Arizona Sports Hall of Fame inducts Westphal

Grand Canyon basketball may never have another member as heralded with greatness as Paul Westphal, especially one who was such a humble servant

Those qualities are treasured time and again when Westphal is remembered, as he was celebrated posthumously Monday night as part of the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame's 50th induction ceremony. His state legacy includes coaching Grand Canyon to the 1988 NAIA national championship before moving onto the coaching staff for the Phoenix Suns, where he helped the franchise to the 1993 NBA Finals after doing the same as a Suns player in 1976.

Westphal passed away Jan. 2 at age 70 after being diagnosed five months earlier with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer. A year earlier, Westphal stood before his peers for his basketball pinnacle – enshrinement into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Westphal family — ^{Westphal's wife, Cindy,

grandson Kai,

teammate Gar Heard,

daughter Tori and

granddaughter Maile.}

Two of his four grandchildren, Kai and Maile, traveled from California to stand in his place Monday night for induction into the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame, where Westphal becomes the fourth member since 2002 with Grand Canyon ties (also Jerry Colangelo, Dan Majerle and Tim Salmon).

"About a month before we got the news that Westy had brain cancer, he was notified by the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame that he was going to be inducted," Kai said Monday night at The Phoenician. "He was greatly honored. Westy spent the best years of his career as a player and a coach right here in Phoenix."

Maile added, "As good as he was at basketball, he was even better as a grandfather. He was a good person on and off the court and he tried his best to glorify Jesus. Even though he was famous, he wasn't self-absorbed. He never worried about himself. He always cared for others."

Westphal's wife, Cindy, led a family-and-friends group of more than 20 people at the ceremony, where the Lopes and the Suns always brought factions of support. GCU Vice President of Athletics Jamie Boggs and GCU strategic advisor Jerry Colangelo are serving as two of this year's Arizona Sports Hall of Fame trustees.

"I will always have nothing but great admiration and respect for Paul, not only for what we was an athlete and person, but his character was even better," said Colangelo, who traded for him as Suns general manager in 1975.

The five-time NBA All-Star won an NBA title with the Boston Celtics in 1974 and was an ambidextrous guard who made the All-NBA first team three times.

paul westphal

Westphal's Lopes teams went 63-18 over the 1986-87 and 1987-88 seasons, playing a fastbreaking, pressing style that put the national championship team's scoring average at 95.2 points per game.

"A phenomenal time to be a part of," Westphal said in June of 2020 when reflecting on the 1988 title run.

It set up his Suns coaching career, where he was promoted from a four-year assistant Paul Westphal

coach to head coach in 1992 and held a franchise-best .685 winning percentage over four seasons.

"Without the time at Grand Canyon, it wouldn't have had the timing to be the fit that it was," Westphal said after attending Lopes basketball games and the 2017 dedication of the campus' Jerry Colangelo Museum. "I had a lot of great friends and great experiences off the floor and on the floor at Grand Canyon."

Westphal was inducted Monday night with fellow Arizona sports legends John Bridger, Joe Caldwell, Ann Meyers Drysdale, Andre Ethier and Roland Hemond.

"He always cared about people," said Wesphal's brother, Bill, who followed him as Grand Canyon head coach for two seasons (1988-90). "He had a strong Christian faith. He kept that throughout the whole thing, loved his wife, loved his family and cared about people."

Grand Canyon University Athletics

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