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Home > Extraordinary Women Inducted into Hall of Fame

Extraordinary Women Inducted into Hall of Fame



By Lindsay Hock


 

For the first time, the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame has a place to call its own.

Each year since 1980 the Women’s Sports Foundation has honored female athletes and coaches who have blazed trails through their sports. This year, a new class of decidedly distinct legends was inaugurated on June 9 in a new setting — inside the Sports Museum of America in the heart of Manhattan. The event space, chock full of high-top tables cloaked in Women’s Sports Foundation green, held an enormous energy that mirrored the enthusiasm for the inaugural event. Superstars like Martina Navratilova, Aimee Mullins and Laila Ali attended the event to pay their respects to this year’s class of extraordinary women. Billie Jean King said their “attendance showed their support and passion for female athletes around the world.”

Members of the 2008 class — gymnast Shannon Miller, softball coach Sue Enquist, runner Hassiba Boulmerka and golfer Hisako Higuchi — join the illustrious list of athletic achievers already inducted, including Hall of Fame founder Billie Jean King and basketball superstar Cheryl Miller.

Members are chosen for their extraordinary athletic achievements and their status as leaders, pioneers and role models. Entrance into this club is in the hands of the selection committee comprised of journalists, historians and current Hall-of-Famers.

The most decorated American gymnast, Shannon Miller, has won Olympic gold three times, silver twice and bronze twice. At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Miller led the Magnificent Seven to historic team gold while earning individual gold on the balance beam. In 2007, she founded the Shannon Miller Foundation, dedicated to fighting childhood obesity.

Sue Enquist has experienced triumph in softball as both player and coach. She began her softball career as a UCLA Bruin in 1975; her career culminated with the school’s first AIAW Championship in 1978. In 1980, Enquist returned to her alma mater as an assistant coach before taking the reins as head coach in 1997. Under Enquist, the UCLA Bruins have won a record 10 NCAA championships.

Hassiba Boulmerka has used her record-breaking running to help make great strides for women. Boulmerka was the first Algerian to win Olympic gold with her victory in the 1,500m in 1992. Following her retirement in 1997, Boulmerka battled for equal treatment for women in sports. In 1999, she demanded the International Olympic Committee put pressure on countries that discriminate against women.

The first Asian to win an LPGA event, Hisako Higuchi took home the top trophy in the Colgate European Open in 1976. She ended her career with 72 total wins worldwide, a Japanese Ladies’ Golf Association record. With her playing days behind her, Higuchi continues to advance women’s golf in Asia, serving since 1997 as the commissioner of the LPGA of Japan.

In the words of founder Billie Jean King, the “Hall of Fame was created to provide a vehicle that didn’t exist then: the opportunity to celebrate and recognize athletes and coaches who have made history in women’s sports.”

And on the night of June 9, those women now have a place to call their own — a home that is as extraordinary as the women it honors.


To see photos of the event, click here.