April 04--Legitimate surprise accompanied Monday's announcement that Bulls Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf was among the newest class that will be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
As much credit as Reinsdorf deserves for presiding over six Bulls championships, he was not the next Jerry I expected to enter the shrine.
Jerry Krause was.
If Reinsdorf belongs in the basketball Hall of Fame, so does Krause.
Reinsdorf arguably will go down as the best owner in Chicago sports history with seven titles between the Bulls and White Sox, but I always figured Krause should beat him to the basketball hall.
Krause, the longtime Bulls general manager, dealt more directly with the day-to-day and season-to-season dynamics of the dynasty. The amount of credit Krause received always was obscured by his unpopularity among fans and many notable people he worked with, namely Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson.
Both Jerrys benefited from "some fella named Jordan," as Reinsdorf kidded during an ESPN interview Monday, but the guy who made roster decisions deserves as much credit as the one who wrote the checks. Hopefully, as early as next year at this time, Krause finally will get it.
Alas, Krause keeps waiting for the call while Reinsdorf officially received word he will join a 10-member class Sept. 9 in Springfield, Mass., for induction. The man who once famously said he would trade all six Bulls championships for one White Sox World Series trophy now will ride off into basketball immortality on the momentum of all those titles.
"It's very humbling, (and) when I first found out, I wasn't sure why," Reinsdorf told ESPN. "I'm still not sure."
Reinsdorf showed graciousness and mentioned Krause first among people he thanked. He sounded genuine recalling how he was caught off guard when Hall of Fame Chairman Jerry Colangelo called recently to welcome him to the exclusive club.
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