Class of 2008 – Women's Basketball Hall of Fame

Michele Timms

Three-time Olympian
Played 14 years for the Australian National Team; led the Australian National Team to its first Olympic medal (bronze) in 1996; named Australian Player of the Year in 1996; captain of the Australian team that won the silver medal in 2000
First Australian woman to play professionally overseas
Inducted into the Australian Sports Hall of Fame in 2003
Named the Women’s International Player of the Year in 1994 and 1996
A member of the Phoenix Mercury from 1997-2001, WNBA All-Star starter in 1999, had her number 7 jersey retired, becoming the first Mercury player and just second WNBA player to have a jersey retired
Served as development coach for the NBL Club team, South Dragons, becoming just the second woman to be part of an NBL club’s coaching staff, this past winter.
Served as assistant coach for the Chinese Olympic Team in 2008

Recently named the best 5-4 basketball player, male or female, of all time by Sports Illustrated
The first First-Team All-American in Penn State Women’s Basketball history
Holds the NCAA records for career assists (1,307), assists in a season (355) and season assist average (11.8)
Four-time All-Atlantic 10 Conference player at Penn State
Won two Olympic medals, gold in 1988 and bronze in 1992
Played three seasons in the WNBA with the Cleveland Rockers, named WNBA Newcomer of the Year and All-WNBA First Team in 1998
Started her coaching career by leading Oakland Catholic (Pittsburgh) to three state titles and four district championships in 13 seasons
Coached the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx to back-to-back playoff appearances and was named WNBA Coach of the Year honors in 2004
Completed her first season at Duquesne in 2007-2008

One of the few athletes ever to be named as Kodak All-American and Wade Trophy finalist at two different universities: Wayland Baptist College (1978-79) and the University of Tennessee (1979-80); also played in the Final Four for both schools
Scored 1000 points in a single season and was named MVP at Wayland in 1978-79; scored a total of 2,851 career points at Wayland and Tennessee
Selected as the Lady Vol MVP at Tennessee and voted MVP of the Southeastern Conference Tournament in 1980
Gold Medalist in both the 1979 World Championships in Korea and the William R. Jones Cup in Taiwan; Silver Medalist in the 1979 Pan American Games in Puerto Rico
Co-captain of the 1980 Olympic Team; gold medalist in Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Bulgaria prior to the U.S. boycott of the Moscow Games.
Was inducted into the Texas Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Texas High School Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002.
Worked for one year as a graduate assistant at Tennessee; served as an assistant coach at Texas for five years, including the 1986 undefeated season; entered high school coaching in 1986
Currently a high school girls’ basketball coach in Lubbock Texas

Head coach of the Virginia women’s basketball program for 31 years, where she has tallied an overall record of 675-288
22 NCAA Tournament appearances and three consecutive Final Four berths (1990-92)
Tallied her 600th career win against James Madison in 2004, becoming just the seventh coach in NCAA Women’s Basketball history to reach the 600-win milestone at the same school
Naismith Coach of the Year in 1991
Seven-time ACC Coach of the Year, which is a conference record
Led the USA Basketball team to the gold medal in the World University Games in 2001, and was named USA Basketball Developmental Coach of the Year that same year
Coached the USA basketball team to a silver medal at the Pan American Games in 2003
Played college basketball at Ursinus College
Has written three books: Virginia Defense, Virginia Summer Development Program and Women’s Basketball Drills – Conditioning

Head coach of Central Arizona College, where she has tallied an overall record of 971-145 (.870) in 34 seasons
Has won three NJCAA National Championships (1989, 1998 and 2005) and appeared in eleven Final Fours
Holds record for NJCAA wins
Has seen 140 of her players go on to major universities, including Bridget Pettis and Amanda Lassiter, who both went on to play in the WNBA
Named Converse Coach of the Year in 1982-83, Russell Athletic WBCA Coach of the Year in 2004-05 and 2007-08, and NJCAA National Coach of the Year in 1988-89, 1997-98 and 2004-05
Has led Central Arizona to 29 ACCAC Titles, including 21 consecutive and tallied 185 consecutive conference wins over a nine-year span
Appeared in 27 National Tournaments with 20 or more wins in 31 years and 30 or more wins in 20 years
The basketball court at Central Arizona College is named after Laursen, who has been with the college since 1971 and also coached volleyball and softball for eight years.
Was inducted into NJCAA Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in April 2008

Basketball official since 1972, currently the coordinator of Women’s Basketball Officiating Consortium, which includes eight different conferences
Served on the Board of Directors for the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO, 2004-2007), earned the 1989 CYO Volunteer Coaching Award and the 1990 St. John Bosco Award, which is the highest award for contributions to CYO.
Has extensive experience at the high school, college, international and professional levels
Has officiated seven Final Fours, six WNBA Championships, two ABL Finals, three ABL All-Star games; reffed the inaugural WNBA All-Star game in 1999
Became the second female to ever officiate an Olympics when she worked the 1988 Olympics in Seouls
First woman to officiate the Pan American Games in 1987
Inaugural winner of the Naismith Female Basketball Official of the Year Award in 1988
On Nov. 30, 1995 was commissioned as a Distinguished Hoosier by the Office of then Governor Evan Bayh from the State of Indiana
Director of Officials for the WNBA from 2002-2004
Served on the Board of Directors for the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO, 2004-2007), earned the 1989 CYO Volunteer Coaching Award and the 1990 St. John Bosco Award, which is the highest award for contributions to CYO