Women's Basketball Hall of Fame 2025 class highlighted by WNBA legends Sylvia Fowles, Sue Bird

Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame 2025 class highlighted by WNBA legends Sylvia Fowles, Sue Bird

Posted by Admin November 15, 2024 Basketball

The Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame announced its 2025 class of inductees Friday, and it’s highlighted by four WNBA legends.

Sylvia Fowles, Sue Bird, Cappie Pondexter and Alana Beard are the latest to be inducted. They’ll be joined by coaches Lucille Kyvallos and Mark Campbell, as well as Danielle Donehew for her contributions to the sport.

The class will be inducted on June 14, 2025 at the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville.

Fowles and Bird, who both retired at the end of the 2022 season, are two of the greatest players in WNBA history. They were both part of the WNBA 25th anniversary team along with Pondexter. Bird and Pondexter were also part of the 20th and 15th anniversary teams, and Bird made the All-Decade team.

Pondexter and Bird are in the top 10 of the league’s all-time scoring leaders at No. 7 and No. 8, respectively. Fowles is No. 12.

Bird is a four-time WNBA champion with the Seattle Storm, where she played her entire 20-year career. She’s a five-time All-WNBA First Team selection, 12-time All-Star and the league’s all-time leader in games played and assists. Bird won five Olympic gold medals with Team USA and four FIBA World Cups.

At UConn, Bird won two NCAA Championships in three Final Four appearances. She was a three-time Nancy Lieberman award winner, an All-American, Big East Player of the Year and the Naismith Player of the Year in 2002.

Fowles, the 2017 WNBA MVP, is a two-time Finals MVP and two-time WNBA champion with the Minnesota Lynx. Fowles won four Defensive Player of the Year awards and 11 WNBA All-Defensive selections (eight first team). She was an eight-time All-WNBA selection (three first team), eight-time All-Star and four-time Olympic gold medalist.

Fowles was a two-time All-American at LSU and led the Tigers to four straight NCAA Final Four appearances. In 2008, she was the SEC Player of the Year, SEC Defensive Player of the Year and WBCA Defensive Player of the Year.

Pondexter is a two-time WNBA champion with the Phoenix Mercury and won Finals MVP in 2007. She’s a three-time All-WNBA First Team selection, seven-time WNBA All-Star and won an Olympic gold medal in 2008. Pondexter was the 2006 Big East Player of the Year and All-American at Rutgers, where she led the Scarlet Knights to back-to-back Big East titles.

Beard won a WNBA title with the Los Angeles Sparks in 2016. She was the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year twice (2017, 2018), a nine-team All-Defensive selection and a four-time WNBA All-Star. She was a three-time All-American at Duke, a three-time ACC Player of the Year and the consensus national player of the year in 2004. Beard led the Blue Devils to two Final Four appearances.

Kyvallos is a veteran coach who began her career at West Chester State College. She eventually became the coach at Queens College and led the program to a 259-71 record from 1968-82. She led Queens to the 1973 AIAW national championship and coached the first women’s collegiate basketball game to be played at Madison Square Garden in 1975 – there were more than 12,000 spectators. The court at Queens College is named after her.

Campbell is in his 26th season coaching Division II Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. He owns a record of 742-116 and won NAIA national championships in 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2010. Campbell is a four-time NAIA Coach of the Year and led Union to 48 consecutive No. 1 rankings in the NAIA national poll (2007-11). He’s the fastest coach in college basketball to reach both 600 and 700 wins.

Donehew has been the WBCA executive director since 2014. Donehew spent seven years with the Lady Vols under legendary coach Pat Summitt as a grad assistant and director of operations after her playing career at Georgia Tech. Donehew went on to be the executive vice president of the Atlanta Dream and the associate commissioner for women’s basketball for the Big East and the American Athletic conferences before stepping into her WBCA role.

Cora Hall covers University of Tennessee women’s athletics. Email her at cora.hall@knoxnews.com and follow her on Twitter @corahalll. If you enjoy Cora’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that allows you to access all of it.