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Jacksonville, FL Every sports Hall of Fame likely has some members whose credentials for inclusion are borderline. It often happens with players who were fortunate to be part of all-time great teams. Were the four-time Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970s so omnipotent that nine of them belong in the Pro Football Hall of Fame? Did the dynastic Boston Celtics under coach Red Auerbach deserve to have almost every starter and a sixth man, Frank Ramsey, inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame? Maybe so, but there's no question that certain Hall of Famers gain entry by riding the coattails of dominant teammates. But what about those superb players who suffer the misfortune of spending much of their career with a mediocre supporting cast? Should their candidacy be diminished by lack of championship rings or prime years on their sport's center stage? Those are fair questions when the basketball résumé of 7-foot-2 giant Artis Gilmore is held up to the light. Why Gilmore is still not enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame (his No. 53 jersey is there on display) nearly two decades after his retirement is a great mystery to those who played with and against him.  Gilmore dominated the college basketball landscape as only one of nine in history to average 20 points and 20 rebounds for his entire career. "Not only did I play with Artis for four years, but I saw him every day in practice," said Dan Issel, Gilmore's teammate with the ABA Kentucky Colonels from 1971-75. "He's the strongest physical player I've ever played against, an outstanding defensive player. "If you look at his whole game at both ends of the floor and look at the success he had when he was on good teams, I don't know how you keep him out of the Hall of Fame." Issel and Gilmore traveled similar career paths. Issel was a 1970 first-team, All-American and a terrific scorer at Kentucky. Gilmore was the consensus 1971 National Player of the Year at Jacksonville University, leading a previously unknown program to the NCAA championship game in 1970 before falling 81-69 to John Wooden's UCLA dynasty. During a combined 15 seasons in the ABA and NBA, including a decade with the Denver Nuggets, the 6-9 Issel scored 27,482 points and had 11,133 rebounds. Gilmore's 17-year pro career, with NBA stops in Chicago, San Antonio and a final half-season in Boston, produced 24,941 points (# 18 all time) and 16,330 rebounds (# 5 all time) So what's the biggest difference between Issel and Gilmore, whose only championship rings came with the 1975 Colonels? Issel made the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993, his second year of eligibility; and Gilmore is still waiting for his Hall pass. Comparing Gilmore's numbers to several Hall of Famer big men from around his era - be it Bob Lanier, Nate Thurmond, Willis Reed or Bill Walton - reveals no major statistical gap. In fact, the man known as the A Train trumps all of that Fab Four in points and rebounds during their pro careers. And if you go by what Gilmore did in two Division I seasons at Jacksonville, where he still holds the NCAA record of 22.7 rebounds per game, his case for Hall inclusion becomes as formidable as his post presence was to every opponent who had to contend with him. "It's unbelievable that [Gilmore] is not in the Hall of Fame," said George Gervin, his former teammate with the San Antonio Spurs and a Hall of Famer himself. "I'm in the Hall of Fame because I was a prolific scorer. But Artis was a prolific rebounder and shot-blocker, as well as a scorer. "You can't erase his dominance in college, the ABA or NBA. I don't know what the Hall of Fame is looking at. For him to be overlooked is a travesty. It's sad. You look at Artis' statistics and look at some of the league's great players, he's right up there. And people haven't done what he did in college." Continued...
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