships for Hall of Fame Coach John McLendon. Barnet was named championship MVP in 1958 and 1959. The top draft choice of the Syracuse National of the NBA, he later played with the Los Angeles Lakers for three seasons and played on two NBA championship teams with the New York Knicks in 1969-70 and 1972-73.

Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Player (Founding Class Recognition)
One of basketball's most talented and recognizable figures, the seven-foot-two center led UCLA to consecutive NCAA championships from 1967-69 and was the national college player of the year in 1967 and 1969. Jabbar retired from the NBA as the league's all-time leader in nine statistical categories including most points. With his trademark skyhook, Jabbar won an NBA championship with the Milwaukee Bucks in 1971 and won five championships with the Los Angeles Lakers. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995.

Founding Fathers

Henry Iba, Coach
Coached Oklahoma A&M (State) to the NCAA championship in 1945 and 1946, winning national coach of the year honors in both seasons. Iba's team won or shared the Missouri Valley Conference title 14 times and won the Big 8 Conference championship in 1965. He coached the U.S. Olympic team to two gold medals and he had 767 career wins, second all-time when he retired. An innovator in basketball, his swinging gate defense was widely used. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1969.

Adolph Rupp, Coach
Rupp coached Kentucky to NCAA championships in 1948, 1949, 1951 and 1958. The Wildcats also won the NIT championship in 1946. His Wildcats appeared in 20 NCAA championship tournaments and won 27 Southeastern Conference titles. Named national coach of the year several times, Rupp was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1968. He is the fastest coach of all-time to reach 400, 500, 600, 700 and 800 career wins. His overall won-lost record is 876-190, all at Kentucky.

Forrest "Phog" Allen, Coach
The coach responsible for founding the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), Allen coached for 48 seasons, including 39 at the University of Kansas. His teams had an overall winning record of 746-254, including a national championship a Kansas in 1952. He was the oldest coach, at 66, to win a NCAA championship. Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1959, Allen was a guiding force in having basketball accepted as an Olympic sport.

John McLendon, Coach
One of the game's leading ambassadors, McLendon learned basketball at Kansas from James Naismith. He is the first coach to lead a team to three consecutive national championships, having accomplished that feat with Tennessee State from 1957-59. McLendon was instrumental in initiating an era of integrated basketball and was the first African-American professional basketball coach with the Cleveland Pipers of the ABL in 1961. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978.

About the National Association of Basketball Coaches
Located in Kansas City, MO, the NABC was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, the legendary basketball coach at the University of Kansas. Allen, a student of James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, organized coaches into this collective group to serve as Guardians of the Game. The NABC currently claims nearly 5,000 members consisting primarily of university and college men's basketball coaches. All members of the NABC are expected to uphold the core values of being a Guardian of the Game by bringing attention to the positive aspects of the sport of basketball and the role coaches play in the academic and athletic lives of today's student-athletes. The four core values of being a Guardian of the Game are advocacy, leadership, service and education. Additional information about the NABC, its programs and membership, can be found at www.nabc.com.