STANFORD, Calif. – Setsuko Ishiyama Director of Women's Basketball
Tara VanDerveer was honored with a special tribute at the Women's Sports Foundation's 38th Annual Salute to Women in Sports awards gala at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City last night.
Â
Presented by three-time All-American Chiney Ogwumike, VanDerveer was recognized for her storied career and her milestone 1,000
th career victory achieved in early February. VanDerveer is just the third Division I coach in NCAA basketball history to reach 1,000 wins, joining the late Pat Summitt and Duke's Mike Krzyzewski.
Â
As head coach at Stanford since 1985, VanDerveer has led the Cardinal to two NCAA championships and 12 Final Four appearances, while also helping Stanford win 22 Pac-12 regular-season titles and 12 Pac-12 tournament trophies. In 1996, she took a year-long sabbatical to coach the 1996 U.S. Olympic Team, leading the team to a 60–0 record, including eight wins and a gold medal in the Atlanta Games. VanDerveer was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002 and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011.
There was a distinct Stanford flavor at the event. In addition to VanDerveer and Ogwumike, sophomore swimmer Katie Ledecky was named the group's Sportswoman of the Year and ESPN commentators and Olympic medalists Julie Foudy (soccer) and Jessica Mendoza (softball) co-hosted the event. Dr. Condoleezza Rice, former Stanford Provost and current Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy at Stanford's Hoover Institution, also received the Billie Jean King Leadership Award. Maggie Steffens, a two-time Olympic MVP and three-time women's water polo national champion, was also in attendance and was a finalist for Sportswoman of the Year in the team category.
Entering her 32
th season on the bench at Stanford, VanDerveer's squad is coming off a 32-6 campaign that included the program's 13th Final Four appearance and its 12th Pac-12 Tournament championship. The Cardinal opens the season in Columbus, Ohio on Friday, Nov. 10 for a game against Ohio State that will be carried on the Big Ten Network at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT. Two days later, Stanford will face UConn for the first time since 2014 at Nationwide Arena in downtown Columbus on ESPN at 1:30 p.m. ET/10:30 a.m. PT.
