Katie Smith

A longtime advocate of athlete development off the court, especially for girls and women, Katie Smith was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (Springfield, Mass.) in September 2018 and inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame (Knoxville, Tenn.) in June 2018.

Katie was a decorated member of the United States Women’s National Team, earning gold at three straight Olympics (2000, 2004, 2008) and gold at the 1998 and 2002 FIBA World Championships for Women.

Katie is a two-time WNBA champion in 2006 and 2008 with Detroit, earning Finals MVP honors in 2008. She was a seven-time All-Star (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009) and was the first player in WNBA history to win All-Star games with both conferences. Katie played in a total of 482 WNBA regular-season games with five different teams (Minnesota, Detroit, Washington, Seattle, New York) and averaged 13.4 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.

Her illustrious pro career began in the American Basketball League, where she won the league’s only two championships in 1996-97 and 1997-98 as a member of the Columbus Quest. She racked up 7,885 career points between the ABL (1,433) and WNBA (6,452), a combined total that trails only Diana Taurasi (8,575) for the most ever in U.S. women’s pro basketball.

As an Ohio State Buckeye, Smith garnered numerous awards. In her first season, she helped lead the Buckeyes to the NCAA championship game. This same year she was named to the Kodak All-American first team, Sports Illustrated National Freshman of the Year, Big Ten Freshman of the Year, All-Big Ten second team, the 1993 NCAA Final Four, and the East Regional All-Tournament Team. She is a graduate of The Ohio State University with a Bachelors in Life and Human Sciences and a Masters in Medical Dietetics.