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There are 450 members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., founded in 1959. Thirteen more will be enshrined Aug. 16-17.
Two of the newbies will be Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame members. Seimone Augustus, the Baton Rouge native and LSU great entering the LSHOF during the Class of 2024 Induction Celebration June 20-22, is joined by Alexandria’s Charles Smith, boys basketball coach at Peabody Magnet for 40 years and a 2019 LSHOF inductee.
Smith’s Peabody teams frequently play in early-season games against local teams and in some locally-hosted tournaments.
Only eight Louisiana natives – Ruston and Louisiana Tech’s Leon Barmore, Natchitoches native and Shreveport-born Joe Dumars, Rayville’s Elvin Hayes, Summerfield and Tech’s Karl Malone, Tickfaw native and Lady Techster Kim Mulkey (enshrined in Springfield as a coach), Shreveport native and Centenary grad Robert Parish, Bob Pettit of Baton Rouge and LSU, and Grambling’s Willis Reed – have previously been enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. All are in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.
Three more LSU luminaries who are not Louisiana natives, but are LSHOF inductees, Sue Gunter, Pete Maravich and Shaquille O’Neal, are also in the Naismith Basketball Hall. So is Pineland, Texas native and Lady Techster great Teresa Weatherspoon.
Having two Bayou State greats inducted in the same year has happened once before. Barmore and Parish were inducted in the Springfield Hall together in the Class of 2003.
Already this year, along with her upcoming LSHOF induction, Augustus will be enshrined April 27 in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tenn., and tonight, in the new East Baton Rouge Parish School System Hall of Fame alongside Pettit and other LSHOF members Eddie Robinson, Billy Cannon, Doug Williams and Danielle Scott.
The Basketball Hall enshrinement is unquestionably the ultimate recognition.
Also among the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame 2024 Class: Vince Carter, Chauncey Billups, retired Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan, and as contributors, Doug Collins, Herb Simon and Jerry West.
Scanning the list of previous Basketball Hall inductees are superstars like Charles Barkley, Kobe Bryant, Bill Russell, Julius Erving, Michael Jordan, Bob Cousy, Rebecca Lobo, Nancy Lieberman, Lisa Leslie, and Teresa Edwards – not to mention the game’s greatest coaches from all levels, like Red Auerbach, Pat Summitt, Tara Van Derveer, Pat Riley, Lenny Wilkins, Adolph Rupp and John Wooden.
The inductees are chosen after a multi-tiered process that culminates with finalists being considered by a 24-person Honors Committee, with at least 18 affirmative votes required for induction.
As women’s basketball has soared into mainstream sports conversation in the last couple of years, Augustus was especially gratified at her first-ballot selection announced Saturday at the men’s NCAA Final Four in Phoenix.
“It means so much, to be a trailblazer of the game to get it where it is now – the elevation of it, the visibility of it. And also, for the people I went on this journey with – it’s been a long, hard journey, but very gratifying journey now that it’s been stamped with the Hall of Fame foundation and going into the Hall in 2024,” she said. “It’s been an amazing journey and career that ended with a cherry on top.”
She played point guard/forward while starring at high school, college and professional levels and was part of three gold medal-winning Olympic teams and four WNBA title teams. Augustus was on the national scene not long after becoming a teenager, appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated for Women as a high school freshman.
LSU unveiled a statue in her honor in January 2023 for her magnificent four seasons with the Tigers as she won back-to-back national Player of the Year honors and helped her team to three Final Fours. Augustus led Baton Rouge’s Capitol High to a 138-7 record and Class 4A titles in 2001 and 2002 and a finals berth in 1999 as she scored 3,600 points, had 1,728 rebounds and 869 assists.
She was a member of the U.S. Olympic gold medal-winning teams in 2008, 2012 and 2016.
Smith’s credentials are unquestionably among the best ever among high school coaches. He has 1,208 career wins, fifth in national high school history, and his teams have won nine state championships – the latest just last month in an overtime victory over Madison Prep at the Marsh Madness LHSAA Final Four in Lake Charles. He has won 85 percent of the games he’s coached, losing only 214.
He was ESPN’s National High School Coach of the Year in 2010, when his Warhorses went 41-0. He was a head coach in the 2021 McDonald’s High School All-Star Game. He came to Peabody in 1974 as a math teacher – and remains in that role. He was an assistant coach, helping the Warhorses win the first state title in school history, before taking over the head coaching role in 1984.
Saturday, in Phoenix, his thoughts raced back home.
“It’s a thrill to be here, to represent my school, Peabody High School. I’ve been there for 50 years, teaching and coaching. I’ve had some wonderful guys to play basketball for me. This is an honor not only for me, but for all high school basketball coaches,” he said.
