'Yeeeeah!' Bernard King On Cloud Nine After Election To Basketball Hall Of Fame
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- It's been one heck of a week, and Knicks great Bernard King is feeling fantastic.
Getting tabbed as a Hall of Famer will do that to you.
"I'm doing wonderful," King told WFAN's Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton on Tuesday. "And for all the fans in New York, yeeeeeah!"
The 56-year-old Brooklyn native will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a member of the 2013 class in September. The long-overdue honor was announced Monday.
Bernard King
King was given the word last Wednesday, promising to keep it under wraps. Meanwhile, he was invited to a private dinner in Atlanta with some of the game's legendary names.
"When you're at a dinner like that, and you look across the room and opposite you is The Big O, Oscar Robertson, you look to your left, there's Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, you look further to your right and there's Elgin Baylor, and then you have Jerry Lucas -- hey, this is basketball heaven," he said.
It was King's third time as a finalist and sixth overall nomination. Carton and Knicks star Carmelo Anthony have championed the cause in recent years for King, who averaged 22.5 points and 5.8 rebounds in a career that spanned from 1977-93.
King started and ended with the Nets, though his best years — including an NBA scoring title in 1985 — came with the Knicks from 1982-1987.
He tried not to make "a big deal out of it" as he waited year after year for the Hall call.
"Things happen at the right time and when they're supposed to happen," King said. "And I'm just delighted to be amongst the greatest players that (have) ever played this game that I truly love -- and that I've loved since I was a kid."
The 56-year-old will be joined in enshrinement by fellow New York City native, Knicks legend Richie Guerin. Other members of the 12-person class of 2013 include Louisville coach Rick Pitino, former Seattle point guard Gary Payton, ABA great Roger Brown and North Carolina women's hoops coach Sylvia Hatchell.
"And for all the fans in New York, yeeeeeah!" ... Give King a "Yeeeeah" back in the comments!
