This year’s inductees, selected by the Emily Taylor Center for Women and Gender Equity, include Woodard, Lydia Beebe, Jannette Berkley-Patton, Mary Kladyer, Sandy Praeger and Julie Johnson Staples.

Since 1970, the Emily Taylor Center for Women & Gender Equity has honored a select group of women to be inducted into the Kansas Women’s Hall of Fame. It honors and celebrates KU’s rich legacy of women who, through their transformational leadership and contributions, have changed the world.

A four-time Kodak All-American and All-Big Eight selection, Woodard paved the way for women in basketball and left her mark all over KU women’s basketball’s history book along the way. She registered double-digit scoring efforts in 138 of her 139 games in the Crimson and Blue. Woodard is the all-time leading scorer for both KU men’s and women’s programs, with 3,649 points. During the 1978 season, Woodard led the country in rebounding and led the nation in scoring a season later in 1979.

Following graduation at Kansas, Woodard went on to become the first female Harlem Globetrotter, a two-time Olympian and played professionally both overseas and in the WNBA. After a successful professional career, Woodard continued her journey with basketball as a coach. Currently, Woodard is the head coach at Winthrop.

Woodard was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005. In 1980, she became the first female inducted into the Kansas Athletics Hall of Fame.