Parker, Delle Donne, Reeve enter women's HOF

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- In the city where she became a college star, Candace Parker was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday along with a player she once hosted on a recruiting visit to Tennessee -- Elena Delle Donne. "I think you took me to Taco Bell," Delle Donne said with a laugh as they spoke to media before the induction ceremony. "I love Taco Bell." "Well, the money was a little different when we were in school," Parker said, referring to the pre-NIL days in college sports. Parker and Delle Donne, both two-time WNBA MVPs and Olympic gold medalists who retired after the 2023 season, headlined the induction Saturday, along with Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve. Parker and Delle Donne also will be inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in August. For Reeve, who was scheduled for a 5 a.m. flight Sunday to get to the Lynx's 1 p.m. Central time game in Dallas, Saturday's event was worth the missed sleep. With 378 regular-season wins, she is two victories away from the league record for a head coach and could tie former WNBA coach Mike Thibault on Sunday. Reeve already is the leader in combined regular-season and playoff wins with 430. She has won four WNBA titles with the Lynx and guided the U.S. Olympic team to gold at the Tokyo Games in 2021. In her speech at the Tennessee Theater in downtown Knoxville, Reeve talked about taking her first WNBA job as an assistant to the late Anne Donovan with the Charlotte Sting in 2001 at a salary of $5,000. "From 2001 until today, I ate, drank and slept everything WNBA," Reeve said. "I experienced teams folding, I collected unemployment, and hearing my dad wonder aloud when I was going to get a real job." Reeve went to be an assistant for Bill Laimbeer with the Detroit Shock and then took over the Lynx in 2010. Her salary, of course, has grown considerably since then with all of Minnesota's success. Three of her former Lynx players who are also in the Hall of Fame -- Lindsay Whalen, Seimone Augustus and Taj McWilliams-Franklin -- were on hand for the induction ceremony. "This game has given me a fulfilling lifetime of joy," Reeve said. "To share the Hall with so many women's basketball greats makes me glad I never got a real job." Parker and Delle Donne praised Reeve as an opposing coach who made them better. They also had kudos for each other, saying that during their careers, they would always look to see what the other had done in her games and think about how to get the upper hand when they faced off. "That's what makes you great -- going against the best," said Delle Donne, who led the Washington Mystics to the 2019 WNBA title. "I remember being like, 'She's such a better passer than me, and it makes her team impossible to play against. I have to get that element to my game if I ever want to win a championship.' I wouldn't have won a championship if I didn't play against Candace and go through the headache of playing her." Delle Donne initially committed to UConn but then decided she wanted to stay close to home and attend Delaware, in part to remain close to her sister, Lizzie, who was born blind, deaf and with cerebral palsy. Delle Donne was brought to tears during her Hall of Fame speech talking about being inspired by her sister. "Although you can't hear me, I hope you can feel the impact you made on me," Delle Donne said. "For the challenges most people couldn't begin to understand ... you've shown me that the hardest battles are met head-on without self-pity." Delle Donne also got one of the loudest laughs of the night when she praised the city of Knoxville and the many Tennessee fans in the audience for treating her and her family so warmly. "I'm not sure if it's because of this Hall of Fame honor," Delle Donne said, "or because I left UConn after 48 hours." Parker, who did take part in the famously heated Tennessee-UConn rivalry, gave the final speech of the night. She led the Lady Vols to the 2007 and 2008 national championships and is the only rookie to be WNBA MVP, winning it in 2008. Parker won WNBA titles with the Los Angeles Sparks in 2016, her hometown Chicago Sky in 2021 and the Las Vegas Aces in 2023. Parker was wearing a suit she had designed as a tribute to her coach at Tennessee, Pat Summitt, who died in 2016 after an early-onset Alzheimer's diagnosis. "In the words of James Baldwin, children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them," Parker said. "This suit is a rendition of one of my favorite looks that coach Pat Summitt wore on the sideline. I cut the shoulder pads off and made it my own, but it's ... a nod to her influence on my life. "Since she would be the first to tell you that I was not the best listener while I played at the University of Tennessee, this is a tangible expression that I was watching, and I was indeed paying attention. My continued desire to imitate Pat and how she attacked life every day proves why there is nobody like her. Though she'll be gone 10 years ago tomorrow, she's still leaving a lasting impact that we all can and should draw from." Two other former WNBA players were inducted Saturday: Amaya Valdemoro of Spain and Isabelle Fijalkowski of France. Fijalkowski's daughter, 6-foot-7 Alicia Tournebize, plays for South Carolina's women's basketball team. Also inducted were ESPN broadcaster Doris Burke, Kirkwood (Iowa) Community College coach Kim Muhl and former Clemson star Barbara Kennedy-Dixon (posthumously).