By Mel Greenberg
PHILADELPHIA - USA Basketball President Val Ackerman has earned her own “gold medal” ahead of a projected dual triumph of the USA men’s and women’s teams she is currently overseeing at the Olympics in Beijing, China.
The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in is set to announce Ackerman on Friday as this year’s winner of the John Bunn Award that goes to a national or international figure who has contributed greatly to the sport, several sources said Thursday.
The board of trustees considers the award named for the first chairman of the Hall of Fame (1949-69) as the most prestigious honor outside of the actual inductions.
Ackerman, 48, was the founding president of the WNBA and served eight seasons before Donna Orender succeeded her on Feb. 1, 2005.
A former academic all-American women’s basketball star at Virginia, Ackerman also served as a staff attorney for the NBA and special assistant to NBA commissioner David Stern.
“Val Ackerman is a pioneer,” Stern said Thursday reacting to the impending official announcement. “She is all about basketball.
“Think about it. She was in the NBA, she was on the FIBA Central Board. She was the president of the WNBA and now she’s the first female president of USA Basketball. Nobody has done more for the sport.”
A graduate of Hopewell Valley Central High in Hopewell Township, N.J., near Trenton, Ackerman was also Virginia coach Debbie Ryan’s first athletic scholarship recipient in the late 1970s.
She was a key force in the formation of the USA Basketball Senior National Women’s Team’s year-long training and tour in 1995-1996 that led up to a gold medal at the Atlanta Games with a 60-0 record. The acclaim over the team also set the stage for pro women’s basketball in the U.S. and the current 12-year run of the WNBA.
“She is a true champion who has made an indelible mark in the world of sports and we applaud her for all her efforts,” Orender said Thursday on hearing the news of her predecessor. “Her unwavering commitment, passion and dedication to the development of women’s basketball has been a source of inspiration to millions of women and young girls all around the world.”
Ackerman is the fourth woman to receive the Bunn Award since its inception in 1973 when the initial honor went to Bunn himself. Hall of Fame Tennessee coach Pat Summitt was named in 1990, while Zelda Spoelstra, head of the NBA alumni association, received the award in 2004. Betty Jaynes, former head of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Assocation, was named in 2006.
The award will be given to Ackerman on Thursday, Sept. 4, in Springfield, Mass., at a banquet that will kick off induction activities for this year.
Former Immaculata coach Cathy Rush is one of six of the newest inductees, joined by longtime broadcaster Dick Vitale, former NBA stars Patrick Ewing, Hakeen Olajuwon, and Adrian Dantley; Miami Heat president and former coach Pat Riley, along with William Davidson, owner of the NBA Detroit Pistons and WNBA Detroit Shock.
Ackerman lives in New York with her husband Charlie and her two daughters Sally and Emily.
Last week, Ackerman was seen last week on national TV at the Olympics chatting with President Bush in the stands during the USA Basketball women’s opening win.
Her efforts behind the creation of the WNBA brought a slew of honors during her eight-year term and in the years since she stepped down. All that remains is for the U.S. to rack up another gold medal on the women’s side and reclaim one on the men’s side.
Right now both goals are on target.
-- Mel
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