THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 8, 1995 TAG: 9502080639
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar returned home Tuesday to celebrate his election to the Basketball Hall of Fame, but also to deliver a message to the children at his old New York elementary school.
``Kids should pay close attention to their academic life,'' the 47-year-old Abdul-Jabbar told reporters he would advise students at the School of St. Jude, the upper West Side school he attended 33 years ago. ``They should prepare themselves to be strong mentally.''
Abdul-Jabbar, who was known then as Lew Alcindor, eventually achieved stardom as a center at Power Memorial High School. After college at UCLA, he went on to become basketball's all-time leading scorer in the NBA.
Playing basketball never was a priority in his life, he said. He never viewed it as the solution to improving his economic and social status. Getting a college diploma was.
``That was the plan my parents and I chose for life,'' he said. ``I saw getting my degree as the key to being successful.
``I could have left college early and made several hundred thousand dollars. But I stayed, and I'm glad.''
TIMELY CALLS: Cheryl Miller read the letter from the Hall of Fame committee, telling her she'd been nominated for induction and that she would know whether she had enough votes by 7 a.m. Pacific time Monday.
When that deadline passed quietly, Miller began consoling herself by repeating, ``It's OK to have been nominated.''
At 7:15, the phone rang.
``I could kill Joe O'Brien,'' Miller joked Tuesday, referring to the Hall of Fame director who finally relayed the good news. ``It was the most agonizing 15 minutes of my life.''
Miller immediately called her parents, waking her mother.
``I told her, `You've given birth to a Hall of Famer, baby, how's that feel?' '' Miller recalled.
During a later appearance on ABC's Good Morning America, Miller talked with her brother Reggie, an all-star guard with the NBA's Indianapolis Pacers.
``He said, `You should have been in the Hall of Fame when you played - you were that good,' '' Cheryl Miller said.
Asked if he was always that supportive, Miller laughed.
``Are you kidding? When we played against each other growing up, it was always, `Cheryl, I'm going to tell dad you're holding me,' or `Cheryl, I'm telling dad you're cheating,' or `Cheryl, you can't make that shot.' ''
GOOD COMPETITION: Inductee Aleksandr Gomelsky, who coached the Soviets to the 1988 gold medal at the Seoul Olympics and compiled a 490-17 record in 29 seasons as the father of Soviet basketball, is a staunch supporter of international teams having to face NBA Dream Teams in Olympic competition.
``I liked it 3-4 years ago, although many people don't like to see the NBA in Olympics - including some U.S. college coaches,'' Gomelsky said.
``Twenty years ago when we came over to play U.S. teams, we lost all 10. Then a few years later, we won two or three. After 25 or 30 years, who knows? There is a good chance someone will beat the Dream Team for a world championship.
``All the times my boys and I watched basketball on TV, who did we watch? The NBA. We didn't watch college. To me, this system means the future of basketball is good.''
One month ago, Gomelsky's first book, ``The Bible of Basketball - 1,001 drills,'' was published in Russia. Response has been good, he said, and there are plans to translate the book for distribution in Greece, Spain and the United States.
TRAINS, PLANES AND CARS: John Kundla, who coached the Minneapolis Lakers to six professional championships from 1948-54, missed just half a game during 12 seasons in the pros. There's a famous story behind that absence.
Many years ago, Kundla's Lakers were traveling in the midwest by train during a bitter cold snap in which temperatures had plunged to about 20 below. Afraid his team wouldn't make a scheduled game in Chicago, team owner Fred Zollner sent a chartered plane to meet the Lakers in Milwaukee.
Somehow, the message regarding the change of plans never reached Kundla. He was in the dining car when the train reached Milwaukee and never saw his team leave. Later, when the conductor asked to see his ticket, Kundla handed him 12 tickets, one for each player.
``That's when the conductor said, `Hey buddy, those guys are gone,' '' Kundla recalled.
Kundla remembers arriving at the game just as the Lakers hit the locker room at halftime. The Lakers had designated player Jim Pollard as coach, and they were winning by two.
``Then I started coaching, and we wound up losing by 10,'' Kundla laughed.
He wasn't the only Laker to miss action due to bizarre circumstances.
The team played home games in a couple of Minneapolis arenas back then, and shuffled from one to the other depending on what attraction was coming to town.
``Elgin Baylor was late for a game once because he thought we were playing one place and we really were playing at the other,'' Kundla said. by CNB