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Lady Vol Basketball Legends
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Tennessee has recognized the careers of six supremely-gifted Lady Vols and a history-shattering coach with the hanging of jersey-banners from the rafters of Thompson-Boling Arena. The most recent individual added to the collection of Lady Vol legends came on Jan. 2, 2014, when a No. 3 banner honoring player Candace Parker was hoisted skyward.
Parker joined players Holly Warlick, Bridgette Gordon, Daedra Charles, Chamique Holdsclaw and Tamika Catchings, and coach Pat Summitt among those honored with a banner hanging in UT’s basketball venue.
Holly Warlick
No. 22 Holly Warlick
Guard • 1976-80 • Hometown: Knoxville, Tennessee
The first Tennessee athlete, either male or female, to have her jersey retired was Holly Warlick. Her uniform was retired on Feb. 18, 1980, in a ceremony after Tennessee’s 89-72 win over Clemson in Stokely Athletics Center. A play-making wizard for the Lady Vols from 1976-80, Holly earned All-America honors three times. At the time of the ceremony, she held UT records for most assists in a game (14), most steals in a game (9), and most assists in a season (225).
Holly could not hang up her uniform right away. She played six more games after the retirement party. The final time she donned No. 22 was in the AIAW National Championship game when the Lady Vols fell to Old Dominion, 68-53.
During her years at Tennessee, the Lady Vols produced a 118-23 overall record, three trips to the Final Four and a first-ever SEC Tournament title. She went on to become a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Team.
Later serving as the head coach of the Lady Vols from 2012-19, Warlick’s No. 22 banner hangs in the rafters above the court in Thompson-Boling Arena.
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Bridgette Gordon
No. 30 Bridgette Gordon
Forward • 1985-89 • Hometown: DeLand, Florida
Ten years later, the second Lady Vol basketball jersey was retired. Bridgette Gordon returned to Thompson-Boling Arena after a stellar career at Tennessee to see her No. 30 honored during halftime of Tennessee’s 76-70 win over Texas on Jan. 17, 1990.
Bridgette led the Lady Vols to a 115-21 record during her four years at UT. She was the driving force behind an NCAA-record four consecutive trips to the Final Four as well as two NCAA and two SEC Championships.
Bridgette was the first freshman ever to lead UT in scoring, and she earned co-SEC Rookie of the Year and All-SEC honors. The next year she led Tennessee to its first NCAA title, earned All-SEC honors again and was named to the All-Final Four team. She copped All-SEC honors and was named MVP of the SEC Tournament as a junior. She also earned her first of two Kodak All-America honors that year.
After earning a gold medal as a member of the 1988 U.S. Olympic basketball team, Bridgette returned to Tennessee for her senior season. She led the Lady Vols to the 1989 NCAA title and was named MVP of the Final Four. She finished her career as the all-time leading scorer in NCAA Tournament history.
Bridgette graduated in 1989 with a B.S. in political science. She was basketball’s nominee for the 1989 Honda-Broderick Award, which is symbolic for women’s academic and athletic achievement. She later returned to Rocky Top to spend two seasons (2017-19) as an assistant coach for the Lady Vols.
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Daedra Charles
No. 32 Daedra Charles
Center • 1988-91 • Hometown: Detroit, Michigan
When Tennessee hosted the SEC-Big 10 Challenge in Dec. 28, 1991, Daedra Charles became the next Lady Vol to have her jersey retired. Charles returned to Knoxville from Como, Italy, where she was playing professional basketball with former Lady Vol teammate Bridgette Gordon. Charles came to surprise Lady Vol head coach Pat Summitt by announcing the endowment of the Pat Head Summitt Scholarship, presented by Charles, Gordon and another former Lady Vol, Lisa McGill Reagan. Summitt, who was unaware of the endowment, had planned the retirement ceremony as a surprise for Charles.
A two-time Kodak All-American at Tennessee, Daedra was the 1991 SEC Woman Athlete of the Year. She became the first player from the SEC to win the Wade Trophy, the highest honor in women’s basketball. All this came after leading Tennessee to its third NCAA title in five years.
She finished her career seventh on the UT scoring list (1,495), sixth in rebounding (858) and second in shots blocked (95), despite missing her freshman season as a Prop 48 student. Still, Daedra graduated in four years, earning a bachelor’s degree in child and family studies.
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Chamique Holdsclaw
No. 23 Chamique Holdsclaw
Forward • 1995-1999 • Hometown: Astoria, New York
During halftime of the Lady Vols’ 92-88 home triumph over archrival Connecticut on Feb. 1, 2001, the collegiate career of arguably the greatest women’s player to ever play the game was officially closed when Chamique Holdsclaw became just the fourth Lady Vol to have her jersey retired.
The Naismith Player of the Century and one of only six four-time Kodak All-Americans in the history of women’s basketball, Holdsclaw led the Orange and White to a 131-17 overall record and an unprecedented three consecutive national championships from 1996-98, while establishing herself as the program’s all-time leader in scoring (3,025 points) and rebounding (1,295).
The NCAA Tournament’s most outstanding player in 1997 and 1998, Holdsclaw still holds the record for most points (479 points), and held the mark for most rebounds (198 rebounds), tallied in tournament games until 2008.
The first two-time winner of the Associated Press Player of the Year Award, Holdsclaw garnered 34 individual awards during her career, including 21 player of the year honors from a variety of organizations. In 2006, Holdsclaw was named to the NCAA 25th Anniversary Team. She was previously named to the Kodak 25th Anniversary Team in 1999. She also played on the gold-medal winning 2000 U.S. Olympic Team and was named to the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018.
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Tamika Catchings
No. 24 Tamika Catchings
Forward • 1997-2001 • Hometown: Duncanville, Texas
The fifth Lady Vol jersey to be retired belonged to Tamika Catchings. From the moment she stepped on the court in the number 24 orange and white jersey, we knew from her contagious smile that she was a special person, and from her deadly baseline-to-baseline hustling for all 40 minutes, a truly phenomenal player.
This special six-foot, one-inch forward had the heart of a champion and could play anywhere on the court. Her UT career was shortened during her senior year when she went crashing to the floor with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in game 17.
Her list of awards was staggering, as she captured a slew of them while being tabbed as UT's second four-time Kodak All-American. What she accomplished in the span of her collegiate career is the stuff of legend. She played in 127 games as a Lady Vol. Her assault on the record books is legendary for both scoring (2,113 points) and rebounding (1,004 boards), with both marks ranking her third at UT at the conclusion of her career. She also finished her career second all-time in steals with 311 and blocked shots with 140. And remember, she missed half of her senior season.
Her teammates will tell you how special it was to earn a blue adidas headband after Catchings went out with the injury. Earning one meant they hustled like Catch would have. The Eleanor Roosevelt League for the Hard of Hearing honored her in 1998 - as a special role model for youngsters and adults with hearing impairments. Her UT academic counselors will relate stories about Catchings graduating ahead of her class in December 2000. People in the Knoxville community will tell you of the countless hours she put in with youths from all walks of life - from playgrounds to hospitals.
A WNBA All-Star for the Indiana Fever, Catchings added to her collection of accolades in the Summer of 2004 with a gold medal as a member of the USA Women’s Basketball Team at the Athens Olympic Games. She also added gold medals at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympiads as well.
Pat Summitt
Pat Summitt
Head Coach | 1974-2012 | Hometown: Henrietta, Tenn.
The sixth woman and first non-player to be honored with a banner at Thompson-Boling Arena was Pat Summitt, who coached Tennessee for 38 years and compiled a 1,098-208 career record, retiring with the most wins in NCAA women’s or men’s basketball history. Summitt’s banner was hoisted prior to a nationally-televised game vs. Notre Dame on Jan. 28, 2013.
The legendary Summitt directed Tennessee to eight NCAA National Championships, 31-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and 18 NCAA Final Fours. At the conference level, she directed her squads to 16 SEC regular-season titles and 16 SEC tournament championships, including a tourney title in her final season at the helm in 2012.
During her career, Summitt produced 21 WBCA/Kodak/State Farm All-Americans, 39 All-SEC players, 12 Olympians and 34 WNBA draft picks, including 15 first-round selections. The number she was most proud of, however, was the 100-percent graduation rate for the 122 players who completed their careers and earned degrees at Tennessee.
Collecting an incredible array of honors during her career, Summitt was named SEC Coach of the Year eight times – 1993, 1995, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2011. She was named the 1987, 1989, 1994, 1998 and 2004 Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Year and WBCA/Converse Coach of the Year in 1983 and 1995 and the IKON/WBCA Coach of the Year in 1998.
Summitt belongs to the FIBA International, Naismith Memorial, Women’s Basketball, Women’s Sports Foundation, UT Athletics, Tennessee Sports, Greater Knoxville Sports, and National Association for Sports and Physical Education Hall of Fame. Her most esteemed honor, however, came on May 29, 2012, when she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom (presented by President Barack Obama) at the White House.
Summitt passed away on Tuesday, June 28, in Knoxville at the age of 64 due to complications from early-onset dementia, Alzheimer's type, a diagnosis she shared with the world in 2011 ahead of her final season at the helm of the Lady Vols program. In the years between her diagnosis and her death, she raised awareness worldwide about Alzheimer's disease through the founding of the Pat Summitt Foundation and its highly-successful "We Back Pat" campaign. Her willingness to bravely share her fight against the illness allowed Summitt a platform where her courage impacted fund-raising efforts and gave hope to millions who are affected directly or through a loved one.
Candace Parker
No. 3 Candace Parker
Guard/Forward/Center • 2004-08 • Hometown: Naperville, Ill.
The seventh woman and sixth player to be honored with a jersey retirement ceremony at Thompson-Boling Arena was Candace Parker. The 6-foot-4 Parker’s banner was unveiled on Jan. 2, 2014, prior to the Lady Vols’ SEC opener vs. LSU.
During her three-year playing career, Parker led the Lady Vols to a pair of NCAA Championships in 2007 and 2008, to an SEC regular-season crown in 2007 and to SEC Tournament titles in 2006 and 2008. Tennessee posted a 101-10 overall record during her time at Rocky Top and a 38-4 mark in SEC play.
Parker started 109 of her 110 career games, scoring the third-most points in school history (2,137) and pulling down the sixth-best rebounding tally at 972 as of her career’s end. She still ranks No. 3 in career double-doubles with 45 and stands tied for No. 2 in career rebounding average (8.8) and No. 4 in career scoring average (19.4).
Not the first player to dunk in the college game or even at Tennessee, Parker did make the dunk a more common occurrence in women’s basketball. She was the first to dunk in an NCAA game, doing so twice vs. Army on March 19, 2006. She also set UT records for most dunks in a game (2), season (4) and career (7).
Because of her play, she has earned a plethora of awards. Among them, John R. Wooden and USBWA Player of the Year (2007, 2008), NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player (2007, 2008), WBCA All-American (2006, 2007, 2008), SEC Female Athlete of the Year (2008), SEC Player of the Year (2007), Coaches First-Team All-SEC (2006, 2007, 2008), CoSIDA Academic All-American (2007, 2008) and CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year (2008).
After helping Tennessee win the 2008 NCAA title in Tampa, Fla., Parker was chosen as the first pick of that spring’s WNBA Draft by the Los Angeles Sparks, earning league MVP and rookie of the year honors. She also played a key role in the U.S. women winning a gold medal at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics and has continued to escalate her stature in both the professional ranks and internationally.
