Good day for the NAIA as Naismith Hall of Fame announces Class of 2019

The Kansas City-based NAIA was well represented at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announcement on Saturday at the Final Four.

The 2019 class includes the Tennessee A&I teams of 1957-59, which became the first historically black college to win a national integrated tournament and the first in NAIA or the NCAA to win three straight national championships.

The school now known as Tennessee State was coached by John McLendon, the Kansas graduate who is enshrined in the Hall of Fame as a coach and contributor, and led by future NBA players Dick Barnett and John “Rabbit” Barnhill.

Also headed to the Hall is seven-time NBA All-Star Jack Sikma, who twice was named a NAIA All-America at Illinois Wesleyan.

Tennessee State used an uptempo style on offense and defensive pressure to dominate the NAIA ranks. The program also broke down racial barriers. Before a historically black college competed in the NCAA Tournament or NIT, Tennessee State participated in the NAIA Tournament.

Sikma led his team to the NAIA Tournament at Kemper Arena three times, including in 1977 when he averaged 15 rebounds in three games.

“It turned out to be a key thing for me,” Sikma said. “The scout who turned out to be my first coach was an NAIA guy, and he was the first one who really pitched their staff about drafting me.”

That scout was Bob Hopkins, who played at Grambling and was the Seattle SuperSonics coach when the team drafted Sikma.

Other players selected to the Hall of Fame: Bobby Jones, Sidney Moncrief, Paul Westphal, Teresa Weatherspoon, Vlade Divac, Carl Braun and Chuck Cooper.

Bill Fitch enters as a coach, Al Attles as a contributor and joining Tennessee State as a program selection is Wayland Baptist University, where the women’s teams won 10 AAU national championships from 1948-82 and won 131 consecutive games in the 1950s.