Elena Delle Donne soared to basketball’s competitive heights as a high school and college basketball star in her home state of Delaware, as a WNBA standout and an Olympian.
All led to Delle Donne earning basketball’s ultimate and most enduring achievement on Aug. 15 in Springfield, Massachusetts.
The 36-year-old Ursuline Academy and University of Delaware graduate was inducted to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
Love letter to hoops
In a moving speech during her enshrinement ceremony that featured frequent references to family, Delle Donne articulated a love letter to basketball.
“You've been with me since I was a gangly kid in Delaware,” she said, “trying to shoot over a ladder named Oscar to help me develop my shooting arc. You never cared if I was awkward.
“You turned my greatest childhood insecurity, my height, into a superpower. You never made me feel silly when I was wearing an oven mitt on my guide hand to develop better shooting form.”
She was joined on stage by previous inductees Marianne Stanley, the former coach, and ex-Chicago Sky teammate Sylvia Fowles. While Delle Donne was being introduced by master of ceremonies Ahmad Rashad, a video displayed highlights of her career.
“Elena Delle Donne is the ultimate mismatch and can score from virtually anywhere,” Stanley said in that clip.
The 6-foot-5 Delle Donne was indeed practically indefensible as an outside shooter and equally reliable blocking shots, snaring rebounds and scoring in the post.
She sparked Ursuline to four state titles and was a five-time first-team All-State selection from 2004-08. Her 2,818 career points at Ursuline remain a Delaware high school record, boys or girls.
Delle Donne was 2008 consensus national high school player of the year as a senior and signed with NCAA power Connecticut. But Delle Donne left UConn after less than 48 hours in the summer of 2008 citing basketball burnout.
“I've spent my whole life in love with this game,” Delle Donne said in her remarks, “minus the little breakup where I left UConn after 48 hours, quit the sport entirely, and decided to play collegiate volleyball, but we will not get into that tonight.”
Mention of sister Lizzie brings emotions
She later came to learn her departure was rooted in homesickness and detachment from family, which includes older sister Lizzie, who is blind and deaf and has cerebral palsy, autism and other health-related problems.
In fact, Delle Donne, along with those in the audience and others watching on NBATV, became emotional when talking about Lizzie. Delle Donne’s wife Amanda, father Ernie, mother Joan, brother Gene, sister-in-law Jennifer and niece Gianna were seated in the front row.
“Whenever I experienced my worst lows,” she said. “Burnout. Injury. Defeat. Doubt. The lesson I needed was never on the court. It was at home waiting for me with my sister Lizzie.”
She later added “I have never met anyone stronger. … For a long time, I thought greatness looked like moments like this: Hall of fame ceremonies, awards, championships. Then I realized the bravest person I know has never experienced any of those things.
“Lizzie changed the way I define greatness. She taught me that greatness isn't measured by applause. It's measured by courage, by joy, by showing up for another difficult day without asking ‘Why me?’ She taught me that some of life's greatest victories happen quietly. No cameras, no trophies, just extraordinary strength hidden inside ordinary days.”
A success at all levels
Delle Donne is the first Delaware native to be enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Walter Davis, a 2024 inductee who starred at the University of North Carolina and in the NBA, did attend Hockessin’s Sanford School as a post-graduate student in 1972-73 after finishing high school in North Carolina and returning there for college.
After leaving UConn, Delle Donne later enrolled at Delaware and starred in volleyball as a freshman but not basketball, sparking Delaware to a conference title and NCAA Tournament berth. She then returned to basketball in 2009-10.
Delle Donne finished her Delaware career as the No. 5 scorer in NCAA Division I women’s history with 3,039 career points, despite missing 22 games due to illness or injuries.
She was a three-time All-American and sparked Delaware to Colonial Athletic Association titles in 2011-12 and 2012-13, when Delaware regularly earned national Top 25 notice. The Blue Hens were 42-0 in CAA games and 63-6 overall those two years and beat West Virginia and North Carolina in the 2013 NCAA Tournament before losing to Kentucky in the Sweet 16.
The second pick in the 2013 WNBA Draft, Delle Donne was league Rookie of the Year that season, was WNBA MVP in 2015 for the Chicago Sky and again in 2019 for the WNBA champ Washington Mystics. She made seven all-star teams, was a four-time first-team All-WNBA choice and was among the 25 players who made the WNBA’s 25th anniversary team.
Delle Donne also won an Olympic gold medal playing for the U.S. at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“When you're playing, you think your greatest accomplishment will be a championship, or an MVP, or a Hall of Fame,” said Delle Donne, who remains in the sport as USA Basketball’s managing director of its 3-on-3 team. “But when the game slows down, you realize your greatest accomplishment was never what you achieved. It was who you became on the journey.
“Basketball, you gave me confidence. You gave me purpose. You gave me friendships that will last far beyond the game. You gave me a platform to leave this game a little better than when I found it, but maybe your greatest gift was teaching me to recognize greatness in places where no scoreboard exists.’’
Contact Kevin Tresolini at ktresolini@delawareonline.com and follow on Twitter @kevintresolini. Support local journalism by subscribing to delawareonline.com and our DE Game Day newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Elena Delle Donne reflects on journey at Hall of Fame induction