Danny Ainge is adding another major accomplishment to his life’s lengthy résumé.
The BYU legend has been selected for induction into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, BYU announced Monday.
Ainge starred for the Cougars from 1977-81, averaging 20.9 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.6 assists across 118 games as one of the most dominant players in program history. He was a four-time All-WAC First Team selection and earned Player of the Year honors for both the conference and sport as a whole in 1981.
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Ainge, who ranks third on BYU’s all-time scoring leaderboard and has had his No. 22 jersey retired by the program, led the Cougars on their deepest NCAA Tournament run in school history in 1981, with his coast-to-coast game-winner against Notre Dame punching his team’s ticket to the Elite Eight.
Following his time at BYU, Ainge was drafted by the Boston Celtics, where he won two championships (1984 and 1986) and made an All-Star team (1988) during his eight years with the franchise.
Ainge also played for the Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings and Portland Trail Blazers during his 14-year professional career, while even spending parts of three seasons (1979-81) with Major League Baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays to become one of just 13 men to play in both the NBA and MLB.
Danny Ainge shows the crowd at the Marriott Center in Provo one of the jerseys he wore when he played at BYU in 2003. | Stuart Johnson, Deseret News
In 1,042 NBA outings, Ainge averaged 11.5 points and 4.0 assists, while shooting 38% from 3-point range, averaging double figures in scoring in eight different campaigns.
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Ainge has remained active in basketball since concluding his playing career, coaching the Suns to a 60.2% win percentage from 1996-99 and serving as Celtics general manager from 2003-21, where he built Boston’s 2008 championship team. He currently helps to run the Utah Jazz as the organization’s CEO of basketball operations.
“BYU was the greatest time of my life,” Ainge said in 2003. “It’s just great to be a part of BYU basketball.”
