There has been much speculation and debate over who should be in the ESPN Los Angeles class. The city of L.A. has had some of the most notable sports stars on the planet, so deciding on just five players was certainly difficult.
The criteria was simple, the individual must be retired. This rules out current Los Angeles legends like Kobe Bryant or Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully.
Some of the notable Laker nominees were Chick Hearn, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Jerry West.
The Mount Rushmore of Los Angeles sports was voted on by the fans through ESPN Los Angeles.
In the end, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, John Wooden, Sandy Koufax and Wayne Gretzky.
Of the half-dozen or so professional sports teams that play in Los Angeles the Lakers took two out of the first five Hall of Fame inductees. Johnson and Abdul-Jabbar represented the Lakers, while Koufax was a Los Angeles Dodgers player and John Wooden was the architect of the greatest college basketball teams of all time at UCLA.
Gretzky is the apparent black sheep in this group, as many felt Jerry West should have been the fifth and final nominee.
Regardless, the Lakers clearly are the most successful team of the group, and deserve the extra recognition.
For complete coverage of the 2011 ESPN Los Angeles Hall of Fame inductees be sure to check here.
