Moore Gets a Ticket to the Hall of Fame

Before John Thompson first roamed the Georgetown sideline, Billie Moore already had won a national championship, at Cal State Fullerton in 1970.

By the time Kevin McHale played his first game for the Boston Celtics, Moore already had won a second, at UCLA in 1978.

As one of the early nurturers of the women’s game--she coached the first Olympic team to a silver medal at Montreal in 1976 and later became the first women’s coach to win the national title at two schools--Moore was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame on Wednesday along with McHale, Thompson, former Cleveland Cavalier general manager Wayne Embry and the late Fred Zollner, an NBA pioneer who owned the Detroit Pistons.

“I think my initial reaction was one of being kind of stunned,” said Moore, 56, who has conducted clinics and worked as a consultant since resigning as UCLA’s coach in 1993. “It’s pretty overwhelming when I think of the people already in the Hall of Fame.”

Moore’s championships at Fullerton and UCLA came during a time when the NCAA did not yet hold championships for women--the Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women governed women’s sports until 1981--and the idea of an NBA-sponsored women’s professional league would have seemed a distant dream.

So would the hoopla that surrounded the 1996 Olympic team.

“One of the easiest ways to compare it is that we trained for five or six weeks and went off with $500 and an American Express card,” said Moore, whose team included Ann Meyers, now Ann Meyers Drysdale, and Pat Head, who has gone on to win six NCAA titles at Tennessee as Pat Summitt.

“In 1996,” Moore said, “they put together the Dream Team that trained for almost a year and I heard they spent $2 million. Even if it was only a million, it shows what has happened.”

Moore credits the marketing muscle the NBA has lent the WNBA for the growth in the popularity of women’s basketball in recent years.

But Cal State Fullerton Coach Denise Curry, a member of the Hall of Fame who played for Moore’s 1978 UCLA championship team along with Meyers, another Hall of Famer, said she is “elated” that Moore is being recognized for her contributions.

“I think one of the reasons things have exploded for girls and women lately is that she had a lot to do with it,” Curry said. “I think it’s sad a lot of people don’t understand the input she had. A lot of them have just jumped on the bandwagon lately.”

UCLA Coach Kathy Olivier, who worked as an assistant under Moore, says Moore has done as much for women’s basketball as anyone. “She did so much early on when the game didn’t get the attention,” Olivier said. “Now that the sport is getting so much attention, she’s not in it.”

Curry and Olivier praise Moore’s technical abilities--particularly when it comes to analyzing video.

“She can watch 20 seconds of videotape and dissect 50 things when I’m lucky to catch two or three,” Curry said.

Those skills have kept Moore in demand for clinics and consulting work since she left UCLA amid mild controversy in 1993. Moore resigned as the athletic department was conducting a review of her program, prompted by a complaint filed against her by the parents of a player alleging mental and verbal abuse by Moore.

Although some former players characterized Moore’s methods as too harsh, Moore says now the player issues were not the main reason she resigned.

“You know, in the ‘90s, a lot of people outside thought it was player dissension. That was maybe one one-hundredth of it,” Moore said.

“For me, it was more that emotionally it was just not what I wanted to do. I lost my father in ’89 and my mother had been diagnosed with inoperable cancer. A major factor was that UCLA was in the last year of offering ‘golden handshakes’ and I was eligible. Mostly, my battery was empty.

“I’ve had opportunities, college and pro, but the needle hasn’t budged.”

Moore and the four other new members of the Hall of Fame will be inducted Oct. 1 in Springfield, Mass.

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New Hall of Famers

The five people voted into the Basketball Hall of Fame Wednesday:

* WAYNE EMBRY: Selected for his overall contributions to the sport. In 1971, he became general manager of the Milwaukee Bucks as the first black in that NBA position. Embry also was a member of the Boston Celtics’ 1968 title team. In April, he quit as general manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

* KEVIN McHALE: The 6-foot-10 forward established himself in 12 seasons with Robert Parish and Larry Bird, forming one of the best NBA frontcourts and leading the Celtics to titles in 1981, 1984 and 1986. McHale averaged 17.9 points and 7.3 rebounds and shot 55%. He made seven All-Star teams and three All-NBA defensive teams.

* BILLIE MOORE: First women’s coach to lead two schools to national championships. She won a national title at Cal State Fullerton in 1970 and at UCLA in 1978. She went 436-196 during her 24-season coaching career and coached the first U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team to a silver medal in 1976.

* JOHN THOMPSON: First black coach to win an NCAA title. Inheriting a 3-23 Georgetown program when he was hired in 1972, Thompson guided the Hoyas to a 596-239 record over the next 27 seasons, making the NCAA tournament 14 straight times, playing in three Final Fours and beating Houston for the national championship in 1984. He sent Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo to the NBA. He also coached the 1988 U.S. Olympic men’s bronze-medal team. At 6-10, he was Celtics’ backup center for Bill Russell on 1965 and 1966 title teams.

* FRED ZOLLNER: Owned and brought the Pistons to Detroit in 1957. He is credited with many innovations, including the 24-second shot clock, wider foul lane and six-foul limit. He was one of the league’s first owners to buy a plane for his team’s road games.