Sue Bird and Sylvia Fowles lead the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame 2025 class that will be inducted at the Tennessee Theater on Tennessee Theatre on June 14, 2025, the WBHOF announced Friday. The seven-member class also features former players Alana Beard and Cappie Pondexter as well as former coaches Mark Campbell and Lucille Kyvallos and the women’s basketball coaches association executive director Danielle Donehew.
“We are honored to pay tribute to seven distinguished legends of this exceptional sport,” WBHOF President Dana Hart said in a media release. “They exemplify the highest standards in women’s basketball and have made substantial contributions to the sport along with shaping the games’ historical trajectory.”
Bird, who retired after the 2022 season, won at every level. At UConn, she won two national titles and was named the Nancy Lieberman award winner, as the country’s best point guard, three times. In the pros, she remains the WNBA’s all-time leader in games played (580) and assists (3,234) and was a four-time WNBA champion with the Seattle Storm and 12-time WNBA All-Star. She won five Olympic gold medals as a point guard with Team USA and four FIBA World Cup gold medals.
Fowles, the 2008 SEC player of the year at LSU, has her jerseys retired with both the Tigers and the Minnesota Lynx. The center won two WNBA titles (2015, 2017), and was named the Finals MVP in both those seasons. Fowles was an eight-time All-Star and four-time Olympic gold medalist.
Beard was a three-time All-American at Duke and the Wooden Award winner in 2004. A three-time All-Star and WNBA champion in 2016 with the Sparks, Beard retired from the league in 2019. Pondexter, a Rutgers alum, is a two-time WNBA champion (2007, 2009) who was named Finals MVP in 2007. The Chicago native was a seven-time WNBA All-Star and an Olympic gold medalist in 2008.
Campbell is the longtime coach of Division II Union University who has won more than 85 percent of his games during his 26-year career. He was the fastest coach in college basketball to both 600 and 700 wins. Kyvallos is the former West Chester State College (1962-66) and Queens College (1968-80, 1981-82) coach who compiled an 81 percent win record during her AIAW coaching career.
Donehew, a longtime women’s basketball administrator and executive, is the current WBCA executive director, leading membership for the nearly 4,000 women’s basketball coaches nationwide.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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