Members of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2023 were announced Sunday during the Phil Knight Legacy Championship Game broadcast on ABC. The 24th WBHOF induction class includes former Minessota Lynx player Lindsay Whalen, and Carolyn Peck, the first Black head coach to win an NCAA women’s basketball tournament, among others.
Peck, former head coach at Purdue, led her team to history when it became the only Big Ten team to win a title in basketball. She is a recipient of multiple “coach of the year” awards including the prestigious Naismith College Coach of the Year.
Whalen is a four-time WNBA championship team member, five-time WNBA All-Star, and has been a part of the WNBA first team thrice. A two-time Olympics gold medallist, she is one of only three sophomores in conference history to earn Big Ten Player of the year awards.
The other inductees are Cathy Boswell —a gold medallist at the 1984 Olympic games and an Illinois State standout, WNBA referee Lisa Mattingly, and a member of Texas and Connecticut Women’s Halls of Fame Donna Lopiano. Lopiano served as Chief Executive Officer of the Women’s Sports Foundation from 1992 to 2007 after her tenure at the University of Texas as Director of Athletics from 1975 to 1992.
The induction ceremony is scheduled for April 29 in Knoxville, Tennessee. The trustees of WBHOF comprise the selection committee for choosing inductees every year. Voting takes place and is based on three minimum candidate requirements: the record of performance, international or national recognition, and how they have contributed to women’s basketball.
Along with the Class of 2023 announcement, the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame announced the winners of the Trailblazers of the Game Award and For the Love of the Game Award. While the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association bagged the former award, the latter was won by the Dust Bowl Girls.