SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Standing atop of the podium for eight-consecutive Olympics, the U.S. women’s basketball program boasts one of the most-prolific streaks in the history of sports. That string of dominance all started with the gold medal at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. On Saturday, the entire team entered the Naismith Hall of Fame. They join other historical groups like the 1976 silver-medal winning Olympic team and the 1972-74 Immaculata College team.
Team USA also won gold medals at Los Angeles 1984 and Seoul 1988. However, the 1996 Olympic team pounced on newfound visibility for women’s sports that eventually led to the creation of the WNBA.
The team is composed of some of the greatest to ever play. Dawn Staley, Lisa Leslie, Sheryl Swoopes, Teresa Edwards, Katrina McClain and Rebecca Lobo were inducted into the Hall of Fame as individual players in previous years. Jennifer Azzi, Ruthie Bolton-Holifield, Venus Lacy, Nikki McCray-Penson, Carla McGhee and Katy Steding now join their teammates as Naismith Hall of Famers. Azzi, Bolton-Holifield and McCray-Penson are also members of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.
“I think the 1996 team was a team full of players who understood the assignment that’s won,” Staley told reporters. “How it turned out and who I am going in with, means the world to me. We are sisters who are joined by hard work and success. Sometimes that is not often rewarded.”
Staley mentioned how players like Lynette Woodard and Nancy Lieberman paved the way for her and her teammates. She also recollected a seven-day trial with two-a-day practices to make head coach Tara VanDerveer’s team. Players were told it was the national team rather than the Olympic team.
“When your number was placed on the wall,” Staley continued, “then you had a conversation with [national team director] Carol Callan or someone else on the committee. What Tara put us through physically, your mental strength rolls with it. When you are physically and mentally strong, you are unafraid to fail.”
Hall of Fame inductee Candace Parker expressed her appreciation for not only the basketball team, but also the U.S. gymnastics team that won the gold medal in Atlanta.
“They are a catalyst for why women’s professional sports exist, not just basketball, but sports,” Parker said during a press conference ahead of the induction ceremony. “ I remember being 10 years old on the couch watching the Olympics. I think of them as an opportunity and it’s surreal that I am going into the Hall of Fame with them. That team was huge for this generation.”
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Chamique Holdsclaw, also a 2026 inductee, won the national championship as a freshman at Tennessee in 1996. She said she recently sent Leslie a photo of her in her dorm room with Leslie’s poster on the wall. She credits the team for opening the door for American players to play professionally at home.
“Without this team, I don’t think women’s professional basketball would be a reality,” said Holdsclaw, who played professionally in Poland for several years. “They made me believe. It wasn’t publicized. If you meet the players before me, they speak different languages because they played overseas. All of these players had great careers abroad.”
Elena Delle Donne was just shy of her seventh birthday in 1996. Still, the 2026 Hall of Fame inductee acknowledged the impact the team had on her.
“I was young, but just being able to have female players to look up to was important to me,” said Delle Donne, who won the gold medal at Rio 2016. “To be something, a lot of times, you need to see it. The reason I am here today is because I was able to see them and emulate them. To see where the game is today, it’s so exciting.”
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McCray-Penson, who passed away in 2023, was a former assistant to Staley at South Carolina and was inducted to the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012, alongside Staley. Her son, Thomas Nikson Penson, represented her on stage during the ceremony.
“She was the little sister,” Staley said about McCray-Penson. “She had a role to play on that team. Even though she wanted to play a bigger role, it was her job to defend.”
Staley also talked about how Leslie and Swoopes were the scoring options, and joked how McCray-Penson would look at her for passes.
“Maybe she gets in a little later, but right now, we pull Nikki into the Hall of Fame,” Staley added.
Also appearing on stage for the ceremony were assistant coaches Ceal Barry and Marian Washington. A family member represented the late Nancy Darsch.
