MADRID, SPAIN - Former North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith, who coached the Tar Heels for 36 seasons and won 879 games and two NCAA championships, was among 20 former players, coaches and coaches and technicians inducted into FIBA's Hall of Fame on Wednesday.

Smith also guided the United States to a gold medal at the 1976 Montreal Games.

"I know the three of us from the United States feel very lucky to be in this situation," said Smith, referring to Bill Russell and Ann Meyers Drysdale, who were included in the group honored by FIBA, the international basketball federation.

Russell, a winner of 11 NBA championships with the Boston Celtics and an Olympic gold medal, led a list of 12 players from 10 different countries, while Smith headlined the four coaches.

"I have to thank all of my teammates going back to high school for being here today," said Russell, who averaged 22.5 rebounds in his 13 NBA seasons. "The game of basketball helps teach you how to take care of your teammates. I learned some important life lessons. It's a beautiful game."

Phoenix Mercury general manager Ann Meyers Drysdale was one of three women inducted. She was a four-time All-America at UCLA and a silver medalist with the U.S. Olympic team in 1976.

Hortencia Marcari, who averaged 24.4 points in 137 international games with Brazil, was included as well as Latvia's Uljana Semjonova. Semjonova, a 6-foot-10 center, never lost an international match -- racking up 10 European championships, three worlds and two Olympic golds -- in an 18-year playing for the former Soviet Union.

FIBA selected the 20 from more than 200 nominations received from its member federations. NBA greats Oscar Robertson and Magic Johnson didn't make the cut, though they can be submitted again in two years when the next batch is selected.

Greece guard Nikos Galis, a former Seton Hall guard, averaged over 30 points in a 16-year Greece career that included a European title in 1987.

"He's a god, he was basketball in Greece," said 22-year-old Yianis Katsimpbras, who was among a group of 150 Greek fans in Madrid for the European Championship. "He came from the U.S. and taught us basketball."

Former FIBA president Borislav Stankovic, Serbia star Drazen Dalipagic and Argentina forward Oscar Furlong, who once turned down a playing contract with the Minneapolis Lakers, also were inducted.

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