Jill Schneider Announced as a 2008 Hall of Famer

WASHINGTON D.C: The Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame announced its tenth group of inductees, the Class of 2008, on ABC during halftime of the 2007 WNBA All-Star game at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.

The six members of the Class of 2008 are:

PATTY BRODERICK

Currently a coordinator of women’s basketball officials, Broderick has 30 years of officiating experience at the high school, collegiate, international and professional levels; has officiated seven Final Fours, six WNBA Championships and the 1988 Olympics in Seoul; inaugural winner of the Naismith Female Basketball Official of the Year Award in 1988.

LIN LAURSEN

Head coach of Central Arizona College since 1974 (937-144), winning three NJCAA national Championships (1989, 1998 and 2005) and appearing in ten Final Fours; Converse Coach of the Year in 1982-83, Russell Athletic WBCA Coach of the Year in 2004-05, and NJCAA National Coach of the Year in 1988-89, 1997-98 and 2004-05.

DEBBIE RYAN

Virginia women’s basketball coach for 30 years has tallied an overall record of 651-278, en route to 21 NCAA Tournament appearances and three consecutive Final Four berths (1990-92); Naismith Coach of the Year in 1991; seven-time ACC coach of the Year; led the USA Basketball to the gold medal in the World University Games in 2001 and coached the USA basketball team to a silver medal at the Pan American Games in 2003.

JILL RANKIN-SCHNEIDER

A Kodak All-American at Wayland Baptist College in 1978-79 and at the University of Tennessee in 1979-80; member of the 1980 Olympic team that was unable to participate because of a boycott; girls’ basketball coach at Monterey High in Lubbock Texas; inducted into Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame in 1994 and Texas High School Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002; five-time Coach of the Year; SEC Women’s Basketball “Former Great” honoree in 2004.

SUZIE McCONNELL-SERIO

The first First-Team All-American in Penn State Women’s Basketball history; set NCAA records for career assists, assists in a season and season assist average; four-time All-Atlantic 10 Conference player; won two Olympic medals; played three seasons in the WNBA; coached Oakland Catholic (Pittsburgh) to three state titles and four district championships in 13 seasons; guided the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx to back-to-back playoff appearances and was the 2004 WNBA Coach of the Year; first-year head coach at Duquesne.

MICHELE TIMMS

Three-time Olympian; first Australian woman to play professionally overseas; named the Women’s International Player of the Year in 1994 and 1996; played for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury from 1997-2001, had her number 7 jersey retired, becoming the first Mercury player and just second WNBA player to have a jersey retired; inducted into the Basketball Australia Hall of Fame; former Opals Captain.

This is the first time in the Hall of Fame’s 10-year history that the upcoming class of inductees has been announced on ABC. Prior to this year it had been tradition for the new Inductees to be unveiled during the State Farm Tip-Off Classic in November. Even though the news has been shared earlier, however, the Class of 2008 will be introduced to the world at the 2007 State Farm Tip-Off Classic on November 11 at the Smith Center at the University of North Carolina .

The six individuals in the Class of 2008 will be formally inducted as members of the Hall of Fame during a weekend of induction festivities to be held Friday and Saturday, June 13-14, 2008, in Knoxville, Tennessee .

With the addition of the Class of 2008, the list of individuals who have been recognized as Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame inductees will increase to 103.

The Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame’s Board of Directors serves as the selection committee in determining which individuals will be inducted each year. Voting is based on various factors, which may include moral character, integrity, sportsmanship, record of performance, ability, national or international recognition, and contributions to the game of women’s basketball.

In order to be considered for selection for induction, an individual must meet the following prerequisites:

• Player: Must be retired from the highest level of play for at least five years
• Coach: Must have coached the women’s game at least 20 years
• Referee: Must have officiated the women’s game at least 10 years
• Contributor: Must have significantly impacted the game of women’s basketball

“Each year I think the committee really has a very difficult task, but again, I think they have diligently selected an outstanding group,” said Jody Conradt, President of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame Board of Directors. “We’ve been playing catch up, there’s no question about it, because there were so many people who contributed, so many players that were outstanding before we actually had this opportunity to recognize them by inducting them into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. So it’s always a balance to go back and recognize people who have been there in the beginning of our sport and those players who have performed more recently but I always think this committee does an excellent job.”

(courtesy: wbhof.com)

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