The National Lacrosse League has turned to one of its best rivalries for its 2007 Hall of Fame induction class, selecting two men with long ties to the Philadelphia Wings and two others associated with the Buffalo Bandits.

Philadelphia, which had four representatives among the five inaugural inductees last year, is sending former player Tom Marechek and co-owner Michael French to the Hall.

From Buffalo, the Hall takes former player (and current head coach) Darris Kilgour and longtime lacrosse beat writer Tom Borrelli.

"I’d like to congratulate our four newest Hall of Famers on this outstanding accomplishment," NLL commissioner Jim Jennings said. "The Class of 2007 has a little bit of everything, and we look forward to inducting them into the Hall of Fame during the season."

Marechek, whose career started (ironically) as a Bandits draft pick, retired after the 2005 season as the third-leading scorer in NLL history, tallying 773 points on 399 goals and 374 assists. He had an additional 23 goals and 46 assists in postseason action, leading the Wings to four championships.

In twelve seasons, Marechek earned eight All-Pro Team selections (five as a member of the First Team) and became the third player in league history to have his number retired when the Wings took his famed 42 out of circulation last February.

The first to get that honor was Kilgour, whose number 43 was retired by the Bandits in 2001 after a nine-year career, eight of them spent in Buffalo. Kilgour scored 144 goals, dished out 168 assists and served 257 penalty minutes during his playing career, which spanned from being the Bandits' first-ever draft pick to a stint with the first-year Albany Attack in 2000.

"I had a relatively short career so I really didn't think I had that great a chance," Kilgour told the Buffalo News. "Plus a lot of my career was spent in the penalty box so I didn't know how that would figure into it."

After retiring as a player, Kilgour moved to coaching, leading the Washington Power to playoff berths in 2001 and 2002 before coming home to the Bandits. In four seasons with Buffalo, Kilgour has a 42-22 regular-season record and two appearances in the NLL Championship Game.

The other coaching veteran in the 2007 Hall of Fame class, French falls more into the jack-of-all-trades category, filling a variety of roles for the Wings over the past two decades.

In addition to an MILL title in 1994, his only season behind the bench, French's lengthy indoor lacrosse resume includes stints as a player (fourteen goals for the Wings in 1987, the league's first season), general manager (1988 to 1994, with three championships), team advisor, and team owner (1998 to present).

French is the only former MILL/NLL player to become a team owner, and is the only member of both the Canadian and United States Lacrosse Halls of Fame.

Borrelli, the first journalist to be chosen for the Hall of Fame, has covered the league for the Buffalo News since the Bandits began play in 1992. He also contributes to Lacrosse Magazine, US Lacrosse's official publication.

In 2005, NLL honored Borrelli by naming its new Writer of the Year award after him. The only other person so honored is the late Les Bartley, the former Bandits and Toronto Rock coach who shares his name with the league's Coach of the Year award.

The league did not announce a date or location for this year's Hall of Fame induction, although these is speculation that it will be held in conjunction with a Wings-Bandits game. The teams meet Saturday, 17 February at First Union Center and again a week later at HSBC Arena.

Last season's quintet -- league founders and current Wings co-owners Russ Cline and Chris Fritz, retired superstars Gary Gait and Paul Gait, and Bartley -- were inducted as part of the All Star Weekend in Toronto.