SPRINGFIELD, MASS. ? Michael Jordan, maybe the greatest of them all, has taken his place alongside basketball’s other greats.

Jordan was enshrined in the Hall of Fame on Friday night, a final honor that followed all the championship rings and MVP trophies he collected during his career.

From the high school coach who cut him to the last player to defend him in the NBA finals, Jordan remembered everyone who did something to bring out the competitiveness that carried him to the top of basketball.

“I’d do anything to win,” he said.

He joined David Robinson and John Stockton, a pair of his 1992 Dream Team teammates, and coaches Jerry Sloan and C. Vivian Stringer in a distinguished class.

“It all started with that little, round ball. I think if you take that away from any of us, I’m pretty sure we would have struggled in life, because that’s how much the game meant to us,” Jordan said at a morning news conference with the inductees, where he stressed that the weekend wasn’t just about him.

Still, none of them can compare to Jordan — perhaps no one ever will — after he led the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships while often being considered the best player ever.

Jordan said he cringes when he hears that label, because he didn’t get to earn it by playing others who might have deserved it.

“It’s a privilege, but I would never give myself that type of accolade because I never competed against everybody in this Hall of Fame,” he said. “So it’s too much for me to ask and too much for me to accept.”

Former Kansas University coach Roy Williams was also among those dignitaries on hand.

AUTO RACING

Edwards Nationwide winner

Richmond, Va. — Carl Edwards grabbed the lead from Kevin Harvick on pit road with 24 laps to go Friday night and won the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Richmond. The victory finished off a remarkable race for Edwards, who had to start at the back of the field after his team made adjustments to his Ford after the field was impounded.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

OSU rewards coach Ford

Oklahoma City — Oklahoma State University regents on Friday gave basketball coach Travis Ford a four-year contract extension designed to keep him at the Cowboys’ helm through the 2018-19 season.

Regents approved the new 10-year contract during a meeting in Stillwater. The deal calls for Ford to receive $1.8 million for the upcoming season and then receive incremental raises that would push his compensation to $2.8 million over the final four years of the contract.

For the coming season, he will receive a raise of $397,600.

Clemente downplays rift

New York — Kansas State basketball guard Denis Clemente tells Sports Illustrated’s Luke Winn that last year’s controversy involving the Kansas University bench was much ado about nothing.

It was alleged by a reporter from GoPowercat.com that racial slurs were directed toward Clemente from the KU bench during the Jayhawks’ victory in Manhattan. It was alleged a KU player shouted “Where’s your green card?” at Clemente.

“No, no. They’re not like that,” Clemente said when asked by Winn if “that actually happened?”

“I mean, fans fans sometimes say crazy things and you learn not to listen to them, but no, (KU people) didn’t say anything like that.”

GOLF

Tiger shares BMW lead

Lemont, Ill. — Tiger Woods and Mark Wilson were in a tie for the lead Friday at the BMW Championship. Woods made two solid par saves from deep bunkers early in his round, ran off three straight birdies at the turn and cashed in on enough good shots for a 4-under 67 to put him atop the leaderboard for the first time since the PGA Championship.

Woods is a four-time winner at Cog Hill, including his most recent appearance two years ago in the BMW Championship

They were at 7-under 135, and will play as a twosome for the first time since their championship match in the 1992 U.S. Junior Amateur in Massachusetts, where a 16-year-old Woods rallied from 2 down to win on the 18th hole.

Padraig Harrington fired a 68 and was one shot behind, along with Rory Sabbatini (70), Bo Van Pelt (69) and Marc Leishman.

Gal leads LPGA event

Rogers, Ark. — Sandra Gal’s eagle on the 18th hole gave her a one-shot lead after the first round of the P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship. Gal shot a 7-under 64 in the LPGA Tour event Friday, and her uphill putt from about 15 feet on the final hole moved her past Song-Hee Kim and into the lead. Kim is alone in second place.

Brittany Lang, Pat Hurst and Angela Stanford are tied for third, another stroke back.

NFL

Cardinals, Bengals sell out

Alameda, Calif. — Fire up the backyard grill and flip on the TV, Bengals and Cardinals fans. You can see your team’s game at your own home this Sunday. Raiders faithful, however, may have to get to the Oakland Coliseum to watch the soot and silver.

Cincinnati and Arizona announced Friday that their season openers sold out in time to avoid a local blackout, while the Raiders received a 24-hour extension from the NFL.

TENNIS

U.S. Open rained out

New York — Because of rain, the U.S. Open will end Monday — at the earliest. All of Friday’s matches were postponed. That includes the two women’s semifinals — Serena Williams vs. Kim Clijsters, and Yanina Wickmayer vs. Caroline Wozniacki — and the men’s quarterfinal between Rafael Nadal and Fernando Gonzalez, which was suspended in the second set Thursday night by showers.

Those three matches have been shifted to today. The women’s final is being moved from tonight to Sunday. The men’s final is being moved from Sunday to Monday for the second consecutive year.

CYCLING

Zabriskie wins in Missouri

Sedalia, Mo. — American David Zabriskie won the time trial in the fifth stage of the Tour of Missouri and took the overall lead. Zabriskie, riding for Garmin-Slipstream, completed Friday’s flat, fast 19-mile course in 36 minutes and 30 seconds.

Finishing 30 seconds behind was, Gustav Larsson, of Team Saxo Bank. American Tom Zirbel, of Bissell Pro Cycling, finished third and Marco Pinotti, of Team Columbia-HTC, finished fourth.