(July 13, 2008)--Former Louisiana Tech and Baylor coach Sonja Hogg will be among the inductees in the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame's 2009 class.
The new class was announced Sunday during the WNBA game between the Connecticut Sun and the Washington Mystics and also includes Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, Jennifer Azzi, Jennifer Gillom, Jill Hutchison and Ora Washington.
The class will be honoured June 13 at the hall in Knoxville. The six new inductees will bring the total hall of fame membership to 109.
Hogg started the Louisiana Tech women's basketball program while teaching physical education there and nicknamed the team the Lady Techsters. Under Hogg, the Lady Techsters won the inaugural NCAA championship game in 1982 after winning the AIAW Championship the previous season.
In 2004, Hogg was awarded the Naismith Women's Outstanding Contribution to Basketball Award.
Cooper-Dyke is one of three Olympic gold medallists in the new induction class.
Cooper-Dyke won a gold medal in the 1998 Olympics. She was a national champion at Southern California in 1983 and 1984 and a four-time WNBA champion with the Houston Comets.
She was the first WNBA player to reach 2,500 points. Cooper-Dyke now coaches at Prairie View A&M.
After leading Stanford to the national championship and winning the Wade Trophy and Naismith Player of the Year award, the All-American Azzi won a gold medal with the 1996 women's Olympic basketball team.
Gillom won gold with the 1988 Olympic team and went on to play with the Phoenix Mercury for six years and the Los Angeles Sparks for one. She made two appearances in the NCAA regional semifinals with Mississippi, where the sports complex is named for her and her sister Peggy.
Hutchison spent 28 seasons coaching Illinois State, guiding the program to three NCAA tournaments and six WNIT appearances.
Hutchison served as the first president of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association and testified at the U.S. congressional hearings on Title IX.
Washington was a legendary African-American basketball and tennis player. She starred as the centre for the Philadelphia Tribunes for 18 years, losing only six games - all to men's teams.
The late Washington is a member of the Black Athletes Hall of Fame and the Temple University Sports Hall of Fame.
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