GALLERY

On May 16, at 583 Park Avenue in New York City, the NABC Foundation held its third annual Court of Honor Gala, honoring NIKE inc. Co-Founder and Chairman Phil Knight with the 2011 Court of Honor Award. Knight and his former track coach at the University of Oregon, the legendary Bill Bowerman, founded Blue Ribbon Sports on a handshake in 1964. Knight and Bowerman shared a passion for helping athletes reach their full potential and that passion, combined with a business plan hatched by Knight while earning a MBA degree from Stanford, planted the seed for what would become the world’s largest sports and fitness company. Blue Ribbon Sports grew to become Nike; the name Nike was created in 1971; the first line of Nike shoes debuted in 1972; the company officially became known as NIKE, Inc., on December 31, 1981. More than 45 years after that handshake, Nike is still growing, driven by a passion for sports and a relentless focus on innovation for athletes.
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On May 17, at The Plaza Hotel in New York, the NABC Foundation held its second annual Court of Honor Gala, honoring Former Senator Bill Bradley with the 2010 Court of Honor Award. The national player of the year for Princeton in 1965 and a key member of two NBA championship teams with the New York Knicks and a gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic team, Bradley went on to serve as a U.S. Senator from New Jersey from 1979 to 1997, was a presidential candidate in 2000, and is a managing director with Allen & Company, LLC.
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Magic Johnson of Michigan State and Indiana State's Larry Bird headed a group of eight inductees, which also included former coaches Jud Heathcote of Michigan State and Gene Bartow, who started the successful program at UAB; three-time consensus All-America Wayman Tisdale, of Oklahoma; NCAA all-time scoring leader Travis "The Machine" Grant of Kentucky State; Walter Byers, the first executive director of the NCAA; and Bill Wall, executive director of USA Basketball from 1975-92.
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The NABC Foundation held its first Court of Honor Gala in April at Chicago's Union Station. Jerry Colangelo, chairman of USA Basketball's Board of Directors for the 2009-2012 quadrennium, was honored as the recipient of the inaugural Court of Honor Award.
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