WASHINGTON, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Charles Barkley and Dominique Wilkins, two of the NBA's great forwards, were among six people Monday to join the Basketball Hall of Fame.

    Also selected for induction was Sandro Gamba, a longtime coach who led Italy to the silver medal at the 1980 Olympics and Joe Dumars, who played on the Detroit Pistons championship teams in the late 1980s and helped them win another title in 2004 as team president.

    The rest of the class consists of University of Connecticut women's coach Geno Auriemma and Dave Gavitt, who produced eight straight 20-win seasons as coach of Providence University and helped establish the Big East Conference. Gavitt was elected as a contributor.

    The induction ceremony will be held September 9 in Springfield, Massachusetts.

    The inductees were announced as part of the U.S. college Final Four festivities, which were to conclude with the title game Monday night.

    Barkley was placed on 11 NBA All-Star teams with Philadelphia, Phoenix and Houston and was a member of the U.S. team that won a gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. He was a member of the NBA's 50th anniversary team.

    Wilkins played at the University Georgia before spending most of his career with the Atlanta Hawks. Wilkins was a nine-time NBA All-Star, won two slam dunk championships and is one of three Hawks to have his jersey retired. Enditem