AP PhotoKNOXVILLE, TENN. ? Former Kansas University women’s basketball coach Marian Washington tonight will become one of the six newest members of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. The inductees arrived Friday and will attend a ceremony tonight.
The other inductees are North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell, North Dakota State coach Amy Ruley, Oregon coach and Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame member Bev Smith, former USA Basketball executive director Bill Wall and eight-time AAU All-American Lurlyne Greer Rogers.
Rogers, who died in 2001 at age 73, will be represented by her niece and nephew at the ceremony.
Washington went on medical leave in January and retired a month later in her 31st season at Kansas, citing undisclosed health reasons.
Lynette Woodard, a four-time All-American at Kansas, took over the team as interim coach. She accompanied Washington at the Hall of Fame on Friday, and 15 of her players were scheduled to attend the ceremony.
A former player at West Chester State, Washington was one of the first black women to play on the U.S. national team in 1971. She was the first black coach for the USA when she was an assistant on the gold medal-winning Olympic team in 1996.
