A desperate plea on behalf of a Basketball Hall of Fame candidate who earned her induction | Opinion
The person next to you could be a voting member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, and you don’t know it.
Your mailman could be a voting member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, and you won’t know it.
Your spouse could be a voting member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, and you may not know it.
These are exaggerated, and factually possible, scenarios.
Of the four major sports hall of fames in North America — hockey, baseball, football, basketball — none is as secretive as the hoops hall in Springfield, Mass.
Unlike those who vote for the baseball, hockey and football hall of fames, the voters in basketball are anonymous. This is why a basketball hall of fame voter may be living in your own house and you won’t even know it.
On the chance that you are one of the 24 voters for the Basketball Hall of Fame, or you find out that you know one, on behalf of the great game, please either vote for, or implore the voter, to put in a candidate whose resume merits the highest distinction the sport offers.
This space has been dedicated to lobbying for former Granbury girls basketball coach Leta Andrews before, and it shall be again. Not only because it’s time, past time, but there is still time.
In an effort to try to lobby anyone on this matter, I reached out to a handful of the influential types in the hopes of persuading someone to give Andrews her due.
Basketball Hall of Famer, and once one of the most influential owners in the sport, Jerry Colangelo was nice enough to return my call and listen to my plight. Couldn’t have been more understanding, patient, and polite.
He is currently listed as the chairman of the Hall of Fame’s board of governors. Colangelo explained that the voting process is anonymous for a reason. The Hall doesn’t want candidates, or people like me, reaching out to the voter to lobby them, or worse.
Not sure if this sort of thing happens with hockey, baseball or football, but there is logic to keeping the voter anonymous for that reason.
Coach Andrews is 87, and resides in Granbury by herself. Her husband died many years ago, and while she still gets out and about, she is not getting any younger. If those fortunate enough to have a vote are going to put Andrews in the Hall of Fame, this is the year.
Please vote her in while she and her family, friends and maybe some former players can enjoy it together.
When the Hall of Fame finally inducted Dunbar boys’ basketball coach Robert Hughes, in 2017, a tough scenario was narrowly avoided. Hughes had slowed considerably by the time he made the trip for the induction ceremony to Springfield, but he was well aware of what was going around him. He knew he had made it.
Standing on the stage in his new, fitted orange Hall of Fame jacket, the pride that man flashed could be seen from Springfield to Stop Six.
Both he, his family and so many others could not only celebrate his achievement, but seeing him stand among the greats, like his idol Larry Bird, brought considerable joy because it brought so much joy to Hughes.
Not to project a potentially gloomy forecast, but there is always a tinge of sadness when a person is inducted into a Hall of Fame posthumously.
For instance, when Kobe Bryant was put into the Hall of Fame, in 2021, the celebration was muted considerably because of his death during a helicopter accident, in Jan. of 2020.
When the Pro Football Hall of Fame inducted former Cincinnati Bengals defensive back Ken Riley, the moment was bittersweet because he was gone. Riley died in 2020, when he was 72.
Whereas Bryant’s early induction was an exception because of his tragic death, Riley had been a candidate for the Hall for years.
Andrews has been a candidate for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame for years; the screening committee for the women’s candidates keeps putting her back on the ballot for a reason.
Why the voters have yet to vote her in are for reasons no one will ever know. The safest guess is that it’s because she coached girls high school basketball in Texas.
Andrews’ main challenge is to convince a voter that someone that they may have never heard of belongs with all of those names they do know.
Andrews coached girls basketball when there was barely a basketball for girls. The state of women’s and girls basketball is not where it is today without a Leta Andrews going all in to coach a game that for a great part of her career was regarded as a hassle, and some government-mandated necessity.
There were others like Andrews who made the sport available for girls, and while their contributions are invaluable only a few built a resume worthy of the Basketball Hall of Fame. Andrews coached for 52 years, and retired with 1,416 career wins. That is more wins than any other coach in the United States, on any level.
Her trophy room runneth over, she is member of the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.
The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame honors the best of the game from around the world, on all levels, male or female. Leta Andrews belongs in it.
So if you happen to have a vote, or maybe know someone who does, please vote her in.
This story was originally published February 13, 2025 at 11:00 PM.
