International Women's Sports Hall of Fame
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

This is a list of female sports athletes who have been inducted into the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame, which recognizes the athletic and coaching achievements of women. Selections are made worldwide and are based on achievements, breakthroughs, innovative style and ongoing commitment to the development of women’s sports. Sports organizations, sports historians and the public may nominate potential candidates and The Hall of Fame Selection Committee votes to select inductees. Since its inception in 1980 under the auspices of the
Women's Sports Foundation The Women's Sports Foundation (WSF) is a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit charity focused on female involvement in sports. Founded in 1974 by tennis player Billie Jean King and initially supported by Olympic athletes Donna de Varona and Suzy Chaffe ...
, a total of 113 athletes and 21 coaches have been inducted. The United States is represented by 94 (70%) of the 134 inductees. The International Women's Sports Hall of Fame was initially located in
East Meadow, New York East Meadow is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York. The population was 38,132 at the 2010 census. Many residents commute to Manhattan, which is away. History In 1 ...
. In May 2008, its archives were placed in the
Sports Museum of America The Sports Museum of America (SmA) was the United States' first national sports museum dedicated to the history and cultural significance of Sports in the United States, sports in America. It opened in May 2008 and closed less than nine months lat ...
in lower Manhattan. After the Sports Museum of America closed in February 2009, less than nine months later, the women's archives were placed in storage.


Members of the International Hall of Fame


Aviation

*
Bessie Coleman Bessie Coleman (January 26, 1892April 30, 1926) was an early American civil aviator. She was the first African-American woman and first Native American to hold a pilot license. She earned her license from the '' Fédération Aéronautique I ...
1992 * Amelia Earhart 1980 * Marie Marvingt (and mountaineering) 1987


Badminton

* Judy Devlin Hashman 1995


Baseball

*
Toni Stone Toni Stone (July 17, 1921 – November 2, 1996), born as Marcenia Lyle Stone in West Virginia,Rosengren, John (Summer 2019)"EYEWITNESS: Tomboy Stone" ''Minnesota History''. 66(6): 232 – via JSTOR. was the first of three women to play professio ...
1993


Basketball

*
Jody Conradt Addie Jo "Jody" Conradt (born May 13, 1941) is a retired women's basketball coach. She was the head coach for the women's team at University of Texas at Austin (UT). Her coaching career spanned 38 years, with the last 31 years at UT from 1976 to ...
(Coach Category) 1995 *
Lusia Harris Lusia Mae Harris (February 10, 1955 – January 18, 2022) was an American professional basketball player. Harris is considered to be one of the pioneers of women's basketball. She played for Delta State University and won three consecutive Ass ...
2005 *
Ann Meyers Ann Meyers Drysdale (born Ann Elizabeth Meyers; March 26, 1955) is an American former basketball player and sportscaster. She was a standout player in high school, college, the Olympic Games, international tournaments, and the professional level ...
1985 *
Cheryl Miller Cheryl D. Miller (born January 3, 1964) is an American former basketball player. She was formerly a sideline reporter for NBA games on TNT Sports and also works for NBA TV as a reporter and analyst, having worked previously as a sportscaster f ...
1991 * C. Vivian Stringer (Coach Category) 2006 * Pat Summitt (Coach Category) 1990 *
Tara VanDerveer Tara Ann VanDerveer (born June 26, 1953) is an American basketball coach who has been the head women's basketball coach at Stanford University since 1985. Designated the Setsuko Ishiyama Director of Women's Basketball, VanDerveer led the Stanf ...
(Coach Category) 1998 * Margaret Wade (Coach Category) 1992


Bowling

* Marion Ladewig 1984


Cycling

*
Connie Carpenter-Phinney Connie Carpenter-Phinney (born February 26, 1957) is an American retired racing cyclist and speed skater who won four medals in World Cycling Championship competitions (both road and track cycling) in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She also won ...
1990


Diving

* Min Gao 2003 * Pat McCormick 1984 *
Micki King Maxine Joyce "Micki" King (born July 26, 1944) is an American former competitive diver and diving coach. She was a gold medal winner at the 1972 Summer Olympics in the three meter springboard event. She was the dominant figure in women's di ...
1983 * Aileen Riggin Soule 1988


Equestrian

* Liz Hartel 1994


Fencing

* Ilona Schacherer-Elek 1989 * Nikki Tomlinson Franke (Coach Category) 2002


Golf

*
Patty Berg Patricia Jane Berg (February 13, 1918 – September 10, 2006) was an American professional golfer. She was a founding member and the first president of the LPGA. Her 15 major title wins remains the all-time record for most major wins by a fem ...
1980 *
JoAnne Carner JoAnne Gunderson Carner (born April 4, 1939) is an American former professional golfer. Her 43 victories on the LPGA Tour led to her induction in the World Golf Hall of Fame. She is the only woman to have won the U.S. Girls' Junior, U.S. Women ...
1987 * Charlotte Dod (and tennis, archery) 1986 *
Sandra Haynie Sandra Jane Haynie (born June 4, 1943) is an American former professional golfer on the LPGA Tour starting in 1961. She won four major championships, 42 LPGA Tour career events, and is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Amateur career H ...
1999 *
Betty Hicks Elizabeth M. Hicks (November 16, 1920 – February 20, 2011) was an American professional golfer, golf coach and teacher, aviator, and author. She also competed under her married name, Betty Hicks Newell. Hicks was born in Long Beach, Californi ...
1995 *
Hisako Higuchi Hisako "Chako" Higuchi ( ja, 樋口久子, born 13 October 1945 in Kawagoe, Saitama) is a Japanese professional golfer. Higuchi won the LPGA Championship on 12 June 1977, making her the first Asian-born player to win a major championship for eit ...
2008 * Betty Jameson 1999 *
Carol Mann Carol Mann (February 3, 1941 – May 20, 2018) was an American professional golfer. She became a member of the LPGA Tour in 1961 and won two major championships and 38 LPGA Tour events in all. She is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. A ...
1982 * Eleanora Sears (and polo, squash) 1984 *
Betsy Rawls Elizabeth Earle "Betsy" Rawls (born May 4, 1928) is an American former LPGA Tour professional golfer. She won eight major championship and 55 LPGA Tour career events. She is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Early life and education Raw ...
1986 *
Louise Suggs Mae Louise Suggs (September 7, 1923 – August 7, 2015) was an American professional golfer, one of the founders of the LPGA Tour and thus modern ladies' golf. Amateur career Born in Atlanta, Suggs had a very successful amateur career, beginni ...
1987 *
Glenna Collett Vare Glenna Collett Vare (June 20, 1903 – February 3, 1989) was an American Hall of Fame golfing champion whom the Hall calls the greatest female golfer of her day, and who dominated American women's golf in the 1920s. Biography Born in New Haven, ...
1981 * Linda Vollstedt (Coach Category) 2003 *
Kathy Whitworth Kathrynne Ann Whitworth (September 27, 1939 – December 24, 2022) was an American professional golfer. During her playing career she won 88 LPGA Tour tournaments, more than anyone else on the LPGA or PGA Tours. Whitworth was also a runner-up ...
1984 *
Mickey Wright Mary Kathryn "Mickey" Wright (February 14, 1935 – February 17, 2020) was an American professional golfer who played on the LPGA Tour. She became a member of the tour in 1955 and won 82 LPGA Tour career events including 13 major champion ...
1981 * Mildred "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias (and track and field) 1980


Gymnastics

*
Věra Čáslavská en, the love of Tokyo ja, 「オリンピックの名花」 en, darling of the Olympic Games , country = Czechoslovakia , formercountry = , birth_date = , birth_place = Prague, Czechoslovakia ( occupied by Germany 1939– ...
1991 *
Nadia Comaneci Nadia is a female name. Variations include Nadja, Nadya, Nadine, Nadiya, and Nadiia. Most variations of the name are derived from Arabic, Slavic languages, or both. In Slavic, names similar to ''Nadia'' mean "hope" in many Slavic languages: ...
1990 * Muriel Grossfeld (Coach Category) 1991 *
Ágnes Keleti Ágnes Keleti (''né'' Klein; 9 January 1921) is a Hungarian-Israeli retired Olympic and world champion artistic gymnast and coach. She is the oldest living Olympic champion and medalist, reaching her 100th birthday January 9, 2021. While repres ...
2001 *
Olga Korbut Olga Valentinovna Korbut, ; russian: Ольга Валентиновна Корбут, group=nb (born 16 May 1955) is a former gymnast who competed for the Soviet Union. Nicknamed the "Sparrow from Minsk", she won four gold medals and two silver ...
1982 * Larissa Latynina 1985 *
Shannon Miller Shannon Lee Miller (born March 10, 1977) is an American former artistic gymnast. She was the 1993 and 1994 world all-around champion, the 1996 Olympic balance beam champion, the 1995 Pan American Games all-around champion, and a member of the g ...
2008 *
Mary Lou Retton Mary Lou Retton (born January 24, 1968) is an American retired gymnast. At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, she won a gold medal in the individual all-around competition, as well as two silver medals and two bronze medals. Her performanc ...
1993 *
Ludmilla Tourischeva Ludmilla Ivanovna Tourischeva ( Russian: Людми́ла Ива́новна Тури́щева; also transliterated as Ludmilla Turischeva, Ludmilla Tourischcheva, and Ljudmila Turichtchieva, born 7 October 1952) is a former Russian gymnast, Ukr ...
1987


Hockey

* Constance Applebee (Coach Category) 1991


Judo

* Rusty Kanokogi (Coach Category) 1994


Lacrosse

* Tina Sloan Green (Coach Category) 1999


Marathon

*
Joan Benoit Samuelson Joan Benoit Samuelson (born May 16, 1957) is an American marathon runner who was the first women's Olympic Games marathon champion, winning the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. She held the fastest time for an American woma ...
1999 *
Grete Waitz Grete Waitz (, 1 October 195319 April 2011) was a Norwegian marathon runner and former world record holder. In 1979, at the New York City Marathon, she became the first woman in history to run the marathon in under two and a half hours. Waitz wo ...
1995


Motor racing

*
Janet Guthrie Janet Guthrie (born March 7, 1938) is a retired professional race car driver and the first woman to qualify and compete in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500, both in 1977. She had first attempted to enter the Indianapolis 500 in 1 ...
1980


Mountaineering

* Marie Marvingt (and aviation) 1987


Orienteering

*
Annichen Kringstad Annichen Kringstad (born 15 July 1960 in Oslo, Norway) is a Swedish orienteer Orienteering is a group of sports that require navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terr ...
1995


Shooting

* Margaret Murdock 1988


Skating


Figure skating

*
Tenley Albright Tenley Emma Albright (born July 18, 1935) is an American former figure skater and surgeon. She is the 1956 Olympic champion, the 1952 Olympic silver medalist, the 1953 and 1955 World Champion, the 1953 and 1955 North American champion, and the ...
1983 *
Ludmila Belousova Ludmila Yevgenyevna Belousova (russian: Людмила Евгеньевна Белоусова; 22 November 1935 – 26 September 2017) was a Soviet and Russian pair skater who represented the Soviet Union. With her partner and husband Oleg Pr ...
1992 *
Mabel Fairbanks Mabel Fairbanks (November 14, 1915 – September 29, 2001) was an American figure skater and coach. As an African American and Native American woman she paved the way for other minorities to compete in the sport of figure skating such as Naomi L ...
(Coach Category) 2001 *
Peggy Fleming Peggy Gale Fleming (born July 27, 1948) is an American former figure skater and the only American in the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France to bring home a Gold Medal. She is the 1968 Olympic Champion in Ladies' singles and a three-time W ...
1981 *
Dorothy Hamill Dorothy Stuart Hamill (born July 26, 1956) is a retired American figure skater. She is the 1976 Olympic champion and 1976 World champion in ladies' singles. Early life Hamill was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Chalmers and Carol Hamill. Her fat ...
1998 *
Sonja Henie Sonja Henie (8 April 1912 – 12 October 1969) was a Norwegian figure skater and film star. She was a three-time Olympic champion ( 1928, 1932, 1936) in women's singles, a ten-time World champion (1927–1936) and a six-time European champi ...
1982 * Carol Heiss Jenkins 1992 *
Irina Rodnina Irina Konstantinovna Rodnina ( rus, Ирина Константиновна Роднина, p=ɪˈrʲinə kənstɐnˈtʲinəvnə rədʲnʲɪˈna; born 12 September 1949) is a Russian politician and retired figure skater, who is the only pair sk ...
1988 * Barbara Ann Scott-King 1997 * Theresa Weld Blanchard 1989 *
Katarina Witt Katarina Witt (, ; born 3 December 1965) is a German former figure skater. A two-time Olympic champion, Witt is regarded as one of the greatest ladies' singles figure skaters of all time. Her Laureus profile states "she is remembered most for ...
2005


Ice dancing

* Jayne Torvill 2002


Speed skating

*
Bonnie Blair Bonnie Kathleen Blair (born March 18, 1964) is a retired American speed skater. She is one of the top skaters of her era, and one of the most decorated athletes in Olympic history. Blair competed for the United States in four Olympics, winnin ...
2001 *
Dianne Holum Dianne Mary Holum (born May 19, 1951) is a retired American speed skater. In 1966, Holum became the youngest person to compete in the world speed skating championships. Next year she won bronze at the World Allround Championships. At the age of ...
(Coach Category) 1996 *
Kit Klein Catherine "Kit" Klein (March 28, 1910 – April 13, 1985) was an American speed skater. Short biography Kit Klein was born in Buffalo, New York and started competing on the local level. Later, Klein finished first in the 1500 metres even ...
1993 * Lydia Skoblikova 1996 *
Sheila Young Sheila Grace Young-Ochowicz (born October 14, 1950) is a retired American speed skater and track cyclist. She won three world titles in each of these sports, twice in the same year (in 1973 and 1976). In 1976, she also became the first American ...
1981


Skiing


Alpine skiing

*
Florence Steurer Florence Steurer (later ''Penz'', born 1 November 1949) is a French former alpine skier. She competed in the 1968 and 1972 Winter Olympics in the downhill, slalom, and giant slalom events and won a bronze medal in the slalom in 1972. She also f ...
1972 * Crystal Cranz 1991 * Diana Golden Brosnihan 1997 *
Andrea Mead Lawrence Andrea Mead Lawrence (April 19, 1932 – March 30, 2009) was an American alpine ski racer and environmentalist. She competed in three Winter Olympics and one additional World Championship (Olympic competitions also counted as the Worlds during t ...
1983 * Annemarie Moser-Proell 1982


Water skiing

* Willa McGuire Cook 1990


Squash

*
Heather McKay Heather Pamela McKay (née Blundell) (born 31 July 1941) is a retired Australian squash player, who is considered by many to be the greatest female player in the history of the game, and possibly also Australia's greatest-ever sportswoman. Sh ...
2003 * Eleanora Sears (and golf, polo) 1984


Softball

* Sharron Backus (Coach Category) 1993 * Sue Enquist (Coach Category) 2008 * Joan Joyce 1989 * Marjorie Wright (Coach Category) 2005


Swimming

* Shirley Babashoff 2000 *
Tracy Caulkins Tracy Anne Stockwell, OAM, (born January 11, 1963), née Tracy Anne Caulkins, is an American former competition swimmer, three-time Olympic gold medalist, five-time world champion, and former world record-holder in three events. Caulkins was ...
1986 *
Florence Chadwick Florence May Chadwick (November 9, 1918 – March 15, 1995) was an American swimmer known for long-distance open water swimming. She was the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions, setting a time record each time. She was als ...
1996 *
Ann Curtis Ann Cuneo (March 6, 1926 – June 26, 2012) was an American competition swimmer and two-time Olympic champion. Ann Elisabeth Curtis was born in San Francisco, California, and began swimming at the age of 9 under the teaching of nuns while she ...
1985 *
Gertrude Ederle Gertrude Caroline Ederle (October 23, 1906 – November 30, 2003) was an American competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and world record-holder in five events. On August 6, 1926, she became the first woman to swim across the English Channel. ...
1980 *
Kornelia Ender Kornelia Ender (later Matthes now Grummt, born 25 October 1958 in Plauen, Bezirk Karl-Marx-Stadt) is a former East German swimmer who at the 1976 Summer Olympics became the first woman swimmer to win four gold medals at a single Olympic Games, ...
1993 *
Janet Evans Janet Beth Evans (born August 28, 1971) is an American former competition swimmer who specialized in distance freestyle events. Evans was a world champion and world record-holder, and won a total of four gold medals at the 1988 and the 1992 Ol ...
2001 *
Dawn Fraser Dawn Fraser (born 4 September 1937) is an Australian freestyle champion swimmer and former politician. She is one of only four swimmers to have won the same Olympic individual event three times – in her case the women's 100-metre freestyle. ...
1985 *
Shane Gould Shane Elizabeth Gould (born 23 November 1956) is an Australian former competition swimmer. She won three gold medals, a silver medal and a bronze, at the 1972 Summer Olympics. In 2018, she won the fifth season of ''Australian Survivor,'' becom ...
2006 *
Nancy Hogshead-Makar Nancy Hogshead-Makar (born April 17, 1962), née Nancy Lynn Hogshead, is an American swimmer who represented the United States at the 1984 Summer Olympics, where she won three gold medals and one silver medal. She is currently the CEO of Champio ...
2004 *
Eleanor Holm Eleanor G. Holm (December 6, 1913 – January 31, 2004) was an American competition swimmer and Olympic gold medalist. An Olympian in 1928 and 1932, she was expelled from the 1936 Summer Olympics team by Avery Brundage under controversial circu ...
1980 * Mary T. Meagher 1993 *
Debbie Meyer Deborah Elizabeth Meyer (born August 14, 1952), also known by her married name Deborah Weber, is an American former competition swimmer, a three-time Olympic champion, and a former world record-holder in four events. Meyer won the 200-, 400-, a ...
1987 *
Diana Nyad Diana Nyad (née Sneed; born August 22, 1949) is an American author, journalist, motivational speaker, and long-distance swimmer. Nyad gained national attention in 1975 when she swam around Manhattan () and in 1979 when she swam from North B ...
2006 * Donna de Varona 1983


Synchronized Swimming

* Chris Carver (Coach) 2000 *
Gail Emery Gail may refer to: People *Gail (given name), list of notable people with the given name Surname * Jean-Baptiste Gail (1755–1829), French Hellenist scholar * Max Gail (born 1943), American actor * Sophie Gail (1775–1819), French singer and ...
(Coach) 1997 *
Tracie Ruiz Tracie Lehuanani Ruiz-Conforto (born February 4, 1963) is a three-time Olympic medalist from the United States in synchronised swimming. Career Tracie excelled in both the solo and duet routines, winning a total of 41 gold medals during her care ...
2000


Tennis

* Maria Esther Bueno 2004 *
Maureen Connolly Maureen Catherine Connolly-Brinker (née Connolly; September 17, 1934 – June 21, 1969), known as "Little Mo", was an American tennis player, the winner of nine major singles titles in the early 1950s. In 1953, she became the first woman to win ...
1987 *
Margaret Court Margaret Court (''née'' Smith; born 16 July 1942), also known as Margaret Smith Court, is an Australian retired former world No. 1 tennis player and a Christian minister. Considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time, her 24 maj ...
1986 * Charlotte Dod (and golf, archery) 1986 * Chris Evert 1981 *
Althea Gibson Althea Neale Gibson (August 25, 1927September 28, 2003) was an American tennis player and professional golfer, and one of the first Black athletes to cross the color line of international tennis. In 1956, she became the first African American ...
1980 *
Evonne Goolagong-Cawley Evonne Fay Goolagong Cawley (née Goolagong; born 31 July 1951) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. Goolagong was one of the world's leading players in the 1970s and early 1980s. At the age of 19, she won the French Open sing ...
1989 * Billie Jean King 1980 * Suzanne Lenglen 1984 * Martina Navratilova 1984 *
Margaret Osborne duPont Margaret Osborne duPont (born Margaret Evelyn Osborne; March 4, 1918 – October 24, 2012) was a world No. 1 American female tennis player. DuPont won a total of 37 singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles Grand Slam titles, which places ...
1998 *
Hazel Wightman Hazel Virginia Hotchkiss Wightman, CBE (née Hotchkiss; December 20, 1886 – December 5, 1974) was an American tennis player and founder of the Wightman Cup, an annual team competition for British and American women. She dominated American wome ...
1986


Track and field

*
Evelyn Ashford Evelyn Ashford (born April 15, 1957) is an American retired track and field athlete, the 1984 Olympic champion in the 100-meter dash. She ran under the 11-second barrier over 30 times and was the first to run under 11 seconds in an Olympic Gam ...
1997 *
Fanny Blankers-Koen Francina "Fanny" Elsje Blankers-Koen (26 April 1918 – 25 January 2004) was a Dutch track and field athlete, best known for winning four gold medals at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. She competed there as a 30-year-old mother of two, earn ...
1982 * Valerie Brisco 2002 * Hassiba Boulmerka 2008 * Chi Cheng 1994 * Alice Coachman 1991 * Betty Cuthbert 2002 *
Mae Faggs Aeriwentha ("Mae") Faggs Starr (April 10, 1932 in Mays Landing, New Jersey – January 27, 2000 in Cincinnati) was an American athlete who mainly competed in the sprint events. She graduated from Bayside High School, and then went to Tennessee S ...
1996 * Barbara Jacket (Coach Category) 1995 * Nell Jackson (Coach Category) 1990 *
Marjorie Jackson-Nelson Marjorie Jackson-Nelson (13 September 1931) is a former Governor of South Australia and a former Australian athlete. She finished her sporting career with two Olympic and seven Commonwealth Games Gold Medals, six individual world records an ...
2000 *
Florence Griffith Joyner Florence Delorez Griffith Joyner (born Florence Delorez Griffith; December 21, 1959 – September 21, 1998), also known as Flo-Jo, was an American track and field athlete. She set world records in 1988 for the 100 m and 200 m. During the late ...
1998 *
Jackie Joyner-Kersee Jacqueline Joyner-Kersee (born March 3, 1962) is a retired American track and field athlete, ranked among the all-time greatest athletes in the heptathlon as well as long jump. She won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals in tho ...
2003 *
Beverly Kearney Beverly Kearney (born 25 February 1958) is an American former college track and field coach. From 1993 to 2013, Kearney was the head coach of the Texas Longhorns women's track and field and cross country teams at The University of Texas at Austin ...
(Coach Category) 2004 * Irena Kirszenstein Szewinska 1992 * Madeline Manning 1987 *
Nawal El Moutawakel Nawal El Moutawakel (Amazigh: ⵏⴰⵡⴰⵍ ⵍⵎⵓⵜⴰⵡⴰⵇⵇⵉⵍ ; ar, نوال المتوكل; born 15 April 1962) is a Moroccan former hurdler, who won the inaugural women's 400 metres hurdles event at the 1984 Summer Olympics, ...
2006 *
Wilma Rudolph Wilma Glodean Rudolph (June 23, 1940 – November 12, 1994) was an American sprinter, who became a world-record-holding Olympic champion and international sports icon in track and field following her successes in the 1956 and 1960 Olympic Games. ...
1980 *
Helen Stephens Helen Herring Stephens (February 3, 1918 – January 17, 1994) was an American athlete and a double Olympic champion in 1936. Biography Stephens, nicknamed the "Fulton Flash" after her birthplace, Fulton, Missouri, was a strong athlete in sprin ...
1983 *
Shirley Strickland Shirley Barbara de la Hunty AO, MBE (née Strickland; 18 July 1925 – 11 February 2004), known as Shirley Strickland during her early career, was an Australian athlete. She won more Olympic medals than any other Australian in running sports. ...
1998 * Wyomia Tyus 1981 * Willye White 1988 * Mildred "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias (and golf) 1980


Volleyball

* Flo Hyman 1986


References

{{Authority control Women's halls of fame
Women A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...
Halls of fame in New York (state)