Nine months later than first planned, former Houston Rockets head coach Rudy Tomjanovich will finally have his enshrinement ceremony for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in May 2021.
The ceremony for the 2020 class, which includes Tomjanovich, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, and Kevin Garnett, was indefinitely postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was originally scheduled for August 2020.
The event will now be held on May 13-15, 2021, at the Mohegan Sun entertainment complex in Connecticut. The Hall of Fame’s press release says this complex can operate as a “near bubble,” which indicates their intent to move forward with these dates without further delays.
The May 2021 ceremony will be exclusive to the delayed 2020 class, and it will not be merged with the separate 2021 Hall of Fame class.
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Reschedules Class of 2020 Enshrinement to May 2021 at @MoheganSun. #20HoopClass
📰: https://t.co/DoQBXLhAME pic.twitter.com/nrewdmOmFK
— Basketball HOF (@Hoophall) August 14, 2020
In his 11-plus seasons as head coach in Houston, Tomjanovich led the Rockets to a 503-397 (.559) regular-season record and a 51-39 (.567) mark in the NBA playoffs, headlined by two championships in 1994 and 1995. He is by far the winningest coach in franchise history.
Besides his coaching allocades, Tomjanovich was also a dynamic player — with averages of 17.4 points and 8.1 rebounds in 33.5 minutes per game. He was a five-time All-Star at power forward over 11 NBA seasons.
When ‘Rudy T’ is inducted, he has enlisted Rockets legends Calvin Murphy and Hakeem Olajuwon to formally present him at the ceremony.
