Las Vegas Weekly

April 28, 2009 · 7:24 AM

Photo Gallery: HHX opens with birthday celebration for Spencer Haywood

By Robin Leach

Robin Leach shoots hoops with Michael Brown and Spencer Haywood.

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

It was a double celebration when the Basketball Hall of Fame officially opened its Hoop Hall Experience at Planet Hollywood. NBA All-Star Spencer Haywood also was celebrating his 60th birthday, and he reminded me that I had filmed then-wife Iman and him more than 25 years ago!

Iman was married to Spencer long before the tall, stunning African supermodel wed rocker David Bowie! Their daughter Zuleka was just 3 years old when I was invited to their home. Today Zuleka runs the Iman jewelry line appearing on the Home Shopping Network with her mom!

Basketball stars turned out to celebrate the grand opening of HHX and included UCLA Bruin Ed O’Bannon, New York Knicks veteran Jerome Williams, former Chicago Bulls player and assistant coach Michael Brown and NBA star Tracy Murray, along with hairstylist to the stars Michael Boychuck, recent Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding guest crasher Kato Kaelin and Planet Hollywood President Tom McCartney.

Our contributing photographer Tom Donoghue shot these great photos and insisted that I show how tall the players really are by standing in between Spencer and Mike! Man was I dwarfed!

Spencer was presented with a special basketball-themed birthday cake, and then he shared the secret of his basketball success with me. I’d long heard the rumors that he’d been born with fingers different from ours. Check your fingers now, and you’ll see that you have three separate digits on each one. Spencer has four on every finger on both hands!

“They told me I’d grow up to be the best cotton picker in the South with hands like that,” Spencer laughed. “Instead, I traded Mississippi, moved up north for Detroit and put them to much better use around a basketball!”

The HHX exhibit is where the story of basketball comes to life in more than 17,000 square feet of fun. There’s a Big Shots Theater and state-of-the-art interactive displays that attract basketball lovers of all ages. HHX has six different zones of ultimate basketball adventure.

The Basketball Hall of Fame executives promised me that a slew of NBA superstars, including Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal, will be coming to Planet Hollywood when the NBA finals have finished. First up are Scotty Pippen and Dominique Wilkins!

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

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