This is my third time this century attending an out-of-town hall of fame ceremony, my fourth overall. The Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame (WBHOF) Class of 2025 didn’t disappoint the packed Tennessee Theatre of family, coaches, teammates, media and others on Father’s Day eve, a Saturday night.
Each inductee told their own humbling story in their allotted time on stage. Each speech had memorable lines and received pre-and-post remarks applause.
Alana Beard before her speech told her fellow WBHOFers: “I am humbled to stand by you.”
Sylvia Fowles: “I’m here because of the village that [supported] me.”
Sue Bird: “Greatness is never a solo performance.”
Vanessa Pondexter, Cappie Pondexter’s mother: “I want to thank you for choosing Cappie in this period of her life.”
Mark Campbell: “I’m a product of family, community and team. I want to honor the people who defined my journey.”
Danielle Donehew: “I have seen the power of this sport in bringing people together.”
Lucille Kyvallos: “I’m honored … to have our history recognized.”
The inductees were escorted to their seats by an existing Hall of Famer. Teresa Weatherspoon (2010) escorted Ms. Pondexter. “I wanted to be here and be supportive of Cappie. I’m with her mother and her aunt,” she told us afterwards.
The 2025 WBHOF class each came in on their own walk-in music: Kyvallos chose Helen Ready’s “I Am Woman.” She coached for nearly three decades in the pre-NCAA era.
“I have been watching her since I was 12 years old,” Jacqueline Brantley told me after the ceremony. Brantley played and graduated from Queens College (1979-1982) and was among nearly 40 of Kyvallos’ former players here at the ceremony.
Brantley recalled watching several of Kyvallos’ Queens College players as a youngster, many of whom went on to play overseas. “They would actually take the time to talk to us high school kids and spend time with us,” continued Brantley, a retired New York Department of Correction official. “By the time I was a senior in high school, other schools were recruiting me, but I was just loyal to [Kyvallos] at that point, and my family trusted her.”
I first ran into Brantley at the airport and shared a cab when we learned we were staying in the same downtown hotel. She told many stories of her playing years with Kyvallos, all of them with fondness and grace.
“I’m glad she got her flowers while she was alive, and we got to show her how much we appreciate her while she could hear us,” said Brantley as she stood with her former coach and now WBHOFer.
Weatherspoon said after the ceremony, “This is an awesome experience. That memory [of her 2010 induction] is always in my mind.”
“The players are well deserved,” said founding WNBA president and now Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman of Fowles, Beard and Bird. She also is in the Hall (2011).
Former Duke coach Gail Goestenkors (2010 WBHOF) said of Beard, who played for her in college, “She has always done the hard thing to make herself better.”
Fowles said in her acceptance remarks, “It is not just about basketball. Even though my name is on the hall of fame trophy, this moment belongs to us all.”
Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.