Class of 2022 – Women's Basketball Hall of Fame

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Penny Taylor

Taylor had a 19-year career, which was mostly spent with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury
From 1997-1999, she played for the Australian Institute of Sport
A Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) Champion in 1999, named a two-time WNBL Most Valuable Player (2001, 2002), a two-time WNBL Top Shooter Award winner (2001, 2002), and a three-time WNBL All-Star Five (2001, 2002, 2015)
During her 2000-01 season in the WNBL, Taylor led the league in scoring with 25.5 points per game and 2.5 steals per game
During her career with the Phoenix Mercury (2004-07, 2009-11, 2013-14, 2016) she scored twenty or more points in 49 career games, while eight of those were 30 or more-point games
A three-time WNBA Champion (2007, 2009, and 2014), as well as a 3-Time WNBA All-Star (2002, 2007, and 2011)
A member of the Australian National Team, the “Opals,” since 2022 that competed in four World Championships, 2002 (Bronze), 2004 (Silver), 2006 (Gold), 2014 (Bronze)
Earned a gold medal in the World Championship in Brazil, and was the Most Valuable Player of the tournament (2006)
She competed in three Olympiads for the Opals in 2004 Athens (Silver), 2008 Beijing (Silver), and 2016 Rio
Between WNBA seasons, she played in China, Italy, Russia, and Turkey, winning each league at least once
Taylor is a 4-Time Turkish League Champion (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013) with Fenerbahce
Retired from playing at the end of the 2016 WNBA season

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Bob Schneider

Schneider compiled an all-time coaching record of 1,045-293 (.781%) during his forty-three-year coaching career at the high school and collegiate levels
During his career, he spent 12 years at Canyon High School (TX) where his teams appeared in ten consecutive Texas state tournaments while winning the Texas state championship five times, and finishing as Texas state tournament runner-up five times
While at Canyon High School in 1978, the team was the only undefeated high school girls’ team in the state of Texas
Had an overall record of 350-59 from 1966-1978
Enshrined in the Texas Girls Coaches Hall of Fame, the Texas High School Basketball Hall of Fame, and the West Texas A&M Hall of Champions
Across all divisions, Schneider ranks 26th in total victories and 38th in winning percentage
Spent 25 years at West Texas A&M University, going to nine Lone Star Conference (Division II) championships in 15 seasons
Schneider is 1 of 5 NCAA Division II women’s coaches to earn 500 wins
Listed as third in all-time NCAA Division II history with 634 victories and listed as twelfth in all-time NCAA Division II history with a .757 winning percentage
During his time as Head Coach at West Texas A&M, his teams were able to reach postseason competition eight straight years starting in 1985; he led his team to the NCAA Elite Eight twice, NCAA quarterfinals (1997), and became the NCAA national runners-up in 1988.
During his career, he spent 12 years at Canyon High School (TX) where his teams appeared in ten consecutive Texas state tournaments while winning the Texas state championship five times, and finishing as Texas state tournament runner-up five times
While at Canyon High School in 1978, the team was the only undefeated high school girls’ team in the state of Texas
In 1993, Schneider was elected to the Texas Girls Coaches Hall of Fame, and in 1997 elected to the Texas High School Basketball Hall of Fame
Across all divisions, Schneider ranks 26th in total victories and 38th in winning percentage
Schneider retired from Coaching in August of 2006

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Paul Sanderford

Collegiate coach for 26 seasons at Western Kentucky, Nebraska, and Louisburg College
Compiled a career winning percentage of .748 with 616 games won over his collegiate coaching career and as a Division I coach, 453-189 (.706)
As head coach at Louisburg College in Louisburg, North Carolina (1977-1981), he led the program to the 1981 NJCAA National Championship and the same year earned the Wade Trophy, given to the National Junior College Coach of the Year
Sanderford was 163-19 in his six years as head coach of Louisburg women’s basketball program, and named the Region X Coach of the Year for four consecutive years, additionally named Outstanding Coach at the National Tournament in 1981
Vice President of the NJCAA Coaches Organization from 1981 to 1982 and inducted into the NJCAA Hall of Fame in 2000
At Western Kentucky University, he amassed 365 victories and a .753 winning percentage (1982-97), posting 12 seasons with 20 plus victories. Is a school-record of 32 victories during the 1985-86 season, 14 postseasons appearances – 12 NCAA tournaments, and the program’s three Final Four trips (1985,1986,1992), with the team advancing all the way to the National Championship game against Stanford (1992)
The Western Kentucky University Lady Hilltoppers won 15 NCAA Tournament games, advancing four times to the Sweet Sixteen
Coached the Western Kentucky University team to five Sun Belt Conference regular-season championships and seven Sun Belt Conference tournament titles.
Sun Belt Coach of the Year honors three times (1982-83,1985-86, and 1990-91) while coaching seven All-Americans
Inducted into the WKU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008
Head Coach at the University of Nebraska (1997-2002), compiling an overall record of 88-69, ranking him as the second-winningest coach in school history
Guided the Cornhuskers to three consecutive NCAA Tournament bids, which doubled the previous number of NCAA bids by the school
In 1998, he was the Big 12 Coach of the Year while coaching at The University of Nebraska
Along with the success on the court while at Nebraska, Sanderford earned unprecedented fan support, setting a school record with an average home attendance of 5,000 fans per game (1999-2000), the program set school records in his first three seasons, and ranked the top 25 teams nationally in home attendance in each of his first four years
He retired in 2007

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DeLisha Milton-Jones

A graduate and member of the University of Florida women’s basketball program, helping the Gators to four straight NCAA tournament appearances, and ending on one of the most remarkable collegiate careers at Florida totaling 1,858 career points.
In 1997, was the winner of the Wade Trophy, Honda Sports Award for Basketball, SEC Player of the Year, and SEC First-team All-American
Recognized as an All-American by the Associated Press, Kodak, and the Basketball Times as a senior at the University of Florida
Inducted into the University of Florida Athletics Hall of Fame in 2007
Played professionally for 17 years in the WNBA with the Washington Mystics, Los Angeles Sparks, San Antonio Stars, and New York Liberty
Set a WNBA league history for most games played in the league with 499, which was later broken by current WNBA player Sue Bird
Helped lead the Los Angeles Sparks to back-to-back WNBA Championships (2001,2002)
Named a 3-time WNBA All-Star (2000, 2004, 2007) and currently ranked as the 16^th player in WNBA history with 5,571 career points
Two-time Olympic Gold Medalist, first gold medal won in Sydney, Australia (2000), and second gold medal in Beijing, China (2008)
A two-time FIBA World Championship Gold Medalist (1998,2002), and a Bronze Medal in the FIBA World Championship (2006)
Earned gold medals in the U.S. Olympic Festival (1994), U.S. Olympic Cup (1999), the World University Games in 1997
Aside from her professional playing career with the WNBA, Milton-Jones also made numerous stops internationally in Spain, Italy, Turkey, South Korea, the Czech Republic, and Russia
Awarded the Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award during her professional career
Milton-Jones retired from playing in 2016 and is currently the head coach for Old Dominion University women’s basketball program

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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

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Doug Bruno

Bruno is the current Head Coach of DePaul Blue Demons women’s basketball program with 758 wins as DePaul’s leader, and 798 wins in his overall coaching career
He is the fourth active Division I head coach to reach the 600-win plateau. Bruno won the 700^th game of his overall career on February 9, 2018, and the 700^th as a college coach on December 1, 2019.
Has completed his 36^th season at the helm in Lincoln Park, led the Blue Demons to 24 NCAA Tournament appearances (qualified for 25), 18 consecutive NCAA appearances, four appearances in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen, a ten-time BIG East regular-season champion, and seven-time BIG East conference tournament champion
Named the Big East Coach of the Year three times (2014, 2016, and 2017) and three-time WBCA Regional Coach of the Year (2004, 2005, 2017)
Inducted into the DePaul University Hall of Fame (1993), the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame (2000), the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame (2004), and the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame (2017)
A six-time gold medalist with USA Basketball
Bruno was the 2006 & 2007 USA Basketball Developmental Coach of the Year, and is the only USA Basketball Development Coach of the Year to be recognized twice, after leading the U18 team and U19 team to gold medals at the FIBA Americas and World Championships
Head Coach of the WBL team, the Chicago Hustle for two years with a record of 40-30 where the team went on to win the league’s Midwest Division in the first year (1979)
Coached the 1st WBL All-Star Game that took place in Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY
Bruno has served on numerous NCAA and Women’s Basketball Coaching Association (WBCA) Committees, on a WBHOF National Board of Directors, on the Positive Coaching Alliance Board of Directors, and on the Danny Did Epilepsy Foundation Board of Directors
A WBCA Academic Honor Roll honoree, where he ranked for 14 years in the Academic Top 25, with 10 of those being consecutive
A current member of the WBCA, who completed a two-year term as President of the WBCA (2007)

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Description: A black and white photo of an older woman, possibly one of the women's basketball hall of fame members, smiling.

Alice “Cookie” Barron

Barron played for Wayland Baptist College (now University) from 1954-57, she played her first year on a full scholarship at Cisco Junior College
A member of the Flying Queens basketball team, as they were called, the team had a record of 104-0. Barron made free throws at the end of the third overtime to win against Iowa, keeping the win streak going (1957)
Barron won three National AAU Championships during her collegiate career, was a first-team All-American and named co-caption during her Senior year
Named as the 1956-57 Wayland’s Outstanding Woman Athlete
A member of the USA National Team in 1957, where she helped to win the World Tournament in Rio de Janeiro beating Russia in the finals before 35,000 fans
After graduating, “Cookie” taught and coached for the Clear Creek school district in Texas for eight years, where she coached and taught several of the original seven astronauts’ daughters.
Was the first female administrator inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame in 1992
Inducted to the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association inaugural class Hall of Fame
She was the first woman to serve on the Colorado High School Activities Association Board of Control and served on the executive board of the Colorado Athletic Directors Association for ten years
Served on the NIAAA membership committee for five years and on the NIAAA Board of Directors for four years
Barron retired in 1991 from the Jefferson County schools in Colorado, whereby that time the school district offered equal facility usage, equal sports, and levels of competition for girls and boys, along with equal pay for officials.

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Debbie Antonelli

Antonelli is entering her 34th college basketball season on-air as a Basketball Analyst for multiple networks. She also is on-air talent for WNBA games and has been the main play-by-play voice for the Indiana Fever
A graduate and member of the North Carolina State University (1983-1986) women’s basketball program, where she participated in four NCAA Tournaments and appeared in two Sweet Sixteen, where she served as team captain
After graduating from NC State, Antonelli moved on to Ohio University, where she earned her master’s degree in sports administration. After earning her master’s degree, she becomes Director of Marketing at the University of Kentucky, followed by the Ohio State University
When she arrived at the Ohio State University as Director of Marketing, Ohio State did not have any televised women’s sports. She arranged a deal with a local station to air eight women’s games per season, gathered the needed sponsors to produce those games, and as a bonus, became the play-by-play voice for those games.
Announced Ohio State women’s games for five years while also serving as an analyst for Dayton Flyer’s men’s basketball games for three years.
The first female analyst in 22 years on NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament for CBS/Turner Sports (2017 to present)
Has conducted media training, team building workshops, and seminars with over 50 Division I Men’s and Women’s Basketball Programs teaching the 4B’s of communications
An Inductee of the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2021
Received the 2007 Mel Greenberg Media Award as well as the 2000 ACC Distinguished Service Award
A member of the Kay Yow Cancer Fund Board of Directors/Executive Committee since its inception 13 years ago
In 2016, she created the “Antonelli’s Girls Only Sports Camp” in Mount Pleasant, SC, which introduces girls to twenty different sports, peer-pressure free
A two-time Emmy Award winner and Gracie Award Winner for her work in broadcasting basketball
Antonelli is the voice of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, and she has been the WBHOF Induction Ceremony Emcee

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