Inductees
Interested in the Trailblazers of the Game recipients?
Barbara Stevens
- The winningest coach in NCAA Division II women’s basketball history
- Has compiled an overall record of 711-193 (.773) in 29 years as a collegiate coach, including six years at Clark University and three years at the University of Massachusetts, with a mark of 554-102 (.845) in 20 years at Bentley College
- Has averaged better than 28 wins per season at Bentley, posting nine 30-win seasons including five straight between 1989 and 1993
- Has guided Bentley to the NCAA Tournament all 19 years, winning 10 regional championships and making seven trips to the Division II Fab Four, including five consecutive, and an appearance in the 1990 national championship game
- Has claimed 14 Northeast-10 Conference regular season championships
- Served as president of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) in 1994-95
- Tabbed as WBCA Division II National Coach of the Year three times (1993, 1999, 2001) and named Northeast-10 Conference Coach of the Year 12 times
Barbara Stevens
The winningest coach in NCAA Division II women’s basketball history...
Becky Hammon
- Hammon graduated and played for Colorado State Rams (1995 -1999), where she was a three-time All-American basketball player, has been inducted into the Rams Athletics Hall of Fame, and where her No. 25 jersey was retired
- Received the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award, named the Western Athletic Conference’s (WAC) all-time leading scorer and named the WAC Mountain Division Player of the Year (1998-99)
- Played for the New York Liberty (1999-2006), where she led the WNBA in scoring in 2003 and inducted into the New York Liberty’s Ring of Honor (2015)
- On April 4, 2007, she was traded to the WNBA’s San Antonio Silver Stars, where she posted career-high averages of 18.8ppg (fourth best) and 5.0apg in 2007. She led the league in assists that year
- Helped lead the Silver Stars to a WNBA best record (24-10) and into the playoff for a second straight year; Hammon scored two 30 or more-point games during the Stars play-off run, and finished the season competing in the WNBA Finals
- On June 25, 2016, the San Antonio Stars retired Hammon’s No. 25 jersey
- A six-time WNBA All-Star (2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, and 2011) and became the seventh player in WNBA history to score 5,000 points.
- Two-time All-WNBA First Team (2007, 2009) and a two-time All-WNBA Second Team (2005, 2008)
- In 2011 named one of the WNBA’s Top 15 Players of All-Time
- Competed in the Olympics two times for Russia, both in 2008 (Bronze) and 2012
- Hammon was named the ESPNW Woman of the Year in 2014
- Began her coaching career, as the Assistant Coach for the NBA’s Spurs in 2014
- The 2015 NBA Summer league coach for the Spurs, who won the summer league title
- 2016 NBA All-Star Game coaching staff
- Hammon retired from playing in 2014 and is currently in her first year as Head Coach for the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces
Becky Hammon
Hammon graduated and played for Colorado State Rams (1995 -1999),...
Bertha Teague
- Known as “Mrs. Basketball of Oklahoma”
- Began her coaching career at Cairo (Okla.) but moved to Byng (Okla.) High School after one year, where she guided the school to 38 conference titles, 27 district championships, and 22 state tournament berths
- Won eight state crowns at Byng and finished as state runner-up seven times
- Coached from 1926-1969, amassing a career record of 1,152-115 for a winning percentage of .910
- Posted five undefeated seasons, including a three-year stretch (1936-1938) in which her squads wired together 98 straight victories and three consecutive state crowns
- Helped organize the Oklahoma High School Girls’ Basketball Coaches Association in 1962 and was named the organization’s first president and was then re-elected to seven consecutive one-year terms
- Served on the National Rules Committee of the Division of Girls and Women’s Sports from 1949-1960
- Has also been credited with being an innovator in the area of basketball apparel
Bertha Teague
Known as “Mrs. Basketball of Oklahoma” Began her coaching career...
Beth Bass
- Bass was the executive director of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) from 1997 to 2000, and the chief executive officer of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association from 2001 to 2014.
- She was a four-year winner of the women’s basketball letter at East Tennessee State University from 1980 to 1984.
- Bass worked at Nike and specialized in women’s basketball sports marketing endeavors, including coaching endorsements, the WBCA High School All-America Game, the inaugural Nike Girls All-America Camp, and the Coaches’ Extravaganza at the WBCA National Convention.
- In 1986 to 1995, she worked at Converse and cultivated Converse’s women’s basketball marketing endeavors including the renowned Converse/WBCA Coach of the Year Award.
- Bass was a part of the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund Board of Directors, Naismith Hall of Fame Board of Trustees, National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Board of Director, and Atlanta Tip Off Club Advisory Board.
- In 2007, Bass helped launch one of the most successful grassroots marketing campaigns for breast cancer awareness with the WBCA’s “Think Pink”, now known as the WBCA Pink Zone.
Beth Bass
Bass was the executive director of the Women’s Basketball Coaches...
Betty F. Jaynes
- Named Chief Executive Officer of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) on September 1, 1996 after serving 15 years as Executive Director of the organization
- Has been a part of the WBCA since its founding in 1981, helping the organization grow from a membership of 212 to 5,000-plus
- Has served as the WBCA’s chief liaison to numerous affiliated governing bodies and sport organizations, including USA Basketball, the Women’s Sports Foundation, the NCAA, the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators (NACWAA)
- Served as head women’s basketball coach at Madison College (renamed James Madison University in 1977) from 1970 to 1982, compiling a 142-114 worksheet
- Chaired the U.S. Girls’ and Women’s Basketball Rules Committee from 1979 to 1981
- Acted as tournament director for the 1975 AIAW Large College National Basketball Championships
- Served as committee chair of the Kodak All-America program from 1976 through 1982
Betty F. Jaynes
Named Chief Executive Officer of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association...