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Greer, Nelson, Lyon headline Big 5 Hall of Fame 2017 Class

01/27/2017, 11:00am EST
By Varun Kumar

Varun Kumar (@vrkumar8)
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Nearly 10,000.

That’s the total number of points this year’s Big 5 Hall of Fame inductees scored in their college careers.

On Thursday, the Big 5 announced that six former players- Temple’s Lynn Greer, Saint Joseph’s Jameer Nelson, Villanova’s Randy Foye, Penn’s Ibrahim ‘Ibby’ Jaaber and La Salle’s Carlene Hightower- as well as former Philadelphia Inquirer writer Bill Lyon, would make up the 2017 Hall of Fame class.

This group consists of some of the biggest names to come from the region’s schools in the last twenty years:

  • Lynn Greer: A sweet-shooting lefty guard, Greer graduated Temple as the program’s 2nd all-time leading scorer (2099 points), a mark he still holds to this date was was a member of two of John Chaney’s Elite Eight teams. As a senior in 2001-02, he averaged 23.2 points per game, good for 6th in the country, and was named both Big 5 and Atlantic 10 Player of the Year.

  • Jameer Nelson: Arguably the greatest to ever play on Hawk Hill, Nelson left St. Joe’s as the program’s all-time leader in points (2094), assists (713) and steals (256). The guard from Chester was the averaged 20.6 ppg his senior season, and was named the Consensus National Player of the Year, 1st Team All-American, leading the Hawks to a perfect 27-0 regular season. That year, Nelson landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated, as his team achieved a #1 national ranking, and #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

  • Randy Foye: One of the players most responsible for leading Villanova back to national prominence, Foye was also a Consensus All-American in his senior season, averaging 20.5 ppg. The guard who from Newark, NJ took the Wildcats to the Elite Eight in 2006, a season that saw Foye get named both Big 5 and Big East Player of the Year for his efforts.

  • Ibrahim ‘Ibby’ Jaaber: Jaaber left Penn as one its all-time greats, as well as the Ivy League’s all-time leader in steals with 303. The point guard from Elizabeth, NJ led the Quakers to three straight Ivy titles, and came close to beating both Texas and Texas A&M in the NCAA Tournament in 2006 and 2007, respectively. He was named Ivy League Player of the Year in both his junior and senior seasons, as well as the Big 5 Player of the Year as a senior.

  • Carlene Hightower: The only women’s player among this year’s inductees, Hightower certainly made her mark on the program at 20th and Olney. She was the 2008 Big 5 Player of the Year and was twice named All-Big 5 and All A-10. In addition, she is ninth on La Salle scoring list with 1425 career points, and averaged over 17 points a game as a junior and senior, as well as an All-Defensive team performer.

  • George Raveling: Raveling was no doubt a standout player at Villanova -- he is still 12th all-time in career rebounding on the Main Line -- but his accomplishments after his college days were over make him a unique inductee. Raveling was on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. in 1963 with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Raveling later served as an assistant coach to Jack Kraft at Villanova, and then spent 22 years as the head coach at Washington State, Iowa and USC. Raveling was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015 as a Lifetime Contributor to the sport.

  • Bill Lyon: A legendary writer at the Philadelphia Inquirer for over 30 years before retiring in 2005, Lyon won many accolades for his sports coverage in Philadelphia, which included the Big 5. Lyon was a six-time Pulitzer Prize nominee, a seven-time Pennsylvania Sportswriter of the Year and two-time Emmy Winner. For his work, he was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1999, and Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame in 2006.

The Hall of Fame Induction ceremony and banquet will be held on April 17 at the Palestra, and will also honor this season’s award recipients.


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