SPRINGFIELD, MASS. ? The well-traveled Larry Brown made mention of all of his stops in a 30-year career at Friday’s Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies.

Brown, who was introduced by his mentor and fellow Hall of Famer Dean Smith, brought his family onstage  each in a cap from a different career stop, including KU. He has won more than 1,200 games and posted a winning record in 26 of his 30 seasons.

Brown coached Kansas University to an NCAA title in 1988 and led UCLA to a berth in the 1980 national championship game. He also has coached two teams in the ABA and six in the NBA, including his current team, the Philadelphia 76ers, who reached the NBA Finals two seasons ago.

In his speech, Brown thanked everyone, including Smith, who influenced his coaching career.

He admitted before the ceremony he might have been born to be a coach.

“I knew I’d be a coach in some sport when I was a young guy,” Brown said. “I lost my dad, and my brother  5 years older  was already away a lot. The people who took an interest in me were my coaches. I played anything with a ball.

“Early on, I wanted to be a high school coach and a history teacher. I thought that was as good as it could get. My mom sent me to summer camp with my high school coaches; early on, I was coaching young kids, from the time I was 15 or 16.

“But I never, ever thought about being special. Now, I look back at the coaches to whom I was exposed  John McClendon, Dean Smith, Frank McGuire, Pete Newell, Henry Iba, Alex Hannum, Al Bianchi  all of them, and I can see I had a heckuva chance to be a good coach. But, again, I never, ever considered this day coming, not until I was nominated the year before, for the first time.”

Brown said he will never forget all the portraits on the wall in KU’s Allen Fieldhouse.

“Seeing portraits of coach Smith, coach McClendon and Wilt Chamberlain on the wall at Kansas made an impression on me, made me realize the history of the sport at Kansas,” Brown said. “When UTEP [Texas-El Paso] won the title in 1966 and we went to a hotel (with Smith) and I listened to all those great coaches discuss the game, coach Smith said he hoped someday I’d be able to contribute and share.”

KU assistant coach Lynette Woodard also was honored Friday  she was on hand for the Harlem Globetrotters’ induction. Woodard, the first female Globetrotter, was one of 524 different players who have played about 20,000 games in 117 countries since the team was founded in 1927.

“I can’t do justice to the history and impact that the Harlem Globetrotters have had around the world,” owner Mannie Jackson said. “The Globetrotters are a team that has advanced the perception of basketball, and believe it or not, the perception of democracy around the world.”

Magic Johnson also was inducted, along with Arizona coach Lute Olson, North Carolina State women’s coach Kay Yow and former NBA player Drazen Petrovic.

“You allowed me for 12 or 13 years to be a little boy, to play the game I love, to try to be the best player could be, to try to win games and to also turn the fans on,” Johnson told commissioner David Stern between standing ovations. “Hopefully, they had as good a time as I had.”

Johnson chose ex-rival Larry Bird to present him.

“I was going to speak from my heart,” Bird said. “But, man, he broke my heart so many times, do I have anything left?”

Petrovic, the NBA star and two-time Olympic silver medalist, died in a car accident in 1993. Olson accepted by videotape from Italy, where he is attending his son’s wedding.

Johnson admitted he worried he also wouldn’t be able to attend. He first retired after testing positive for the AIDS virus in 1991, a time when it was thought the diagnosis was a virtual death sentence.

“I’m doing very well, like I have been for the last 11 years,” he said Friday morning. “It’s still laying asleep in my body. So the medicine is doing its job.”