Doyel: Catchings gave us her best; how do we thank her?
INDIANAPOLIS – She doesn’t want anything from us. She never did. About the only thing Tamika Catchings has ever asked of anyone around here is a can of food, the cost of admission to one of her fitness clinics around town. She donates those cans to Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana.
She doesn’t want anything from the WNBA, although that’s not how these things work. Tamika Catchings is the league’s enduring superstar, perhaps the most accomplished player in women’s basketball history – any league, any country, anywhere – and this is her final season. In 15 years in Indianapolis, she has won everything there is to win: Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, MVP, WNBA Finals MVP, WNBA title.
"The WNBA logo," Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Dawn Staley said last month, "could very well be Tamika Catchings."
How do you say goodbye to someone like that? You give them stuff.
This year with the Lakers, retiring Kobe Bryant received a low-rider, Lakers-themed 1967 Pontiac Parisienne. Derek Jeter got a kayak and a paddleboard and an electric guitar on his final tour around Major League Baseball in 2014. David Ortiz of the Red Sox received a custom-made humidor with 50 Dominican cigars this year from the White Sox. The Angels gave Big Papi a painting of Big Papi. The Tigers gave him a framed picture of himself. The Padres gave David Ortiz a surfboard with a painting of, yes, David Ortiz.
Tamika Catchings knows how this works. She played for Lin Dunn in 2014, when the longtime Fever coach received gifts in every city as she made her way around the WNBA one last time. Catchings considered how her farewell tour would go. She decided what she wanted, and what she wanted was this:
To write a check.
Catchings ranks among all-time WNBA greats
“I didn’t want it to be about me and basketball,” Catchings says. “I wanted to flip it. How can I make a difference in the community? What can we do? Hey – why don’t we give out money in every city?”
In all 12 WNBA cities the Fever played this season, including Indianapolis on Aug. 27, Catchings donated $2,000 to a local organization devoted to literacy, fitness and mentoring. She held 12 postgame parties for fans, signing autographs and raffling off some of her best memorabilia. Her goal was to raise $100,000 – which she has done – and to expand her Indianapolis-based Catch The Stars foundation into other WNBA cities.
One more remarkable gesture in a career full of them.
Four-time All-American in high school. Miss Basketball and state champion in two states, Illinois and Texas.
Four-time All-American in college. National player of the year for Pat Summitt at Tennessee. National champion.
Twelve-time All-WNBA. Defensive Player of the Year five times. No. 2 scorer in league history. MVP. League champion. All-time leader in free throws and steals. Two rebounds away from No. 1 in that category.
Four-time Olympic gold medalist. Best player in Poland when she played professionally overseas. Best player in Korea. Best in China and Russia.
Show me another resume like that, and I’ll show you a work of fiction. Nobody has ever done what Tamika Catchings has done on the basketball court.
And has anyone even come close off the court?
This 10-time WNBA All-Star has won the league’s Dawn Staley Leadership Award and the Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award. Twice, in both cases. ESPN has named her Sports Humanitarian of the Year.
Born with limited hearing in both ears, she won the 2000 Reynolds Society Achievement Award for accomplishment and inspiration by someone who has overcome hearing, vision or voice loss. This year she has won the Musial Award in St. Louis for sportsmanship and the National Civil Rights Museum Sports Legacy Award in Memphis.
Indy Parks and Recreation dedicated Tamika Catchings Court at Thatcher Park in 2014. Indiana Sports Corp. honored her with its Pathfinder Award, given to someone who improves the lives of youth, this year. Catchings has opened book-filled reading corners in local schools and hospitals. Another one opened Thursday at Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health.
City, state, national impact. International, too. In 2011 she was a finalist for the NGO Positive Peace Award, given by the United Nations.
Along the way she went back to Tennessee to get her master’s degree. She received her bachelor’s in 3½ years, with a 4.0 GPA in her senior year.
“Obviously her legacy on the floor is mirrored by her championship-caliber behavior,” says Stephanie White, once Catchings’ teammate on the Fever, now her coach. “MVP, top scorer, winning a championship. The consistency of the Fever franchise since she got here.
“And I truly believe her legacy off the court is even greater with her foundation, what she has done in this community and beyond in these 15 years. She has a servant’s heart.”
Catchings started the Catch The Stars Foundation in 2001, putting on camps and giving away $2,500 college scholarships and backpacks filled with school supplies.
“Those first scholarships, those first to get backpacks, they’ve come back to work her camps and give out backpacks,” White says. “They’re paying it forward. That’s going to continue to flourish. Her greatest legacy has yet to come.”
Winning Olympic gold never gets old for Tamika Catchings
But first, the basketball. Before the playoffs begin – there’s an outside chance the Fever will start the postseason with a single win-or-you’re-finished game on the road – the Fever play the Minnesota Lynx on Friday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. That’s Fan Appreciation Night, one game earlier than ordinary, because something extraordinary is happening Sunday when the Fever play Dallas at 4:
One of the most accomplished players in basketball history, one of the most recognized humanitarians this city has ever seen, plays what could be her final game in Indianapolis.
How do we say goodbye to someone like this? And how many of us will be there to do it?
Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at@GreggDoyelStar or atwww.facebook.com/gregg.doyel.
See Catchings play
The Fever have two home games left to close the regular season.
vs. the Minnesota Lynx at 7 p.m. Friday.
vs. the Dallas Wings at 4 p.m. Sunday.
Tickets available at feverbasketball.com.