Alabama prep star among candidates for Basketball Hall
The candidates for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024 include former Alabama high school star Travis Grant.
The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame announced the players, coaches and contributors eligible for consideration for the Class of 2024 on Thursday, which was the 132nd anniversary of the first playing of James Naismith’s new game in Springfield, Massachusetts. Grant is among the veteran nominees for the Class of 2024.
After starring at Barbour County Training School, Grant left Clayton to attend Kentucky State, where he led the Thorobreds to NAIA tournament championships in 1970, 1971 and 1972. He won the Chuck Taylor Award as the tournament’s most valuable player in 1971 and 1972.
Averaging 39.5 points per game in his final season at Kentucky State, Grant became the first small-college player to receive the Lapchick Trophy as the nation’s outstanding senior.
Grant scored 4,045 points for Kentucky State – 378 more than LSU’s Pete Maravich had scored at LSU to set the NCAA scoring record. Grant’s record for the most points in college basketball history stood until 1990.
The Los Angeles Lakers selected Grant 13th in the 1972 NBA Draft. He played in 33 games as the Lakers reached the NBA Finals in his rookie season.
The next season, Grant followed Lakers teammate Wilt Chamberlain to the ABA’s San Diego Conquistadors. Foot and knee injuries hampered Grant’s performance in the ABA, but in 56 games in the 1974-75 season, he averaged 25.2 points per game, which ranked fourth in the league behind George McGinnis, Julius Erving and Ron Boone, three members of the ABA All-Time Team.
Grant split the 1975-76 season between the ABA’s Kentucky Colonels and Indiana Pacers, and after a contract impasse with the Pacers the next season, the 6-foot-7 forward never played again.
Grant was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009 in the same class with Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.
The finalists for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024 will be announced on Feb. 16, and the Class of 2024 will be revealed on April 16. The Class of 2024 will be enshrined on Aug. 17 in Springfield.
Kentucky State’s Travis Grant poses with the Lapchick Trophy after receiving the award along with basketballs from the NBA and ABA on April 19, 1972, in New York.(AP Photo)
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
Travis Grant receives his medal from George Gervin after being inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame on Nov. 22, 2009, in Kansas City, Mo.(AP Photo/Ed Zurga)