Candace Parker’s basketball journey has come full circle. It started when she led Tennessee to two national championships, then continued in the WNBA, where she won three titles and two MVP awards. She also helped the U.S. win two Olympic gold medals.
Induction Ceremony
Parker was inducted Saturday night into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville. She was joined by Elena Delle Donne, Amaya Valdemoro and Isabelle Fijalkowski; coaches Cheryl Reeve and Kim Muhl; television analyst Doris Burke; and posthumous veteran honoree Barbara Kennedy-Dixon.
While accepting the honor, Parker said she had brothers who were eight and 11 years older than her. She spent her life trying to do whatever they did. “Whenever I struggled when I was young, my mom would whisper ‘can do’ to me,” Parker said, referring to her nickname. “It reminded me to push the doubt away. I was a little girl who dared to dream. I whispered that to myself whenever I was scared.”
Chamique Holdsclaw, another Lady Vols legend who presented Parker at the induction, put her career in perspective. “She knocked down every bar set in front of her,” Holdsclaw said. “She changed the way the game looks. She brought creativity, skill and athletic ability.”
Parker is the 11th player and 17th person with Tennessee ties to be enshrined. Later this summer, Parker and Delle Donne will be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Original reporting: Texarkana Gazette — read the source article.
