Three women’s basketball icons could join Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Catchings, Mulkey, Stevens among finalists for Naismith Class of 2020
Eight finalists, including three from the world of women’s basketball, were announced for election into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Four-time Olympic gold medalist and current Indiana Fever general manager Tamika Catchings is up for election for the first time, while Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey and Bentley head coach Barbara Stevens were previously finalists and are up for election again in 2020.
The other five finalists are former NBA players Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, and Kevin Garnett along with former coaches Eddie Sutton and Rudy Tomjanovich.
Catchings is Indiana’s general manager and vice president of basketball operations and has been with the franchise since she was drafted as a player in 2001. She played for the team from 2002 through 2016, winning Rookie of the Year in 2002, a WNBA championship in 2012, and WNBA Defensive Player of the Year five times. She was also a ten-time WNBA All-Star and remains the WNBA’s all-time leader in steals, with over 300 more than the next-closest player. She won four Olympic gold medals with Team USA and one NCAA championship as a collegian at Tennessee in 1998. In addition, her story of overcoming partial hearing loss to become one of the best players in the world has inspired countless younger players.
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Mulkey is the head coach of the defending national champion Baylor Lady Bears, who are 22-1 this season and currently ranked No. 2 in the AP Poll. She has been at Baylor since 2000 and has appeared in 17 NCAA Tournaments, advanced to four Final Fours, and won three national championships (2005, 2012, 2019). Ahead of the 2019-20 season, she had 586 career wins and ranked second among active coaches in career winning percentage (0.853). Sixteen of Mulkey’s players have been drafted into the WNBA, including Kalani Brown and Chloe Jackson in 2019. As a player, Mulkey won two national championships at Louisiana Tech and a gold medal with Team USA at the 1984 Olympics.
Stevens is the head coach of the 2014 Division II national champion Bentley Falcons, who have averaged 26.7 wins per season since she took over in 1986. Stevens is the only non-Division I coach and just the sixth all-time to win over 1,000 games. Heading into the 2019-20 season, she had 1,039 wins and just 282 losses in 42 seasons—six at Clark, three at Massachusetts, and the past 33 at Bentley. She has reached the Division II Fab Four ten times and had a perfect 35-0 season in 2013-14. In addition, she has been named the Russell Athletic/WBCA Division II National Coach of the Year five times, most recently in 2014.
Catchings, Mulkey, and Stevens each need 18 votes from the 24-member Honors Committee to be elected into the Hall of Fame. The Class of 2020 will be announced on April 4 and enshrined during celebrations taking place from August 28-30.
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