SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Former UCLA men’s basketball standouts Reggie Miller, Jamaal Wilkes and the late Don Barksdale were inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball of Fame on Friday evening.
Barksdale, Miller and Wilkes pushed UCLA’s representation in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to 12 people. The trio joins Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Lew Alcindor at UCLA), Denny Crum, Gail Goodrich and Bill Walton as the only seven UCLA men’s basketball players to earn induction.
UCLA’s other representatives in the Hall of Fame include former men’s basketball head coaches John R. Wooden and Larry Brown and former women’s basketball stars Denise Curry, Ann Meyers Drysdale and Billie Moore.
Miller, Wilkes and Barksdale will have their UCLA jersey numbers retired in special ceremonies during the 2012-13 men’s basketball season. Wilkes’ No. 52 jersey will be retired at halftime when UCLA hosts Oregon State on Jan. 17, 2013. Miller’s No. 31 jersey will be retired when the Bruins host USC on Jan. 30, 2013. The jersey retirement ceremony for Barksdale (No. 11) will take place Feb. 7, 2013, when UCLA faces Washington.
Miller was a four-year standout at UCLA (1984-87) before enjoying an 18-year NBA career with the Indiana Pacers (1987-2005). When he retired from the NBA in 2005, Miller held the record for most career three-point field goals, a mark which has since been eclipsed by Ray Allen.
Wilkes starred for the Bruins for three seasons (1972-74), helping lead UCLA to NCAA championships during his sophomore (1972) and junior (1973) seasons under head coach John Wooden. He won four NBA titles, including one with the Golden State Warriors (1975) and three with the Los Angeles Lakers (1980, 1982, 1985).
A legendary African-American sports pioneer, Barksdale was one of UCLA’s early superstar basketball players who has been aptly described as the “Jackie Robinson” of basketball. He was the first African-American to earn All-America honors at UCLA (1947), the first to capture an Olympic basketball gold medal (1948), one of the first to break the NBA’s color barrier (1951) and the first to play in an NBA All-Star Game.
