It’s uncommon for a television show to gain entry into a hall of fame, but ‘NBA Inside Stuff’ was anything but a common program.
Now, 34 years after it launched, the Saturday morning staple that aired on NBC and ABC will be a 2024 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Curt Gowdy Media Award recipient.
The award, presented to members of the print, electronic and transformative media whose efforts have made a significant contribution to basketball, honors its seven-term president.
“It is truly a jaw-dropping honor,” longtime ‘NBA Inside Stuff’ co-host Willow Bay said of the fete, which will bring together many former staffers during enshrinement weekend Saturday in Connecticut and Sunday in Massachusetts.
For nearly 20 years, beginning in 1990, Inside Stuff was appointment viewing for hardcore hoops fans drawn to popular recurring segments like “Jam Session,” which paired hoops highlights with the latest tunes, and “Rewind” – a combination of the week’s funniest bloopers and crazy shots.
The show also attracted casual NBA observers – those interested in pieces highlighting the hottest musical acts and celebrities like NSYNC, Britney Spears, and Spike Lee, and viewers wanting to learn more about the lifestyles of the greatest athletes in the world.
Before the advent of social media and readily accessible game-action highlights, hosts, including Ahmad Rashad, Bay and Summer Sanders, along with a stable of uniquely talented and close-knit staffers, created engaging content on multiple topics. The show was recorded at NBA Entertainment in Secaucus, New Jersey, now site of a Red Robin.
“One of the amazing things about Inside Stuff is the way in which we enabled players to tell their stories. We visited their moms, and their high schools, and we got to know their hobbies, and sometimes we went deep,” Bay said. “We talked about war-torn countries, players with learning issues, with parents or siblings who had passed away (and) educated our viewers about what it meant to live with HIV. And all of this I think brought to life the players as people.”
The list of memorable feature subjects is long and includes numerous pieces starring Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo, who died Sept. 30.
“I admire and respect Dikembe and his legacy so much,” said Sanders, who shot a feature in which she learned the proper way to execute a finger wag, Mutombo’s trademark celebration after blocking a shot.
“I learned very much that it is not a hand thing, it’s just the finger,” said Sanders, as she demonstrated the proper technique.
In another profile, the good-natured four-time Defensive Player of the Year proclaimed his favorite restaurant “Pasta, Pasta, Pasta” was named after – you guessed it, pasta. Another segment highlighted the humorous obstacles the 7-foot-2 player faced on the road.
Mutombo failed to get a good night’s sleep because his legs outstretched the length of the standard-size mattress in his room. When washing his face, he said he couldn’t see it in the mirror, which hung at a height designed for a person significantly shorter.
Ahmad Rashad vs. Shaq: ‘Is that all you got?’
Another segment chronicled Rashad’s brief stint as a player for the Philadelphia 76ers.
Similar to the experiences of author George Plimpton during his time with the 1963 Detroit Lions (which was the basis of his book “Paper Lion”), Rashad – a former NFL player – suited up for the Sixers and even hit his first shot during a preseason game.
“The difference between me and George Plimpton was that I had some athletic ability,” said Rashad, who served as co-host, executive producer and managing editor. “In my mind I knew I was going to make the shot.”
That piece was entertaining, but also important for another reason.
“It really set the tone in terms of the access we’d get,” recalled Bill Rubens, the show’s first writer.
Shaquille O’Neal brought the rim down on a dunk.
As he crashed to the floor with pieces of shattered backboard raining down on him, the gym went silent.
“Everybody panicked,” Rashad recalled.
“We were thinking, ‘Oh no, we just injured the NBA’s top rookie because we decided to play basketball with him on a shoot,’ ‘ Don Sperling, NBA Entertainment’s longtime executive producer, said.
“When I could see that he wasn’t really hurt, he was just embarrassed, that’s why I went up to him and said, ‘Is that all you got?’ ‘ Rashad said.
Birth of a genre
The marriage of game highlights, fun pieces, the latest music, and pop culture formed the blueprint for a popular industry-wide genre.
“From today’s vantage point, sports (don’t) just reflect culture, it shapes it,” Bay said. “The NBA was shaping culture at the time and so was ’Inside Stuff.’ ”
The show’s concept was the brainchild of league executives (including Hall of Fame commissioners David Stern and Gary Bettman), and creative producers including Ken Rosen, the show’s first senior producer and director.
Rosen recalled that Stern coined the show’s name “because of the double entendre there.”
Rosen also told USA TODAY Sports that he borrowed ideas for the show from the popular MTV and CBS-syndicated program “Entertainment Tonight.”
“MTV, which launched ten years prior, was becoming a cultural phenomenon,” Rosen said. “We wanted to take a little bit of what they were doing with music – with all the videos, behind the scenes (access), and we wanted to add that to our show. It worked.”
The formula proved successful thanks to the hosts, as well as a dedicated group of 15 staffers.
“Our tag line at that time was, ‘I love this game.’ And that’s really what it came down to – collectively, everyone that worked on the show loved this game. We loved the players,” said Sanders, who before becoming a TV host won two gold medals, a silver and a bronze in swimming at the 1992 Barcelona Games.
The positive feedback was almost immediate.
“I couldn’t go to a game at Madison Square Garden without having somebody out there trying to get on the show,” Rashad said. “They would drive down the court, jump up and dunk and run by me and go ‘Hey man, put that in Rewind.’ If I was there, it was an audition.”
NBA players gained star status through exposure
The show was not only a ratings success, but it also provided a jolt for the players. It elevated the star status of the game’s icons and provided the ideal space for others to showcase their unique and engaging personalities.
“I think of Tom Tolbert, Jerome Williams, and John Salley – ’Inside Stuff’ was such a perfect fit for them,” Rubens said. “The fans weren’t aware of some of these guys until ’Inside Stuff’ gave them a platform.”
Williams was a high energy forward who enjoyed a successful nine-year NBA career, mainly with Detroit and Toronto. But it was as a regular contributor to the show that the man affectionately known as the Junkyard Dog, gained significant exposure.
“ ‘Inside Stuff’ had a tremendous impact on my persona,” Williams said. “When I’d arrive at games there would be posters, kids would be wearing my jerseys. This was something only meant for franchise players. But having that platform on national TV allowed me to join that group.”
Now, the series is joining an elite group.
“I couldn’t be (more proud) to stand a part of this group and also recognize the impact that this show had – not just on the league, but on pop culture,” said Bay, who is the dean of the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.
Sanders can’t wait for the weekend to arrive – of course to be part of the enshrinement ceremony, but to also reconnect with a special group of friends and former co-workers she holds in such high regard.
“My NBA family holds a very dear part of my heart,” Sanders said. “To be around all of these wonderful people who were a part of such a phenomenal decade of my life … I want to soak up every second of it.”
Email Larry Berger at lberger@usatoday.com