Former BYU basketball star Danny Ainge has officially been inducted into the Naismith College Basketball Hall of Fame, an honor that was a long time coming, and one that Ainge is certainly deserving of.
HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE pic.twitter.com/pqVH5Uhozf
— BYU Men's Basketball (@BYUMBB) July 13, 2026
He's known to fans of BYU basketball for many reasons. For some, he's the man who lifted the Cougars above Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament, with the coast-to-coast game-winner that pushed BYU hoops to the Elite Eight back in 1981. For others, he's an integral cog in the Celtics Dynasty of that same decade. For Blue Jays fans, he's the one who got away after being drafted in the MLB before opting to play basketball.
Today, he's a member of the Utah Jazz front office and a major contributor to the success of BYU basketball in the Kevin Young era.
Danny Ainge was an undisputed superstar during his time at BYU. He posted a career average of 20.9 points per game through his four-year career in Provo, leading the team in scoring in each of those years.
Keep in mind, he was simultaneously playing professional baseball with the Toronto Blue Jays during this stretch with BYU, as he signed a multi-year contract out of high school. A true multi-sport athlete.
He holds a bounty of WAC records to this day, including field goals taken, field goals scored, and an NCAA record for consecutive games with double-digits scored at 112. This high school All-American was the real deal.
A national player of the year award winner, All-American, and holder of BYU's all-time scoring record at the end of his career, Ainge's number is hanging in the rafters of the Marriott Center.
Congratulations to Ainge for being immortalized in the College Basketball Hall of Fame. We look forward to seeing what more he can do for basketball in the state of Utah, both professionally and with his alma mater in Provo.
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