Richmond and the CIAA will be in the house Sept. 11 when basketball legends Ben Wallace and Bobby Dandridge are inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

“Ben has reached the top of the top,” said Dave Robbins, who was Wallace’s coach at Virginia Union University before Wallace, now 46, signed on with the NBA in 1996. “It’s great to see someone rise to that level.”

Native Richmonder Bobby Dandridge, now 73, starred at Maggie L. Walker High School under Coach Stretch Gardner and at Norfolk State University before launching his distinguished NBA career in 1969.

Wallace and Dandridge will share the stage with 14 other Hall of Fame inductees this fall at formal ceremonies in Springfield, Mass.

They also will join an elite handful of former CIAA players who have been enshrined in the Hall of Fame — Earl Lloyd (West Virginia State University), Sam Jones (North Carolina Central University), Al Attles (North Carolina A&T State University) and Earl Monroe (Winston-Salem State University).

According to the CIAA, Wallace is the first undrafted player and first VUU player to be selected for the Naismith Hall of Fame. Both Wallace and Dandridge are in the CIAA Hall of Fame, with Wallace inducted in 2015 and Dandridge in 1984.

Dandridge grew up in Richmond’s West End. His oldest friends called him “Bismarck” because of his long feet. He later earned the tag “Greyhound” for his swift, fluid stride.

Playing at NSU from 1965 to 1969, he won All-Conference, All-Tournament and Tournament MVP honors during his senior season while averaging 32.8 points per game. During his junior season, he helped lead the Spartans to the CIAA championship and a berth in the NCAA Tournament. He is among the CIAA’s all-time leading scorers with 1,740 points.

The 45th overall pick in the 1969 NBA draft, Dandridge averaged 18 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists during his 12-year career and was considered an excellent defender.

He played on two NBA championship teams – the Milwaukee Bucks in 1971 and the Washington Bullets in 1978.

Dandridge was a four-time NBA All-Star and was named to the NBA All-Rookie Team in 1970 and the NBA All-Defensive Team in 1979.

Dandridge’s selection to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame came a day later than Wallace’s and was made by the Hall’s Veteran’s Committee.

Dandridge becomes the third Maggie L. Walker Green Dragon from the 1960s to reach the pinnacle of his sport. Willie Lanier was named to the NFL Hall of Fame in 1986, and Arthur Ashe Jr. was selected for the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1985.

Meanwhile, Wallace was originally from rural Alabama.

Robbins coached Wallace at VUU for two seasons — 1994 to 1996. In 1996, the Panthers went 28-3 and advanced to the NCAA Division II semifinals. Wallace’s teammates included Jay Butler, VUU’s current head basketball coach.

Wallace was a first-team All-American for VUU while setting records for blocked shots. He rejected more than 100 shots as both a junior and senior.

In an interview Sunday from the Hall of Fame, Wallace said, “To have that type of journey, to have it end the way it’s ending, it’s an awesome feeling.”

The second youngest of 11 children, Wallace starred in basketball and football at Central High School in Hayneville, Ala. Prior to his senior season, he attended a summer camp hosted by VUU 1985 All-American Charles Oakley.

“Charles called and told me about Ben after that camp,” Coach Robbins recalled. “I asked if he was a ‘big man.’ Charles said, ‘He’s not that big (in height) but he is a MAN.’ That was the exact quote.”

Listed at 6-foot-9 and a sculpted 240 pounds, Wallace always admitted he was “closer to 6-7.” His boulder shoulders were wide enough to park a motorcycle on.

Wallace spent two seasons at Cuyahoga Community College near Cleveland before joining Coach Robbins’ program at VUU. “I’d never seen him before he got here in September, but we offered him a full scholarship,” Coach Robbins said. “I never doubted what he could do. If Charles said he could play, I knew he could play.”

Still, the bridge to the NBA was a winding one. Coming out of college, he was not drafted by any NBA team, but began his pro career in Italy, playing for Viola Reggio Calabria. Prior to going abroad, he was cut in an open tryout with the Boston Celtics.

From Italy, Wallace played for the Washington Bullets, now the Washington Wizards, from 1996 to 1999, and the Orlando Magic from 1999 to 2000, before finding his niche with the Detroit Pistons.

He quickly emerged as a crowd favorite at the Palace in Auburn Hills with his energy and stifling defense on the low post. And you couldn’t miss his thick Afro. “Fear the Fro” T-shirts became a bestseller in the Pistons’ gift shop.

Wallace was never a skilled offensive player. He averaged a modest 5.7 points for his career over 1,088 NBA games. His career 42 percent foul-shot accuracy is among the worst in NBA history. But his fearless defense and rebounding more than made up for any offensive flaws.

Wallace, or “Big Ben” to his legion of fans, was a four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year – in 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006. Only Dikembe Mutombo has received that accolade as many times.

And for the coup de grace in 2004, Wallace helped the Pistons muscle their way to the NBA title. With the nickname, “Goin’ to Work,” the Pistons defeated the heavily favored Los Angeles Lakers in the finals.

Whenever Wallace made a play in Detroit, the public address system played a deep chime, an allusion to the original Big Ben in London. That chime was heard often in the 2004 NBA Finals.

Going head to head in the paint against 7-foot-1 Shaquille O’Neal, Wallace never backed down. In the championship-clinching Game Five, Wallace had 18 points and 22 rebounds, while holding O’Neal to 20 points and eight rebounds.

It goes back to that day in Hayneville, Ala., where his life changed with a chance meeting with Oakley.

“He picked me to go one-on-one with,” Wallace said in an interview with Bill Dow of the Detroit Free Press.

“He (Oakley) was having his way and split my lip. He wasn’t holding back. But I stayed with it. It taught me you don’t back down from nobody.”

Oakley was impressed and began making phone calls.

Wallace and Oakley became close friends. Oakley, who grew up in Cleveland, first directed Wallace to Cuyahoga Community College and then to his former coach at VUU.

In retirement, Wallace hasn’t ventured far from the sport. He is president of operations and a minority owner of the Grand Rapids Drive of the NBA Gatorade League. He also is the proprietor of Big Ben’s Home Court on Westwood Avenue in Richmond’s North Side.

Wallace and his wife, Chanda, have two sons, Ben Jr., and Bryce, and a daughter, Bailey.