WVillustrated.com News Release

February 24, 2010

Jerry West and David Thompson, two of basketballs all-time brightest stars, will be recognized as members of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fames founding class.

Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1980, West was a three-time All-America at West Virginia and led the Mountaineers to the NCAA championship game. He was co-captain of the 1960 U.S. Olympic gold medal team, a 14-time NBA all-star and the leagues most valuable player in 1972.

Thompson was a three-time All-America and two-time national player of the year. He led North Carolina State to the 1974 NCAA Championship, was a three-time ACC player of the year and the national player of the year in his final two seasons. Thompson was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in 1996.

The founding class of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame includes all of the coaches, players and contributors with roots in college basketball inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., prior to 2006.

Joining West and Thompson in this year's class are Christian Laettner, Sidney Wicks, Tex Winter, Tom Jernstedt, Wayne Duke and Davey Whitney.