By C. KENT LOWE
Written for the LSWA
All I guess that the Louisiana Sports Writers Association can say tonight is, “we’re sorry.”
Almost always, we have been proud to start the run of big Hall of Fame inductions here in Natchitoches for stars of their games. But this time, the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and the Naismith Hall of Fame beat us to the punch last year.
Our rules for induction after retirement got a bit in the way, so we had to wait the requisite period of time before we could make the move. But Sylvia Fowles was on the Hall’s radar from the moment she announced her retirement and last August it was a lightning-quick decision that she would be the next women’s basketball standout to join our Hall.
Fowles is part of a 12-member Class of 2026 going into the LSHOF to culminate three days of festivities Thursday, June 25-Saturday, June 27, with seven events (six in Natchitoches, bowling in Alexandria). For participation information, visit LaSportsHall.com or call 318-238-4255.
Hall of Famers come in all shapes and sizes. When it comes to basketball Hall of Fame types, LSU’s longtime associate basketball coach Bob Starkey knows one when he sees one.
“Well, I think when you talk about being a Hall of Famer, you’re talking about a complete body of work long term,” he said. “And when you look at what Sylvia’s done first on the collegiate level here at LSU, then you take it to the WNBA. You take it to her overseas basketball career and then her Olympic career.
“She’s been absolutely one of the best of the best at every single level for an extended period of time. To me, that’s what a Hall of Famer is. It’s not about having a good year or a good run. It’s about your entire career being elite.”
Hard to argue with that.
At LSU, she’s remembered for a lot of numbers like four straight NCAA Final Four appearances, averaging a double double, winning and winning big, a three-time All-American and more.
But what everyone at LSU will remind you about is “the dunk.” The night she became, at that time in 2007, just the sixth women’s player in college basketball to dunk the basketball in a game.
It was a simple play, so it seemed. And with due respect to my friends in Lafayette where the Ragin’ Cajun player may still have nightmares, Fowles came out to steal the ball near midcourt, gathered it up, dribbled down the court and right hand dunked it to the delight and maybe some amazement of the Maravich Center crowd.
“We had been begging her. I know I had been begging her (to dunk in a game),” said Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame teammate Seimone Augustus, who is now an LSU assistant coach. “Coach Starkey is the post coach so we were seeing it every day in practice she would have like a little dunk. It wasn’t too crazy, but it was a dunk. We were like why don’t you do it a game? She’s just like, if you know her demeanor, it’s like ‘do I need to?’ And we were like, ‘Yes, you need to.’
“It just so happened that I was in town from overseas, on our Christmas break or whenever it was, like during a break and (Sylvia) got a breakaway. She got a steal at half court and it was just her and the basket. We were like, she’s going to do it. I saw her start to gather her steps and I’m like she’s got to do it and she did it. That was like the most amazing thing ever because there’s very few women in the college game that have done it. I mean, you are talking Lisa Leslie, Candace Parker, Sylvia Fowles, Brittney Griner. There’s a handful of women that have ever done that. She’s one of those women.”
Patrick Wright, the radio voice of LSU women’s basketball for over 35 years, remembers it well.
“We all knew she was capable of dunking,” he said. “It happened because of a smart defensive play by Sylvia. Not many girls Syl’s size were remotely coordinated to dribble the ball 70 feet, but she had the grace of the point guard she just stole the ball from. As she got to the free throw line, the thought everyone in the arena had was the same – she might dunk this. She threw it down with one hand. It was a legitimate dunk that any men’s player would be proud of. I will always remember the reaction of her teammates and the crowd, and everyone knew they just witnessed something historic.”
But it was more than dunking. It was scoring, rebounding, blocked shots and being a good teammate that LSU folks remember.
“The thing about Sylvia and again, this is what makes her not just a Hall of Fame player, but a Hall of Fame person is she is, legitimately, seriously happy for other people’s success,” said Coach Starkey. “So when she came here, we went to four straight Final Fours, and then, three out of four years, we won the SEC championship.
“It’s never been done before or after at this school. And those where when those three out of four SEC championships, that’s the days of Pat Summitt (Tennessee) and Andy Landers (Georgia) and Joe Ciampi (Auburn) and Gary Blair (Texas A&M) and all these Hall of Fame coaches. So it was a remarkable, remarkable period. But it meant a lot to her because, she was able to help her teammates garner some success.”
Unfortunately, with the passage of time those NCAA Final Four appearances in the mid-2000s have drifted a slight bit to the back of LSU fans’ minds because of LSU’s most recent success in women’s basketball. But those banners hang high in the Maravich Center and they are just as important as any others that hang there.
More important, in the rafters with the greatest LSU players like Abdul-Rauf, Macklin, Maravich, Pettit, O’Neal and Augustus, flies the banner for Fowles. All of those as of tonight are well-deserved Louisiana Sports Hall of Famers.
The numbers back up all of those being in this Hall and others. But what struck Coach Starkey most was a personality that made her a player he wanted to bring to LSU.
“There’s no question that having a good, athletic, fast, quick post player is enticing,” he said. “But it wasn’t until Sylvia came to our elite camp, and we got to sit down to have a conversation that she became somebody that I just had to recruit, and that was because of her mindset. Her personality. She was obviously gifted physically, but it was the other things that I got to learn about during that week, that made me know that she had a chance to be just not really good, but to be absolutely one of the game’s best. It was her ability to be a great teammate, to be unselfish. I was able to gauge her desire, her commitment to wanting to be at a different level … I just knew I really, really want to coach her.”
But there was some learning that had to be done.
“A funny story is very early on,” Coach Starkey remembered. “I think it was an exhibition game. There was a battle for a rebound. She went up and grabbed it and, knocked the other team’s rebounder down. Instead of running the floor, she leaned over and helped her up. It speaks to the type of character she has.
“But it’s not really what I want from a post player when we’re between the lines. So we had to make her a little bit tougher. We had to make her, to be honest with you, a little bit more selfish. She was such an unselfish kid. You throw the ball in the post and she’s looking to pass it out. We want her to score down there.”
And then the most important praise this veteran could assess.
“She was a great teammate. Unless you’ve coached on this level, (you don’t realize) when your best players are your best people, that’s when you have a chance as a team.”
She would continue to prove that in the WNBA and in the Olympics and for overseas professional teams. She won four Olympic gold medals, two WNBA titles, honors galore professionally in the league and beyond. She even teamed with her two-year college teammate Augustus in the W for the Minnesota Lynx after Fowles looked to move after several years with the Chicago Sky.
“We never really thought we would play together,” Augustus said. “An opportunity came in 2015. It was between two teams that she was deciding between. Obviously, we had won a number of championships so we looked a little bit more appealing to her. I just remember our coach telling us, ‘Sylvia might want to come here and would I give her a phone call and see where she is in the process?’
“I picked up the phone and the phone call was like, literally, five seconds. I was just ‘we would love to have you here.’ She was like ‘on my way.’ Click. And within a matter of a few hours, maybe a few days, she was in Minnesota and the rest is history.”
The team won championships in 2015 and 2017 and Fowles was Finals MVP both times.
Now, not long after retirement, comes coaching for this dominant star post player. A new role began this season in Portland.
Great player. Great person. Great Hall of Famer.
“I know it has been said before, but since we are honoring her again, she is just the nicest person possible off the court,” said Lindsay Whalen, teammate of Fowles on two WNBA title teams who won two Olympic Gold Medals with Fowles. “Anytime we had somebody who had like a baby shower or something, she would come with a wagon filled with clothes and diapers and all the things that would be needed for that expecting family. Just a great human being first.”
The LSWA is happy it didn’t have to wait any longer to make this official. Welcome to our Hall,Syl!