Woodard Enshrined In Naismith Hall of Fame
Sept. 7, 2004
LAWRENCE, Kan. – University of Kansas four-time Kodak All-American and former assistant coach Lynette Woodard was enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Friday, September 10, in Springfield, Mass. Woodard joined Clyde Drexler, Jerry Colangelo, Bill Sharman, Maurice Stokes and Drazen Dalipagic as a member of the class of 2004.
Woodard, a native of Wichita, Kan., enjoyed a phenomenal basketball career at the scholastic, collegiate, professional and international level. She was a three-time All-State selection at Wichita Norah High School, and led her school to state championships in 1975 and 1977. A national high school All-American in 1977, Woodard went on to play at KU from 1978-81. She finished her collegiate career as a four-time Kodak All-American and the leading scorer in the history of women’s basketball with 3,649 points (26 ppg, 12 rpg). In fact, Woodard’s career scoring total still ranks second only to Pete Maravich (3,667 points) for the most points ever scored by a college athlete, male or female.
A four-time All-Big Eight selection, Woodard dominated the women’s game, leading the nation in scoring in 1979, rebounding in 1978 and steals in 1979, 1980 and 1981. Woodard was MVP of the Big Eight Tournament in 1979, 1980 and 1981, and was later named the Big Eight Conference Player of the Decade. She scored in double-figures in 138 of 139 career games at Kansas and became the first female member of KU’s Athletics Hall of Fame.
On the international level, Woodard was a member of the 1980 Olympic Team and co-captained the gold medal-winning Olympic team in 1984. She also earned a gold medal at the World University Games in 1979. Woodard played international basketball in Italy where she led the league in scoring in 1982 and 1989 and led Eni-Chem of Priolo to the national championship in 1989. Woodard earned notoriety in 1985 when she became the first female ever to play for the Harlem Globetrotters. She played two professional seasons in the United States with the WNBA’s Cleveland Rockers and Detroit Shock.
Also honored by the Hall was legendary Kansas broadcaster Max Falkenstien, recepient of the Curt Gowdy media award. Falkenstien joins longtime Philadelphia 76ers beat writer Phil Jasner, who receives the print honor after working at the Philadelphia Daily News since 1973. In winning the award, Falkenstien joins a group of distinguished broadcasters that includes Dick Vitale, Bob Costas, Jim Nantz and Dick Enberg, among others.
The originator of the KU Sports Network, Falkenstien has been a broadcaster for Jayhawk teams for 58 years. He has been a play-by-play announcer and color analyst for both radio and TV, which has included all of KU’s Final Four appearances and two national championships. A native of Lawrence, he was the first-ever inductee into the Lawrence High School Hall of Honor.
