Out for Justice

January 27, 2012 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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Brooklyn basketball icon Chris Mullin, who starred at Bay Ridge’s Xaverian High School and St. John’s University in Jamaica, N.Y., before embarking on a brilliant NBA career with Golden State and Indiana, was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame last year.

Fellow Brooklynite Bernard King (pictured), the greatest player ever to come out of Bay Ridge’s Fort Hamilton High School and one of the best pure scorers in the NBA from 1977-1993, is still waiting for that call to greatness.

According to Brooklyn Congressman Edolphus “Ed” Towns, this is not basketball justice.

Towns, currently seeking ways to improve education, housing and employment for his constituents, took time this week to state King’s case as a surefire Hall of Famer.

“Bernard King belongs in the Hall of Fame,” Rep. Towns stated emphatically. “There is no logical reason why he has not been inducted. He is the only player in the history of the league to have led the league in scoring but has not been voted into the Hall.”

Born and raised in Brooklyn, King averaged 32.9 points per game en route to grabbing the NBA scoring title in 1985 and ranked 16th overall in points upon his retirement from the game.

The University of Tennessee alum also was a four-time NBA All-Star and was twice voted to the All-NBA team. He finished second to Larry Bird in the vote for MVP in 1984 following one of his many spectacular seasons with the Knicks.

“There is no doubt in my mind that Bernard King belongs in the Hall of Fame,” Towns added. “The NBA Hall of Fame Committee has committed an oversight by not voting Bernard King into the Hall. I want to see this injustice corrected.”

The Hall will announce this year’s class in April, with the induction ceremony to take place in Springfield, Mass, in August.