NEW ORLEANS – In honor of his lifetime involvement, Appalachian State University men's basketball alumnus and current New Orleans Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry was inducted into the Boys & Girls Club Hall of Fame on Wednesday night.

Originally from Shelby, N.C., Gentry is the first alumnus of the Boys & Girls Club of Cleveland County to receive the honor.

At Wednesday's induction ceremony, Gentry said, "Most of us have been affiliated with the Boys & Girls Club in some way and the word we kind of keep using here is 'safehouse'. To me that's what it's always been. It's a place you can go and you feel comfortable there. In my case, it's where you learn to play basketball, but not even just the basketball part and playing, it teaches you about discipline, teamwork and a lot of little things that have very little to do with basketball, but just life in general."

Gentry added, "This is as big of an honor that I could ever receive. It really is. As far as, it means so much just from a life lessons stand point. This is a great honor. We have to continue to work, this is a very important organization and we have to help along the next generation of youth."

After attending Shelby High School, Gentry played four seasons at Appalachian State for both Press Maravich and Bobby Cremins from 1973-1977. As a four-year letterwinner, Gentry averaged 6.0 points and 2.0 rebounds per game with a .493 shooting percentage.

Last season, Gentry became the first Appalachian State alumnus to win an NBA championship as a player or a coach when the Golden State Warriors ousted the Cleveland Cavaliers in six games in the NBA Finals. Before taking the position with the Pelicans, Gentry served as the associate head coach on Steve Kerr's staff for Golden State.

Despite last season's championship being Gentry's first in 27 seasons in the NBA, it was the second title of his coaching career, as he was an assistant coach under Larry Brown at Kansas when the Jayhawks won the 1988 NCAA title.

Gentry was hired as the Pelicans' head coach on May 31, 2015. New Orleans is the fifth NBA franchise Gentry has led as head coach. He served as head coach of the Miami Heat in 1994-95, the Detroit Pistons from 1997-2000, the Los Angeles Clippers from 2000-2002 and then had his longest tenure with the Phoenix Suns from 2008-2013.

He won a career-high 54 games with the Suns during the 2009-10 season, which culminated in a Western Conference Finals appearance.