Saturday, June 1, 2013

Xavier's Hopkins selected for Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame

NEW ORLEANS — Bob Hopkins, who coached Xavier University of Louisiana to NAIA District 30 men's basketball championships in 1972 and 1973 and three victories in the NAIA Division I National Championship, has been selected for induction into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.
     

Hopkins will be inducted Sunday, Nov. 24 at Midland Theatre in Kansas City, Mo., as part of a three-day celebration of the sport.
     

Hopkins played for Grambling from 1952-56 and set an NCAA men's career scoring record of 3,759 points. He's still No. 2 on that list. He played four seasons in the NBA with the Syracuse Nationals (now the Philadelphia 76ers) and won more than 250 games as a men's head coach at Xavier, Alcorn State, Grambling, Maryland Eastern Shore and Southern. He also coached the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics for part of the 1977-78 season and Grambling's women in 1983-84.

Hopkins was 82-45 from 1969-74 as head coach of the Gold Rush, and his 1972-73 team — led by Donald "Slick" Watts and Bruce Seals — upset top-ranked and unbeaten Sam Houston State 67-60 in the second round of the NAIA's national tournament. Until 2012, the 1972-73 Gold Rush were the only XU team in any sport to reach the NAIA national quarterfinals. Men's tennis did it in 2012, and both the men's and women's teams accomplished that earlier this month.
     

He was inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame in 1963, the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 1978 and the Grambling Legends Hall of Fame in 2009. Hopkins is 78 years old and lives in a Seattle suburb.
      

Also inducted in November with Hopkins will be Tom McMillen, Marques Johnson, Gene Keady, Rollie Massimino, George Raveling, George Killian and the 1962-63 Loyola University Chicago men's team.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
XULAATHLETICS 

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