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Marvin Dixon Credit: Charles Hallman\/MSR<\/p>\nKNOXVILLE, TENN. \u2013 The high point of last weekend\u2019s Women\u2019s Basketball Hall of Fame (WBHOF) induction ceremony besides the pomp and circumstance are the inductees\u2019 origin stories told in humbling ways.<\/p>\n
Candace Parker, Elena Delle Donne and Cheryl Reeve headlined the Class of 2026, along with players Amaya Valdemoro and Isabelle Fijalkowski who made their mark on the international stage; successful junior college Coach Kim Muhl; and broadcaster Doris Burke.<\/p>\n
Marvin Dixon Credit: Charles Hallman\/MSR<\/p>\n
All spoke last Saturday except Barbara Kennedy-Dixon, who died at age 58 from cancer in 2018. Her husband and high school sweetheart, Marvin Dixon, spoke on her behalf.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was impressed with my presenter. She really set the stage,\u201d Dixon told us afterwards of Valerie Still, Class of 2019. Still said of Barbara, \u201cHer impact on this world is permanent. Your legacy will never be forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parker said in her speech, \u201cWhatever uniform I wore, winning was always the mission.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lindsay Whalen (2023) in introducing Reeve: \u201cI would not be in the Hall of Fame without her. Together we built a dynasty in the WNBA. At the center of it all was Cheryl Reeve.\u201d<\/p>\n
In thanking coaches, players, family, and even Lynx fans, the longtime Lynx Head Coach said, \u201cMy greatest win is you,\u201d paying brief homage to her 10-year-old son.<\/p>\n
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Cheryl Reeve Credit: Charles Hallman\/MSR<\/p>\n
The day before their induction, MSR talked to Dixon, Reeve and Parker.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf she was here right now today, she\u2019d be finding more out about you than you trying to find out about her because she never did speak on herself,\u201d said Marvin of his late wife.<\/p>\n
Barbara Kennedy was a star at Clemson (1978-82) in the old AIAW then the NCAA, where she became among the few women\u2019s players to score more than 3,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in her career. She then played in the WBA, one of the early U.S. women\u2019s pro basketball leagues that came and went, and in Italy for two years before that.<\/p>\n
Now Kennedy-Dixon, she returned to Clemson where she served in various roles, including assistant coach, senior women\u2019s administrator and assistant athletic director for athletic academic services until her health took her away.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe left a legacy there at Clemson,\u201d Dixon pointed out proudly, \u201cloved her career \u2026 while she was there. She had a serving heart and the love that she had\u2026 it was about people.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Candace Parker Credit: Charles Hallman\/MSR<\/p>\n
\u201cI tell everybody I hadn\u2019t done anything famous but marry her, that\u2019s my claim to fame,\u201d stressed Marvin.<\/p>\n
Parker was the other Black woman in the WBHOF Class of 2026: from high school, college and the pros, she made her mark as a two-time NCAA champion at Tennessee, a three-time WNBA champion with Los Angeles, Chicago and Las Vegas, and two-time Olympic gold medalist with a slew of honors and awards.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talk about our teammates and they\u2019re the ones that got us here 100%,\u201d Parker told MSR. \u201cI\u2019m super grateful for the class that I came in here at Tennessee, and all the teammates I played professionally, in the Olympics and all of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the HOFer wanted it known that it also was the competition that made her great, \u201cthat gets overlooked, like Sylvia Fowles and myself. We\u2019ve been playing against each other since we were 13 years old; she went in last year in the Class of 2025. We\u2019re almost identical in every single category, and I think she made me raise my game. She made me elevate like the basketball player that I am, and I think those are the competitors that really lift you and are able to be a part of your journey.\u201d<\/p>\n
Five Minnesota Lynx players she coached are in the Hall. Reeve, who will soon be the WNBA\u2019s winningest coach, is one of 13 current Hall of Famers who also have been WNBA head coaches, including Teresa Weatherspoon, Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, Carolyn Peck and Cheryl Miller.<\/p>\n
When will Rebekkah Brunson join fellow Lynx players Fowles, Maya Moore, Lindsay Whalen, Seimone Augustus and Taj McWilliams-Franklin, and their coach, in the WBHOF? \u201cI told Rebekkah on the way down here that is my mission\u201d to get her inducted, said Reeve. \u201cShe\u2019s the one who got the most (championship) rings of any player that ever played. I believe her time is coming.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carol Gaston of Charlotte, N.C. was among the many volunteers at the WBHOF weekend. She told MSR that it was her fourth year. \u201cJust meeting people from all over the world,\u201d she said, ranks high among her thrills of working the annual event. \u201cI just hope that all our young girls that are playing ball, high school [and] college girls, can take the time to come to the Hall of Fame to witness this,\u201d she advises.<\/p>\n
After last Saturday\u2019s ceremony, MSR ran into former WNBA Executive Renee Brown.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is just a great class,\u201d she concluded. \u201cI think with all of them and what they\u2019ve done for women\u2019s basketball, they are even greater people. I could not be happier for this group.\u201d<\/p>\n