MN Hall of Fame recognition slow to come for Black players

Of the 10-person Minnesota Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2023, I covered two of them during their illustrious careers: Carol Ann Shudlick and Katie Smith.

Shudlick, now Shudlick-Smith, starred at Minnesota during my early years as a Gopher beat reporter (1990-94), and played on the school’s first NCAA participation in 1994, her senior year. The Apple Valley native also won the Wade Trophy that season, given annually to the nation’s best women’s basketball player. She is the first and only trophy winner I have ever covered.

Besides finishing her Gopher career as the school’s all-time scorer (2,097), Shudlick remains among my favorite players to cover.

I didn’t get to know Smith when she lit it up for Ohio State (1992-96), but when she played for the Minnesota Lynx, I often said she was the best scorer hands-down in the building that the Lynx and their NBA arena mates shared. 

After seven seasons, in which Smith was a first-team WNBA All-Star (2001 and 2003), and 2001 league-scoring champion, she was traded to the then-Detroit Shock, where she won two league championships. Smith also won the only two American Basketball League (ABL) titles when she played for Columbus. 

Like Shudlick, Smith—now the Lynx associate head coach—is also on my all-time list of nice players to speak with.

Unlike the two aforementioned players who tore up the Big Ten, Linda Roberts was a trailblazer doing her thing in the old AIAW as a Gopher (1977-81)—the Big Ten didn’t sanction women’s college basketball until 1982. Roberts was a two-time Wade Trophy finalist and led Minnesota to two consecutive AIAW trips—the NCAA didn’t hold tournaments until 1982.

Roberts, the St. Paul native, also played in the first Minnesota High School League-sanctioned girls’ basketball tournament in 1976, for St. Paul Central, the state’s first girls’ high school champions. At Minnesota, she became the first of six Black, female Gopher players to score 1,000 or more points and was the school’s all-time leading scorer until Shudlick and others passed her up. She still holds several school records.

I never saw Roberts play in high school or college, but the late Kwame McDonald did. Both of us were bothered that she has not been fully recognized for her hoopin’ career. He and I constantly beat the drums in the MSR, writing about this glaring oversight.

It took nearly two decades, until January 2006, before Roberts became the first Black female basketball player to have her jersey hoisted in the Williams Arena rafters. She gratefully thanked both McDonald and me.

After I introduced Roberts at the March 1, Minnesota Sports HOF ceremony, she made me promise to mention her gratitude once again in print. “Thank you Kwame McDonald and you for helping get my jersey retired. I appreciate that.” 

Roberts’ cousin, Lisa Lissimore, added, “It is a pleasure for me to be in these spaces where Linda is rightfully recognized and honorably recognized. It shouldn’t have had to take so long.”

Asked where her latest honor fits in her rich life, Roberts said, “This ranks as icing on the cake, because I’ve been inducted into several halls of fame, and I think this is the highest honor.”

Finally, with this milestone as with others in her life, Roberts can’t help but smile. “Just knowing where I came from, born and raised in St. Paul, and being able to represent St. Paul in the best way that I could.”