Landon Buford
On Saturday morning, ESPN’s Marc J. Spears reported that former Detriot Pistons Center Ben Wallace would be part of the 2021 Hall of Fame Class.
Wallace during his career won four NBA Defensive Player of the Year awards, and won an NBA Championship in 2004 against the Los Angeles Lakers.
After the news was announced, I reached out to his former team with the Orlando Magic, Darrell Armstrong.
“Well deserved! He has worked hard to get what he has earned. Staring for 4x DPOY, multi All-Star & all the accolades, including the champion over LAL. Definitely deserves this honor. I’m so proud of him,” Armstrong told me by phone.
“I texted him this morning after seeing it on ESPN, and I’m just happy for him. He is someone that came from a division 2 black college like myself, Charles Oakley and Rick MaHorn.”
Like Armstrong stated, Wallace attended Virginia Union, which is a Division II after transferring from Cuyahoga Community College in Ohio, and went un-drafted in 1996.
Wallace’s former championship teammate Chauncey Billups posted the following message on his Instagram.
“Started from the bottom, NOW YOU HERE!! I couldn’t be more proud of my brother @fearthefro. . Very few players could completely dominate a game without scoring, but HE was one of them. I wouldn’t rather be in the foxhole or walk down a dark alley w anyone else. The HOF got it right on this one. Congrats @fearthefro.”
Wallace finished his career, averaging 5.7 points, 9.6 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game in 1088 games.
