LAWRENCE — Marian Washington is a Kansas women’s basketball icon.
The Jayhawks’ all-time winningest head coach led that KU program for 31 seasons from 1973 to 2004. She enjoyed 11 NCAA tournament appearances, many conference titles and more. She was also an asset to the athletic department in other ways, too.
And on Saturday, Aug. 15 in Springfield, Massachusetts, Washington will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame for her role with the 1996 women’s national team for USA Basketball. Washington was an assistant coach for Stanford's Tara VanDerveer for the Olympics that year. According to a release from Kansas athletics, Washington became “the first female African American coach on a USA Olympic Basketball coaching staff.”
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The KU release added: “The 1996 USA Basketball Women's National Team captured the gold medal at the Atlanta Games, finishing with an undefeated 8-0 record and an average margin of victory of more than 30 points. Coached by VanDerveer, the team featured a roster that included future Hall of Famers Lisa Leslie, Sheryl Swoopes, Dawn Staley, Teresa Edwards, Rebecca Lobo, and Katrina McClain. The squad's dominant performance helped elevate the global profile of women's basketball and contributed to the launch of the WNBA later that year.”
Washington, a trail blazer as a player and coach whose achievements have been recognized in many other ways, is the 21st former athlete or coach with KU's men’s and women’s basketball programs to earn this latest honor. Another legend in Kansas women’s basketball’s history who’s received it in the past is Lynette Woodard, who played for Washington. Current men’s basketball head coach Bill Self has also been inducted.
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He was the 2022 National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas women’s basketball icon Marian Washington reaches Hall of Fame