Detroit Piston Ben Wallace leaves the floor at the final NBA game at the Palace of Auburn Hills. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
Detroit Pistons’ icon Ben Wallace was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame last night and gave an emotional speech in front of his peers, family and former teammates.
Several current Pistons were also in attendance, including Isaiah Stewart (who often gets compared to Big Ben) and Cade Cunningham who will hopefully be the next Piston to lead the team to a title.
Wallace is not a gifted public speaker (I can relate) and his speech is not going to go into the annals of history as great oratory, but there were some highlights and emotional moments that got every Detroit Pistons fan a little misty.
You can watch the whole speech, but here are some of the highlights for me.
Wallace’s speech was motivational at times and took a look at the big picture, not just basketball:
Wallace also passed on some advice from his mother, which got a big round of applause from the crowd:
I loved this part of the speech, as I thought it was symbolic of how Wallace played in his career. He was constantly an underdog who got where he is by believing in himself and working his butt off.
Wallace finished his speech by talking about his legacy and giving a shoutout to his former university and his hometown.
Wallace walked off the stage with his first raised in recognition of the Virginia Union Panthers, the HBCU that Wallace attended before coming to the NBA and the Black Panther Party, which originated in the county where Wallace was born.
But my favorite part of the speech was the very first thing Ben Wallace said, responding to some of the fans in the crowd.
“Detroit basketball never gets old.”
As someone who has spent the vast majority of his life following this team, I couldn’t agree more. Congrats, Big Ben!
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