Last week, the Basketball Hall of Fame welcomed such luminaries as Shaquille O’Neal, Allen Iverson and Yao Ming as inductees. The lesser-known Zelmo Beaty joined their ranks in the Hall over 40 years after his final professional basketball game. A five-time NBA/ABA All-Star, 1971 ABA Playoffs MVP and former president of the ABA players’ union, Beaty was deserving of the honor finally, albeit posthumously, bestowed upon him this year.
However, Beaty is far from the only great men’s pro player who has been unfortunately neglected by the Hall of Fame for years.