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From Wilt Chamberlain to John Chaney, get to know Philly's Black Basketball Hall of Fame

You might not have heard of the Black Basketball Hall of Fame. Perhaps that's because it inducted its first class in late December, or perhaps because it doesn't have an actual hall to call home yet.

You might not have heard of the Black Basketball Hall of Fame. Perhaps that's because it inducted its first class in late December, or perhaps because it doesn't have an actual hall to call home yet.

But you barely have to know anything to know about the vast contributions that the city's African-American community has made to basketball here and across the country - indeed, around the world.

The inaugural Hall of Fame class includes such luminaries as Wilt Chamberlain, Guy Rodgers, Hal Lear and John Chaney. Another inductee of note was Philadelphia Tribune sportswriter Donald Hunt, whose longtime campaign to get a Wilt Chamberlain postage stamp succeeded in 2014.

ceremony was held back in December, hosted by co-founder Delgreco Wilson. He said he wanted to launch this Hall of Fame to give recognition to players in the city's history who haven't gotten it.

It's a theme that many in the Philadelphia basketball community appreciate, including Temple coach Fran Dunphy. He was in the crowd at the induction ceremony, and it meant a lot to him to be there.

"The basketball community in Philadelphia is really close, and it's small in so many different ways," he said. "There's a lot of guys in it, but it's a small family, and it was just fun to be there... We're all brothers in basketball, and that was the feeling of the day."

This new Hall of Fame has a particular emphasis on players who shined on the local high school scene, and for colleges beyond the Big 5.

"Not casting aspersions or anything, but these guys won't be recognized by the Big 5 Hall of Fame," Wilson said. "I just felt like we needed somewhere where their achievements, their excellence in basketball, can be recognized forever."

Aspersions or not, the reason why many great African-American players didn't go to Big 5 schools during the City Series' early years is no secret.

"Back in those days there just weren't as many opportunities for African-Americans, and it was wrong, it was tragic, it was not right," Dunphy said. "There were a number of people who deserved a chance to be playing at the highest level in college basketball that just weren't given that opportunity. Thankfully, that doesn't happen anymore, and people get a chance to show what they can do, and get to be college basketball players pretty much wherever they want."

Among the Hall of Famers who didn't get on the Big 5 stage was Claude Gross. He played at Ben Franklin High and has long been a close confidant of local basketball guru Sonny Hill.

Indeed it is. Gross helped Ben Franklin win the Public League title in 1952, then beat Chamberlain's Overbrook squad on Overbrook's floor.

"Some of these guys have really impeccable scrapbooks, so I've got original articles from 1951, '52, '53 describing games," Wilson said.

Dunphy told a story about his many interactions with another inductee, James "Tee" Parham. A star at Northeast High in the mid-1950s, Parham started out as Guy Rodgers' backup point guard.

"The older group talks about Tee, what a phenomenal shooter he was, a phenomenal scorer," Dunphy said. "I never got to see him play. But many nights, sitting there at the Sonny Hill league games back in the day, he would be talking the game, and it's just delightful to listen to him and hear him talk about the game and the people that he played against, and people he played with."

The famous names are atop the marquee, of course. But if you think Chaney was inducted for his legendary coaching career at Temple, well, Wilson has a surprise for you. Chaney's in there because he was the 1951 Public League MVP at Ben Franklin, and scored more than 3,000 points at Bethune-Cookman College.

"I know the whole world has recognized and honored John Chaney as a coach and a human being," Wilson said. "He's in our Hall of Fame as a player - one of the great players of Philadelphia basketball history."

Wilson met Chaney while a high school player at Darby Township. He was teammates with current Saint Joseph's assistant coach Geoff Arnold; their coach was Alonzo Lewis, another city basketball legend.

Lewis was one of the first African-American players to play at La Salle. He was a teammate of Tom Gola's on the Explorers squad that lost to Bill Russell's University of San Francisco in the 1955 NCAA title game. Lewis was inducted into the Big 5 Hall of Fame in 1980, and was in the Philadelphia Black Basketball Hall of Fame's inaugural class.

On weekend days when Darby Township's gym wasn't available, Lewis took Wilson, Arnold and the rest of the team to Cheyney State to practice there. At the time, Chaney coached Cheyney's men's team, and C. Vivian Stringer coached the women's team.

"You don't know when you're in the midst of greatness - you're only meeting these nice people," Wilson said as he recalled that time. "I would just hear these stories over and over again [about] how great a player John Chaney was. I always knew him as Coach Chaney. ... I didn't know how good of a basketball player he was."

He definitely knows now.

The initial inspiration for the Hall came at the funeral of legendary Philadelphia youth basketball coach John Hardnett in 2010, which brought together a wide swath of the city's hoops community. The real legwork to launch the Hall started about a year ago.

The Hall's other co-founders are Ray "Chink" Scott and Maurice Howard.

Scott went from West Philadelphia High to the University of Portland, then an 11-year pro career in the NBA and ABA from 1961-72. After ending his playing career, he coached the Detroit Pistons from 1972-76, including winning NBA Coach of the Year honors in '74.

Howard played at St. Joe's Prep and Maryland, and was in the NBA for one season.

There will be an actual Hall of Fame display not too long from now. Wilson is working on getting it built at the FiDonce Player Development basketball facility at 3640 G Street. It's just south of Erie Avenue, near the Tioga Market-Frankford Line station. He hopes the space will open next month.

"There's a real disconnect with our young people - they kind of think they invented this thing, or A.I. is the greatest basketball player ever," Wilson quipped. "There's just no sense of how rich our history is. ... This is going to be a living and breathing Hall of Fame."

Wilson intends to put a heavy emphasis on educating young players at the facility and across the city.

"I want to take our guys out and do presentations with elementary and middle schools and meet with AAU ballclubs," he said. "Have them speak to young people about how sports can help you develop in terms of responsibility, accountability, teamwork."

Dunphy hopes the lesson gets through.

"The players of today, the kids who have this great opportunity, owe something to these guys who set the path," he said. "They worked really hard to get opportunities for youngsters, and now, we're not perfect in our society, but we're getting better each and every year and each and every moment."

As for future Hall classes, expect them to be pretty big. Wilson said he wants to induct five players from each decade per year.

The inaugural class included 19 members, and it's no coincidence that they were all pretty old.

"What I wanted to do is honor any guys who are elderly ... while they're still here, while they can still participate," Wilson said, noting that some of the honorees are in poor health. "It really became a real passionate goal of mine to have them honored while they're still with us and able to say a few words."

And as he added with a laugh: "Let's not just jump up to Rasheed Wallace and Gene Banks. We'll get to them."

Wilson's polite request for patience hasn't stopped some people from lobbying him to get into the Hall - and Wilson isn't afraid to call them out.

"I've received at least 30 phone calls from guys who say, 'I belong on that first ballot,' " Wilson said with a hearty laugh. "I'm not ashamed to say [former Temple star] Nate Blackwell feels he should be a first-ballot Hall of Famer."

Nice try.

"Lionel Simmons was at the event that we just had [the induction ceremony in December], and Lionel hasn't said a word, not a peep," Wilson said. "I said in front of everybody, 'If Lionel Simmons is here and he's not saying he belongs on the first ballot, you all need to shut up.' If Gene Banks is not complaining, everybody else needs to shut up. Rasheed Wallace is not complaining. All of you other guys, I'll get to you when I get to you."

The way things are going, there's every reason to believe that will happen.

Inaugural Philadelphia Black Basketball Hall of Fame Class