“This is a great university, great tradition,” Peterson said. “To be honored with some of other great players in their sports as well is an unbelievable feeling.”

Affectionately known as “Mo Pete,” he was the first non-starting player to make first-team All-Big Ten during his tenure from 1995-2000. Peterson was a three-time Big Ten champion, a member of two Final Four teams and earned Big Ten Player of the Year and All-American honors as a senior.

The crowning accomplishment of his career and the Flintstones’ legacy — a group of players from Flint, Mich., in the late 1990s that included Peterson, Cleaves, Charlie Bell and Antonio Smith — was winning MSU’s second national championship in 2000.

Peterson said he learned he was being inducted by receiving a phone call from athletics director Mark Hollis at an airport.

“I get the call and I just stop,” Peterson said. “I’m like, did he just say I got inducted to the Hall of Fame? Like, ‘Hold on, you sure you got the right person, Mark?’ I just got emotional. I had to go to the bathroom and kind of get myself right.”

After an 11-year NBA career, Peterson said he’s not sure if the sneakers are hung up for good. These days, he spends time working on his clothing line, World Artist Refuge, and raising his two sets of twins.

As he reflected on his time in East Lansing, Peterson recalled a story from his freshman season when he was left in Michigan while the team travelled to Hawaii for a tournament.

Head coach Tom Izzo let him know that if he missed one more class, he wouldn’t be heading to the island. The next day, Peterson remembers setting his alarm for 7 o’clock.

He accidently set it for 7 p.m. So Izzo left him behind.

“I remember sleeping in the auxiliary gym for six days eating vending machine food and pizza,” he said.

“I just told myself I was going to be a changed player, I was gonna recommit myself to what I needed to do. I think that was a big turning point for me.”

To read on other inductees of the Athletics Hall of Fame, visit the folowing: Henry Bullough, Kip Miller, Jenna Wrobel and Ryan Miller