Freemason Hall of Fame NBA Player: Scottie Pippen - S2 E99a

Freemason Hall of Famer: Scottie Pippen

Pippen was born in Hamburg Arkansas on September 15, 1965. He has eleven, yes you heard that right, eleven older siblings.

Pippen attended Hamburg High School. Playing point guard, he led his team to the state playoffs and earned all-conference honors as a senior, but was not offered any college scholarships.

Pippen began his college playing career at the University of Central Arkansas after being discovered by the school's head basketball coach, Don Dyer, as a walk-on. He did not receive much media coverage because Central Arkansas played in a small division, while the media focused on the more prestigious NCAA schools.

Pippen stood only 6 feet 1 inch tall when he graduated from high school, but experienced a growth spurt while at Central Arkansas and grew to 6 feet 8 inches.

As a senior in college, Scottie averaged 23.6 points, 10 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and near 60 percent field goal shooting a game, earning him consensus All-American honors. This drew the attention of NBA scouts.
Having eyed Pippen before the 1987 NBA draft, the Chicago Bulls manufactured a trade with the Seattle Super Sonics
Pippen became part of Chicago's young forward duo with 6-foot-10-inch power forward Horace Grant. Pippen made his NBA debut on November 7, 1987, when the Chicago Bulls opened against the Philadelphia 76ers.

With teammate Michael Jordan as a motivational and instructional mentor, Pippen refined his skills and slowly developed many new ones over his career. Jordan and Pippen frequently played one-on-one outside of team practices, simply to hone each other's skills on offense and defense.
.
Pippen was part of the Chicago Bulls first three peat from 1991 to 1993. The Bulls were a dominant force.

His partner in crime, Michael Jordan, retired before the 1993 94 season. Despite Jordan leaving, Scottie led the team in scoring. Even finishing third in the league MVP voting.

However, one of the most controversial moments of Pippen's career came that year. In the 1994 NBA Playoffs, the Bulls played the New York Knicks, whom the Bulls had dispatched en route to a championship each of the previous three seasons.

On May 13th 1994, down 2 games to zero, Bulls coach Phil Jackson needed a big play from his team to have any chance of going on to the conference finals. With 1.8 seconds left and the score tied at 102, Jackson designed the last play for Toni Kukoč, with Pippen instructed to inbound the basketball.

Pippen, who had been the Bulls' leader all season long in Jordan's absence, was so angered by Jackson's decision to not let him take the potential game-winner that he refused to leave the bench and re-enter the game when the timeout was over.

Kukoč did hit the game-winner, but there was little celebrating by the Bulls, as television cameras caught an unsmiling Phil Jackson storming off the court.

"Scottie asked out of the play," Jackson told reporters moments later in the post-game interview. Not a great look for our hall of famer. They failed to win the championship that year. Jordan returned for the 1995 1996 season, thus starting their next three peat.

Scottie later played for the Houston Rockets in 1999; for the Portland Trailblazers from 99 to 2003; the returned for one year in 2003 to play with the Bulls.

Pippen was named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team eight consecutive times and the All-NBA First Team three times.

He was a seven-time NBA All-Star and was the NBA All-Star Game MVP in 1994. He was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History during the 1996–97 season and is one of four players to have his jersey retired by the Chicago Bulls.

In October 2021, Pippen was again honored as one of the league’s greatest players of all time by being named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.

Pippen is the only NBA player to have won an NBA title and Olympic gold medal in the same year twice, having done so in both 1992 and 1996.
He was a part of the 1992 U.S. Olympic "Dream Team" He was also a key figure in the 1996 Olympic team, alongside Shaquille O'Neal

Pippen is a two-time inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, once for his individual career and once as a member of the "Dream Team", having been simultaneously inducted for both on August 13, 2010.

Scottie Pippen is a member of Unity Lodge number 454 in Arkansas. This lodge falls under the Prince Hall jurisdiction.

#freemasonry #freemasons #freemason #masonic