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SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame will soon welcome two of the sports game-changing stars -- one big and one small.Shaquille ONeal and Allen Iverson headline the Class of 2016 which will be enshrined Friday night. Joining them in the 10-member class will be NBA and international star Yao Ming, longtime Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, WNBA star Sheryl Swoopes, NAIA coaching legend John McLendon (posthumous), former referee Darell Garretson (posthumous), executive Jerry Reinsdorf, ABA star Zelmo Beaty (posthumous) and early African-American pioneer Cumberland Posey (posthumous).Hall of Fame chairman Jerry Colangelo, a 2004 inductee, said it might be one of the top five classes he has seen.I think its an extraordinary class, Colangelo told The Associated Press. Its true that each year we think its a great class. But some years some of them do stand out.ONeal, a four-time NBA champion and seventh on the all-time scoring list, was always must-watch television for what the 7-footer did both on and off the court. He again drew all eyes to him during Thursdays jacket ceremony for the inductees.After he slipped on his custom orange blazer, Shaq theatrically waved off Hall of Fame president and CEO John Doleva, clearing the way for the man who once called himself The Big Aristotle to strut solo across the stage as camera bulbs flashed.Then, when he was seated on the dais, Shaq sprung to his feet and relieved Doleva, who was struggling to reach the massive shoulders of the 7-foot-6 Ming. Shaq grabbed the jacket and gleefully assumed the role of impromptu butler for his fellow big man.His antics started much earlier. Swoopes told a story of Shaq promising her $1 million if she would fake a fall during the class walk to the stage. She declined, but only because she said Shaq wouldnt show me the money.Later, Shaq explained that his bravado was only his attempt to savor every moment of the experience. He said his speech Friday will be a love letter to those who helped him achieve a basketball dream that didnt seem real when he was a teenage army brat.I dont memorize a lot of stuff, but I have this one memorized, ONeal said of his speech. I wouldnt miss it for the world. I bought about 1,000 tickets to each event. All my family, everybody will be there. Its just great.He said being in the same class with a guy like Iverson was appropriate for two players who brought their own unique styles to the NBA -- Shaq as an imposing force in the middle and Iverson as a small player whose skill and personal bravado still resonate today.He had a lot of heart, ONeal said of Iverson. Were similar in the aspect that we did it our way. ... I was only going to do it my way. He did it his way. Cultural icon. A lot of things were implemented because of his style -- with the dress code -- and the way he wears chains and big tattoos and all that stuff. He made it cool for that to happen.Iverson missed Thursdays jacket ceremony, arriving late to speak with the assembled media. He got emotional when he was asked about the people who he credited for his success and highlighted John Thompson, his college coach at Georgetown, as well as Larry Brown, his longtime NBA coach with the Philadelphia 76ers.Thats the only thing that gets me here, is my teammates. My teammates and my coaches, said the former NBA Rookie of the Year and 2001 MVP. Thats the only reason Im here. All those guys sacrificed their games and sacrificed things for me.Shaq said Iversons crossover of Michael Jordan during his rookie season in 1997 was the definition of the kind of player Iverson was.Everybody talks about his move against Michael Jordan, Shaq said. You got to have (guts) to pull off a move against a legend like that.Yao ushered in a new era of international basketball when he left China to become the top pick of the NBA draft in 2002. As a member of the Houston Rockets, he earned All-Rookie honors and would go on to be an eight-time All-Star. He was named a three-time FIBA Asian Championship MVP.When Im walking through the Hall, for the first time I feel Im so small, Yao said. I look up to the roof top and all the pictures around ... I really sense all the people before me that Mr. Naismith made possible with the life he had.---Follow Kyle Hightower on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/khightowerStitched Padres Jerseys . Burke is expected to miss two to three months after breaking a finger in the teams third preseason game. Tinsley, a 10-year veteran, spent the last two seasons in Utah, where the point guard averaged 3. Tony Gwynn Jersey . Parker had 26 points and eight assists and San Antonio beat Toronto 112-99 Monday night. 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The teams, and a few thousand fans, waited nearly four hours from the 7:05 scheduled start time before an announcement was made shortly before 11 p.KNOXVILLE, Tenn. --?Pat Summitt was remembered as a loving mother, a loyal friend and a tireless fighter as well as a champion coach Thursday in a public ceremony honoring the person who built the Tennessee womens basketball dynasty.She was the epitome of what being great is all about, said Indiana Fever forward Tamika Catchings, one of the dozens of former Lady Volunteers who paid respects to Summitt at a Celebration of Life ceremony at Thompson-Boling Arena.Catchings later added that this is not a goodbye, but until we meet again.The ceremony at Thompson-Boling Arena gave the public a chance to honor Summitt, who won eight national titles and a Division I record 1,098 games in her 38-year tenure.A private funeral was held June 30, two days after Summitt died at the age of 64.The list of speakers included recently retired quarterback Peyton Manning, a former Tennessee football star who called Summitt someone who literally changed history.Manning said the only pieces of sports memorabilia he keeps in his office are two basketballs Summitt signed for his children.Manning discussed visiting Summitt late in her fight against Alzheimers disease, when she couldnt remember Mannings name. He talked about attending Summitts private funeral and hearing from former Lady Vols star Chamique Holdsclaw, who told him that even as Summitts memory faded, the coach still could point to the screen when one of Mannings games or commercials aired on television and would say, Thats my friend who comes to visit me. There goes my friend.Pat Summitt didnt just change the history of Tennessee basketball or made this arena known well beyond the borders of this state, Manning said.She changed the history of the sport she loved -- and of sports in general. She almost singlehandedly made womens sports relevant well beyond mothers, daughters, sisters and grandmothers.Thursdays event attracted Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, U.S. Senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker and a star-studded list of womens basketball coaches that included Connecticuts Geno Auriemma, who served as Summitts greatest rival.They were among several thousand spectators to honor Summitt at an arena where she orchestrated some of her greatest victories. The stage for Thursdays event included each of the Lady Vols eight national championship trophies plus a stool and whistle used by Summitt, who coached Tennessee from 1974 to 2012.Fans withstood an afternoon downpour as they waited to enter the arena. The distance traveled by many of them underscored the way Summitt built Lady Vols basketball into a national brand.Patti Stephen drove more than 700 miles from Teaneck, New Jersey, to pay her final respects. She packed a luunch in her car and arrived on campus more than seven hours before the start of the ceremony to make sure she got a seat in the arena.ddddddddddddIve been a Lady Vol fan for a long time, and it felt like I just needed to be here, said Stephen, who wore a T-shirt, hat and a set of bracelets bearing the message We Back Pat.Speakers included Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts, current Tennessee coach Holly Warlick and former Lady Volunteers assistant Mickie DeMoss as well as Summitts son, Tyler Summitt.For or all of us that in some way have been influenced by Pat Summitt, she wouldnt just want us to remember her example, Tyler Summitt said. ?She would want us to go out and follow it. So lets not just celebrate her legacy. Lets carry it on.The ceremony had plenty of somber moments.A videotape that aired during the event showed Warlick and former Lady Vols guard Michelle Brooke-Marciniak in tears as they described what Summitt had meant to them. The event opened with a bagpipe rendition of Amazing Grace.Tyler told me thats his moms favorite song, Roberts said. How appropriate. Two words that describe her (so well): Amazing. Grace.But it also included some laughter. Shelley Sexton-Collier, who played on Tennessees 1987 national championship team, joked that she thought she was playing for Tennessees cross country team because Summitt made them run so often. Warlick talked about how Summitt loved to drive fast and talk her way out of speeding tickets.Warlick also had the crowd break into a rendition of Rocky Top as the arenas video screens showed a tape of Summitt singing that song while wearing a cheerleader uniform before a Tennessee mens basketball game.The list of womens basketball coaches at the ceremony featured Stanfords Tara VanDerveer, North Carolinas Sylvia Hatchell, South Carolinas Dawn Staley, Notre Dames Muffet McGraw, Baylors Kim Mulkey, Rutgers C. Vivian Stringer, former Georgia coach Andy Landers and former Texas coach Jody Conradt among others.Also in attendance were current SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, former SEC commissioners Mike Slive and Roy Kramer, Tennessee football coach Butch Jones, Duke football coach David Cutcliffe and former Tennessee football coaches Phillip Fulmer and Johnny Majors.They came to honor everything Summitt achieved off the court as well as on it.The real accomplishment of Pats life is this -- you won 1,098 games and eight national championships, and what people talk about in the end is its not about how much you win but how much you did for others, said DeMoss, now an LSU assistant. ' ' '