Former WKU coach Paul Sanderford among eight inductees to Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame
Paul Sanderford, who led Western Kentucky University to three NCAA Final Fours in the 1980s and ‘90s, was among eight inductees named Monday night to the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2022.
Sanderford, who went 453-189 in his 25 seasons as a Division I college head coach at WKU and Nebraska, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on June 11 along with Becky Hammon, Penny Taylor, Doug Bruno, Alice Barron, Delisha Milton-Jones, Bob Schneider and Debbie Antonelli.
Sanderford amassed 365 victories and a .753 winning percentage as Lady Toppers head coach from 1982-97, posting 13 seasons with 20-plus victories during his 15-year stint as head coach. He led Western Kentucky to 14 postseason appearances, including 12 NCAA Tournaments, and guided the Hilltoppers to the NCAA Final Four in 1985, 1986 and 1992. The 1992 team fell to Stanford in the championship game.
WKU won five Sun Belt Conference regular-season championships and seven league tournament titles under Sanderford. He earned Sun Belt Coach of the Year honors three times while coaching seven different All-Americans.
Before arriving in Bowling Green, Sanderford guided Louisburg (N.C.) College to a junior college national championship in 1981 and a record of 163-19 over six seasons. After departing WKU, he coached five seasons at Nebraska, leading the Cornhuskers to three consecutive NCAA Tournament bids in 1998, 1999 and 2000.
Sanderford retired with a total collegiate record of 616-208.
Sanderford wrapped up his career back at WKU, serving as an assistant coach on Darrin Horn’s men’s basketball staff from 2003-07, a period during which the Hilltoppers posted three 20-win seasons.
Sanderford was inducted into the Western Kentucky University Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008. In 2010, he was honored with a jersey in his name in the rafters of E.A. Diddle Arena.
Other inductees
Hammon is being honored for her playing career in the WNBA and at Colorado State. She was a six-time All-Star and was voted one of the WNBA’s 15 greatest players of all-time in 2011.
Taylor starred both with the Phoenix Mercury and the Australian national team. She helped the Mercury win three WNBA championships and Australia to its two Olympic silver medals.
Bruno has coached at DePaul for 36 years, guiding the team to 24 NCAA Tournament appearances. He’s a three time Big East Coach of the Year and also has coached USA Basketball at nearly every level, leading them to gold six times.
Barron played for the Wayland Baptist Flying Queens and lead the Plainview, Texas, team to an undefeated mark of 104-0 in her time there from 1954-1957. Wayland won three national championships.
Milton-Jones won two Olympic gold medals with the U.S. national team and also helped the Los Angeles Sparks to two WNBA titles. She won the Wade Trophy in 1997.
Schneider was the third-winningest coach in Division II history with 634 wins. In his 40 years of coaching at the collegiate and high school levels, he only had two losing seasons while amassing 1,045 victories.
Antonelli is being honored as a contributor to the game. She’s been a college analyst for 34 years and has helped start numerous in-season tournaments around the country.
The Hall of Fame also is giving its 2022 Trailblazers of the Game award to Title IX, the federal law that requires athletic departments to provide general equivalence for men and women that turns 50 this year.
“Without Title IX, our past and future inductees and trailblazers would not have had the opportunity to blaze those trails,” Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame Board of Trustees Chair Carol Stiff said. “It is only fitting that we honor Title IX as it has impacted so many female athletes not only in women’s basketball but in all sports.”
This story was originally published February 15, 2022 at 8:31 AM.