Reggie Miller's Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Speech

Wow I'm going to take a page from my good friend Charles Barkley and say this is awesome I will give to you guys in a minute but first I like to thank Jerry Colangelo in the Hall of Fame selection committee I don't take moments like this for granted I am so honored to be a part of this great evening with all these great players I'd also like to congratulate the 2012 class it's special for me because I'm going in with two men I grew up basically admiring so much Jamal from your days at UCLA and with the Lakers so many times in the backyard trying to emulate that shot to no success every coach and players trying to change my form and I would always tell them look it's silk so congratulations to you and thank you and we saw the video before I call on my uncle uncle Mel Daniels Mel was a second face I saw when I was drafted in 1987 and I'm here to say this without him Roger Brown slick Leonard and those great AV a place ABA Pacers they set the standard for what all Indiana pacer teams have achieved so CC good mail congratulations to you as well I'm sure you guys are wondering why these three obviously it takes a village but I've known magic excuse me I've known Charles for almost 20 years and I actually met him at Magic's first Midsummer's game at Pauley Pavilion when I was a senior and you fast-forward 10 years later we're winning gold for our country in Atlanta I really do appreciate your friendship for over the years and magic the first day I stepped onto the UCLA campus you Byron Scott Michael Cooper took me underneath your wing and you introduced me to the Breakfast Club getting up early getting our shots up running the track stadium but I will say this about magic magic taught me how to lie and cheat and let me explain for those of you and there's a lot that are in the audience if you've ever played magic in a pickup game and you are on the opposing team and the game is tied you have no shot of winning that game right right bill but as a freshman he was lying and cheating to us all the time but 25 years later buck you were teaching me win by any means necessary so thank you obviously basketball is a team game I cannot name all the teammates I've had over 25 plus years but what I can do is if any of them actually made the trek here to the hall can you please stand up so I can give you a standing ovation for those who played with me very fortunate to play under some great coaches my high school coaches here are low guard Thank You coach guard for instilling the fundamentals of the game at such a young age which has helped later on throughout my career I like to thank the late great Walt Hazzard and I know the Hazzard family was here at UCLA jalisa she missed Hazzard thank you for all those late-night talks at UCLA and the good thing about it was none of those things had to do with basketball they were all about life and you helped me to mature and become a man so thank you and coach so much for everything you have done in my career from Hall of Famer coach Jack Ramsey who taught me about physical fitness to Larry Bird who taught me about work ethic what's funny is uh you know people say you made so many shots under you know so much to rest and pressure I'll tell you what pressure is pressure is playing for Larry Bird not only playing for Larry Bird but having to go to the garden as he's coming back and win those games for Larry Bird and coach for the way for your three-year run you were undefeated as we went to the Boston Garden every time we did not lose one well I might have been heard oh you remember that one huh okay obviously game management for Rick Carlisle Larry Brown who really took myself in the Pacers to a different level I know Isaiah's here all you great coaches thank you guys so much I took something from each and every one of you the man that was the architect that surrounding me was such great talent and coaches the guy that took a gamble on me in 1987 I got to say thank you so much to Donnie Walsh when I went on my visit in 87 Donny may have said 1015 words to me so I didn't think I was coming to Indiana whatsoever but Donny thank you so much for taking a gamble on a skinny kid with big years from Riverside California I truly do appreciate it and you know when I think of Donny I've got to say thank you to Aaron tell them who was been my agent for all those 18 years you and Donny had a at times a loving and sometimes contentious relationship but it was your job to keep me in Indiana so Arne thank you so much you know playing in a small market for 18 years you really get to know your neighbor very well right now I want to say thank you to the great state of Indiana and all the fans and all the fans that made the journey here to Springfield it wasn't always pretty I remember in 1987 running out of the tunnel at Market Square Arena and they had the black curtains down there was only four or five thousand people in the stands I'm saying to myself what have I gotten myself into but we learned to trust one another obviously winning helped and the rest is here you so pacer nation blue and gold thank you guys so much we all know you can't play basketball forever so I'd like to thank this new journey I'm on with my new family and it starts with David Levy and Turner and all the great people I work with at TNT you guys allow well not allow us you allow Charles to say whatever he wants and little Steve Curren myself have to clean it up but thank you to the Turner family it's been a fantastic ride and our safe somewhat the best for last is is my family but before I get to them there's one lady that deserves probably the biggest recognition for everyone and why I'm here Cheryl you a lot of people wish that they could be in a house with the greatest of anything I just so happen to live across the hall from absolutely positively the greatest women's basketball player ever and I'm proud to say I am not on this stage if it wasn't for you Cheryl Dean we as a miller family are not held at a high level if it wasn't for you we rode your shoulders all the way here so thank you very much obviously I'd like to think we're talking about my family my mom and dad dad you made sure we had shoes gloves bats balls socks all while serving your country for 26 years in the Air Force you know what's what's interesting is when Cheryl and I played in high school normally my dad would be at Cheryl's game and my mom who was not with us today but is wrapped around all of us in those angel wings would be at my games and you guys always found time not necessarily with Cheryl in our games but all of us you made time to be there for all of us so again dad mom thank you so much for everything you've done for us Sall jr. you're the best athlete in our family but you decided to follow in dad's footsteps and become a musician and you served our country for 29 years in the Air Force darrel you were the first in the professional ranks and look Shirl and I are so grateful that you and Saul allowed us to tag along for those epic two-on-two games in the backyard thank you so much and Tammy you've had that open-door policy whenever we needed something we could call on you and Gayle D'Agostino your last name is not Miller but it should be almost 30 years now from dealing with Arn and the Pacers all the way to now dealing with Turner and our boom baby productions thank you so much for being that trusted advisor someone I could lean on and telling me like it is so thank you guys very much for my family nieces nephews godson thank you guys for always keeping us laughing it it's interesting being on this stage and on this pulpit as I call it as Reverend Jackson would say you know I like to come clean and confess some sins to a few of you Greg Anthony my compadre with NBA TV I don't know if he's here enough but I'm sure he'll get word of this I've got to say here in 1995 as you saw in the video yeah I pushed I'm sorry look the ref didn't call it I went with it like magic says by any means necessary so I apologize I've never said that publicly so great okay I shoved you and kept you down to my fierce rival in the Central Division yeah Michael I did push you too but I've seen you deal with so many other times there's so many other players I figured it was okay no it's funny a lot of people say why didn't you ever talk to Michael Jordan I was like do you want that tongue coming out at you but I know MJ will not remember this story but uh my rookie year and as you all know rookies try to go 110 percent and it was a preseason game and we were playing in some small town somewhere as most preseason games are and I'm jacked up most veterans don't want to play preseason games and Chuck person who was the Rookie of the Year the year before who was another huge trash talker we're going against Chicago and in the first half I have 10 Michael has a somewhat going through the motions chucks getting in my ear yeah talk to Michael yeah so my mouth is moving I'm John add MJ I remember Michael looking at me coming out the third or fourth quarter well Michael ended with 40 and I ended with 12 that's when I knew hey I better step up my game and let my game do the talking against to me and which makes this night so incredible and I'm only talking because I'm the last person to talk and I had the last say we've got in my opinion the three greatest players ever assembled in one room tonight in Magic Johnson Michael Jordan and Cheryl Miller this is this is truly special look I know I can't name everyone but look everyone's been with me along this journey Sam Smith who's been a big proponent thank you so much for for everything that you've done for me throughout my career I know there's a big pacer contingency here David Benner David Craig who was a longtime trainer hard in the paint my crew look thank you guys so much this is truly an honor to just be a part and witness all these great athletes thank you very much and God bless you you

Channel: OfficialHoophall

Views: 1,442,404

Keywords: Reggie Miller, Speech, Basketball Hall of Fame, Enshrinement, Basketball, History

Id: Xo5S7xJm594

Length: 15min 39sec (939 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 09 2012