Walnut Creek, Calif. • Former basketball star Arnie Ferrin will become the first University of Utah player inducted into the Pac-12 Basketball Hall of honor.
Ferrin, a four-time All-American and member of Utah’s 1944 NCAA champion and 1947 NIT champion men’s basketball teams, will join 11 other inductgees, one from each Pac-12 school, including 10 other players and one coach.
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Ferrin will be inducted during the 2012 Pacific Life Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Tournament in Los Angeles along with Arizona’s Richard Jefferson, Arizona State’s Kurt Nimphius, California’s Lamond Murray, Colorado’s Burdette Haldorson, Oregon’s Jim Barnett, Oregon State’s A.C. Green, Standord’s George Selleck, UCLA’s Ed O’Bannon, USC’s Sam Barry, Washington’s George Irvine and Washington State’s Steve Puidokas.
Ferrin is one of the most decorated in Utah men’s basketball history and, as a freshman, led the Utes to the 1944 NCAA championship. He scored 22 points in the final game against Dartmouth, including four in overtime, and became the first freshman ever to be named MVP of the Final Four. He also helped the state of Utah celebrate its centennial by leading the Utes to the 1947 NIT title.
After graduating from the University of Utah in 1948, Ferrin played three years in the BAA -- later the NBA -- for a Minneapolis Laker team that won the BAA championship in 1949 and the 1950 NBA title. He has a long history with the University of Utah, including a nine-year stint as athletic director before retiring in 1985. He was also director of regional programs for the University of Utah Alumni Association and an assistant to the vice president of University of Relations, in addition to becoming the general manager of the American Basketball Association’s Utah Stars.
His number 22 is one of seven retired jerseys hanging from the rafters of the Jon N. Huntsman Center.
A native of Salt Lake City, he was born July 29, 1925, and played high school basketball in Ogden. He was first married to the late RoLayne Rasmussen and they had four children. Ferrin is remarried to Pat Panos. He now splits his time between his condo in Salt Lake City and a home in Palm Springs, Calif.
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