After many near misses, former Houston Rockets player and head coach Rudy Tomjanovich is finally poised for induction in 2020 into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
The news of Tomjanovich making the cut was first reported by Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston. The official announcement is slated for Saturday in a televised special at 11 a.m. Central on ESPN.
Now 71 years old, Tomjanovich played for the Rockets from 1970 through 1981, and was head coach from 1992 through 2003. That run included Houston’s only two NBA titles in the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons.
In his 11-plus seasons as head coach, Tomjanovich led the Rockets to a 503-397 (.559) regular-season record and a 51-39 (.567) mark in the NBA playoffs, headlined by Houston’s two championships in 1994 and 1995. He is by far the winningest coach in franchise history.
But “Rudy T,” as he’s best known in Rockets’ circles, was also a dynamic player — with averages of 17.4 points and 8.1 rebounds in 33.5 minutes per game over 11 seasons. He was a five-time All-Star at power forward.
Tomjanovich had been the only coach in history with multiple NBA titles and an Olympic gold medal who was not in the Hall of Fame. He was the only NBA head coach among this year’s finalists.
Tomjanovich was a finalist in 2017 and 2018 before not making the final group in 2019. In recent months, however, several renowned NBA coaches went out of their way to make the case for Tomjanovich’s long overdue induction — which likely raised his profile with voters.
Tomjanovich and other members of the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2020 are scheduled to be enshrined on Saturday, Aug. 29 in Springfield, Massachusetts. Players to be inducted alongside “Rudy T” will include Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, and the late Kobe Bryant.
