WNBA greats Sue Bird, Sylvia Fowles, Cappie Pondexter and Alana Beard headline the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2025 announced Friday.
Also being inducted on June 14 will be longtime Union University coach Mark Campbell, as well as Lucille Kyvallos, who led West Chester College and Queens College to early success. Rounding out the class is Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Executive Director Danielle Donehew.
“We are honored to honor seven distinguished legends of this exceptional sport,” said WBHOF President Dana Hart. “They embody the highest standards of women’s basketball and have made substantial contributions to the sport while shaping the historical trajectory of the game.”
Bird has won at every level, including five Olympic gold medals, four WNBA championships with Seattle and two NCAA titles at UConn.
“She was able to be the brains behind the curtain and just make sure everything happened exactly the way it was supposed to happen,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said Friday night. “And then she did it in the WNBA, and she did it in the Olympics, and did it better than anyone has ever done it.
“There hasn’t been a point guard in women’s basketball who has played it better, or longer, or had more success.”
Bird, a 12-time All-Star who also won four world championships with the United States, retired in 2022. That’s the same season Fowles ended her playing career.
Fowles won WNBA titles with Minnesota in 2015 and 2017 and was Finals MVP twice. She was also part of four of the Olympic champion teams with Bird. The former LSU star made the WNBA all-defensive team eight times.
Beard was a two-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year. She won a WNBA title with the Los Angeles Sparks in 2016.
Pondexter won two WNBA championships with Phoenix in 2007 and 2009 and was the Finals MVP for the first time. She earned Big East Player of the Year honors while playing for Rutgers and led the Scarlet Knights to a 97-22 record and back-to-back conference titles in 2005 and 2006. She won Olympic gold in 2008 with Bird and Fowles.
Kyvallos coached at West Chester from 1962 to 1966 and at Queens College from 1968 to 1980 and 1981 to 1982. She won 80.91% of her matches, with a score of 311-73. She was coaching Queens when the team played in the first women’s college basketball game at Madison Square Garden that drew more than 12,000 fans.
Campbell has coached at Division II Union University for 26 seasons and went 742-116 at the NAIA school. His team won NAIA championships in 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2010.
Donehew has served as executive director of the WBCA since 2014 and has helped the organization grow over the past decade. Before that, she worked for her alma mater Georgia Tech as well as Tennessee, the Atlanta Dream, the Big East and the American Athletic Conference.
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AP Basketball Writer Aaron Beard in Greensboro, North Carolina, contributed to this report.
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