Basketball Hall of Fame.
Scottie Pippen.
Robbie DavisWho would have thought that Robbie Davis, a former Jessieville High School and University of Central Arkansas basketball player would end up at the August 13, 2010 enshrinement at Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. No, he was not there as an inductee. He was there to support fellow UCA team manager and ultimate player Scottie Pippen as he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Davis is about as local as you can get. He grew up mowing yards for Cooper in the Village. Thanks to his talent and his stepfather, Coach Sutton at Jessieville, Davis was an all star in high school playing in the infamous game pitting Jessieville against Bismark. At halftime the game was 2-1.Davis received a scholarship to play at UCA.
Another Arkansas player from the little town of Hamburg also needed a scholarship but all of them had been given out. This young man was the youngest of 12 children. He was a very scrawny 6-foot 1-inch, 140 pounds, Scottie Pippen. Pippen was given a scholarship to serve as team manager. As it turns out, Pippen was still growing. In the next two years he grew to 6-foot, 7-inches, 180 pounds with an arm span of an unheard of 7-foot, 3-inches. Pippen was pulled off the bench and the rest is history.
Jerry Reinsdorf of the Chicago Bulls had his eye on the tall UCA student and in 1987 Pippen was the NBA fifth draft pick of the Seattle Super Sonics and traded to the Bulls for the eighth round pick. Pippen became a Chicago Bull alongside Michael Jordan. Jordan and Pippen never won a championship without each other on the team. They won six NBA championships together.
Pippen never forgot his teammates back at UCA and invited them to visit fairly often Pippen was named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team eight times in a row and the All-NBA First Team three times. He was a seven time NBA All Star. In 1994 he was named NBA All Star most valuable player. Pippen became one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history in 1997. He is one of four players to have his jersey retired by the Chicago Bulls. The other three players were Jerry Sloan, Bob Love and Michael Jordan. Pippen was number 33.
During his NBA career Pippen played for the Chicago Bulls for 12 seasons, one season with the Houston Rockets and four seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers. One of his fellow teammates in Houston was Charles Barkley. He made the postseason sixteen straight times out of his 17 year career. He ranks third on the list of most postseason games played behind Robert Horry and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Pippen is the only person to have twice won both an NBA championship and an Olympic gold medal in the same year.
This year’s Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinement was Dream Theme. Other inductees included Bob Hurley, Sr., Cynthia Cooper, Dr. Jerry Buss, Karl Malone, the 1960 U.S. Men’s Olympic Team, the 1992 U.S. Men’s Olympic Team, Dennis Johnson, Gus Johnson and Maciel "Ubiratan" Pereira.
The month before the induction Pippen returned to the Chicago Bulls as an ambassador to the team.
Davis was thrilled by his invitation to the events in Springfield and came home with more than 200 pictures. He shared many of them with fellow Rotarians at the Rotary Club of Scenic 7. The club meets on Thursdays at noon at Molly O’Brien’s on Highway 7. Lunch is optional.
Davis is about as local as you can get. He grew up mowing yards for Cooper in the Village. Thanks to his talent and his stepfather, Coach Sutton at Jessieville, Davis was an all star in high school playing in the infamous game pitting Jessieville against Bismark. At halftime the game was 2-1.Davis received a scholarship to play at UCA.
Another Arkansas player from the little town of Hamburg also needed a scholarship but all of them had been given out. This young man was the youngest of 12 children. He was a very scrawny 6-foot 1-inch, 140 pounds, Scottie Pippen. Pippen was given a scholarship to serve as team manager. As it turns out, Pippen was still growing. In the next two years he grew to 6-foot, 7-inches, 180 pounds with an arm span of an unheard of 7-foot, 3-inches. Pippen was pulled off the bench and the rest is history.
Jerry Reinsdorf of the Chicago Bulls had his eye on the tall UCA student and in 1987 Pippen was the NBA fifth draft pick of the Seattle Super Sonics and traded to the Bulls for the eighth round pick. Pippen became a Chicago Bull alongside Michael Jordan. Jordan and Pippen never won a championship without each other on the team. They won six NBA championships together.
Pippen never forgot his teammates back at UCA and invited them to visit fairly often Pippen was named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team eight times in a row and the All-NBA First Team three times. He was a seven time NBA All Star. In 1994 he was named NBA All Star most valuable player. Pippen became one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history in 1997. He is one of four players to have his jersey retired by the Chicago Bulls. The other three players were Jerry Sloan, Bob Love and Michael Jordan. Pippen was number 33.
During his NBA career Pippen played for the Chicago Bulls for 12 seasons, one season with the Houston Rockets and four seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers. One of his fellow teammates in Houston was Charles Barkley. He made the postseason sixteen straight times out of his 17 year career. He ranks third on the list of most postseason games played behind Robert Horry and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Pippen is the only person to have twice won both an NBA championship and an Olympic gold medal in the same year.
This year’s Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinement was Dream Theme. Other inductees included Bob Hurley, Sr., Cynthia Cooper, Dr. Jerry Buss, Karl Malone, the 1960 U.S. Men’s Olympic Team, the 1992 U.S. Men’s Olympic Team, Dennis Johnson, Gus Johnson and Maciel "Ubiratan" Pereira.
The month before the induction Pippen returned to the Chicago Bulls as an ambassador to the team.
Davis was thrilled by his invitation to the events in Springfield and came home with more than 200 pictures. He shared many of them with fellow Rotarians at the Rotary Club of Scenic 7. The club meets on Thursdays at noon at Molly O’Brien’s on Highway 7. Lunch is optional.
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