Stanford Women's Basketball Legends Inducted into National Basketball Hall of Fame

For decades when you thought about the cream of the crop in women's college basketball, the Stanford Cardinal were one of the first programs to come to mind.

Appearing in the NCAA tournament 36 times, while making 14 Final Fours and winning three national titles, Stanford women's basketball was one of the most successful programs of the modern era. And that is all thanks to the legendary Tara VanDerveer.

Coaching at Stanford for 38 seasons spanning back to 1985-86, VanDerveer took over a program that had only won 14 games combined the previous two seasons, and turned them into a national powerhouse.

VanDerveer was recently honored for something that she did while away from Stanford for a year in 1995-96, which was coaching the United States Women's National Team to a gold medal at the Olympics.

Already in the Basketball Hall of Fame for her illustrious Stanford career, VanDerveer was inducted again, along with the rest of that '96 gold medal winning team that included Stanford legends Katy Steding and Jennifer Azzi.

Hired as the USA's head coach in 1995, VanDerveer opted to take a one year sabbatical from Stanford so that she could have the national team train together full-time and stay together for that time, so that when the Olympics came, the team would be very well connected.

The usual strategy at that point in time was for the team to form weeks before the event, but because of VanDerveer's idea, the national team cruised its way to a gold medal win, with the closest game being a 15-point victory over Japan.

During her time as the national team coach, VanDerveer coached a couple of notable Stanford alums, one of which is currently an assistant coach under current head coach, Kate Paye.

Katy Steding, a forward for VanDerveer's Cardinal from 1986-90, was a member of the '96 gold medal team while playing professionally for the Portland Power of the old American Basketball League. Now Steding is heading into her seventh season on Stanford's coaching staff.

The other former Cardinal getting inducted into the Hall of Fame with the '96 gold medal team is former guard, Jennifer Azzi. A star for Stanford along with Steding from 1986-90, winning the 1990 national title, Azzi played overseas after her college career ended before joining the WNBA in its inaugural season as a member of the 1999 Detroit Shock.

She then went on to serve as the head coach at the University of San Francisco from 2010-16, and now works as a business development officer. She most recently has been serving as the chief business development officer for the Las Vegas Aces. The Aces have won the WNBA championship in three of the past four seasons.

The Hall of Fame induction for the '96 team coincides with the 30 year anniversary of their Olympic gold. And while VanDerveer, Steding and Azzi are all off doing different things, the legacy that they created will live on forever.

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