(JTA) — Jerry Reinsdorf, who as owner of the Chicago Bulls has won six NBA championships, was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Reinsdorf was officially enshrined in the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, on Thursday, alongside players including Allen Iverson, Yao Ming, Sheryl Swoopes and Shaquille O’Neal, as well as others.
Led by superstar Michael Jordan, the Bulls dominated the NBA in the 1990s.
Reinsdorf also is an owner of the Chicago White Sox Major League Baseball team.
He said he became hooked on the NBA, and in particular the New York Knicks, when he entered high school in Brooklyn.
“(O)ne of the benefits of being a high school student in New York was that your student ID card got you into Madison Square Garden for 50 cents,” Reinsdorf recalled. “I was there anytime I could cobble together 50 cents plus the 10 cents for car fare.
“1949 was also the year of my bar mitzvah. A bar mitzvah is the time in his life when a Jewish boy realizes he has a better chance of owning a team than playing for one.”
His son, Michael, president of the Bulls franchise, sat next to him during the ceremony, according to the Chicago Tribune.
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