| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Women's Basketball | ||
Representing  United States | ||
| Pan American Games | ||
 | 1971 Colombia | Team Competition |
Linda Gamble (1949) was an American women's basketball player of the 1960s and 1970s, and Pan American Games silver medalist in 1971. She is considered one of the female pioneers in the sport, having helped bring women's basketball international attention.
Gamble was born and raised in Grand Cane, Louisiana, and gained attention for her athletic abilities during high school. She would later, in 1980, be inducted into the Louisiana High School Athletics Hall of Fame. That same year Joe Ferguson was also inducted. She attended college at Ouachita Baptist University, where she played both basketball and tennis, and was named the National College Rookie of the Year in basketball for the 1968-'69 season. Under Head Coach Carolyn Moffit, Gamble led Ouachita Baptist to 48 regular season victories in three seasons, and a fourth place national finish during her freshman season, and third place national finish in 1970. In 2007 she was inducted into the Ouachita Baptist University Athletic Hall of Fame, joining other graduates from that university, to include former Dallas Cowboys star Cliff Harris.
Gamble went on to play for the USA Pan American team of 1971, in Cali, Colombia, where they finished second to Brazil, winning a silver medal. Although both the Brazil and USA teams finished with a 5–1 record, following Brazil being upset by Canada, Brazil was awarded the gold medal because they had defeated the USA team in the first game of the series. Gamble led the USA team during the games, averaging 20 points per game. [1] They would go on to compete in the 1971 Women's World Championship, held in Brazil, where they finished a disappointing eighth. [2] The success of that team and others brought women's basketball to the attention of the International Olympic Committee, and in 1976 women's basketball was added to the Olympic Games. At that time, she was one of the top women's players in the nation. She has since been named on the "All-Time USA Women's Basketball Team Roster". By the mid-1970s she went into coaching. She would eventually coach for over thirty years, mostly in Texas.
Lynette Woodard is a retired American basketball Hall of Fame player and former head women's basketball coach at Winthrop University. Woodard made history by becoming the first female member of the Harlem Globetrotters and who, at age 38, began playing as one of the oldest members in the newly formed American women's professional basketball league, the WNBA.
Teresa Gaye Weatherspoon is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the Chicago Sky of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She played for the New York Liberty and Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA and served as the head basketball coach of the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters. Weatherspoon was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010, and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019. In 2011, she was voted in by fans as one of the Top 15 players in WNBA history. In 2016, Weatherspoon was chosen to the WNBA Top 20@20, a list of the league's best 20 players ever in celebration of the WNBA's twentieth anniversary.
Nancy Ilizabeth Lieberman, nicknamed "Lady Magic", is an American former professional basketball player and coach in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) who is currently a broadcaster for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association (NBA) as well as the head coach of Power, a team in the BIG3 which she led to its 2018 Championship. Lieberman is regarded as one of the greatest figures in American women's basketball.
Kimberly Duane Mulkey is an American college basketball coach and former player. She is the head coach for Louisiana State University's women's basketball team. A Pan-American gold medalist in 1983 and Olympic gold medalist in 1984, she became the first person in NCAA women's basketball history to win a national championship as a player, assistant coach, and head coach. She has won NCAA championships as the coach of Baylor in 2005, 2012, and 2019 and of LSU in 2023. Mulkey was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000 and into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2020.
Jennifer Lynn Azzi, is an American chief business development officer for the Las Vegas Aces. Previously, she was an associate vice president of development at University of San Francisco and academy global director at the National Basketball Association (NBA). Azzi is a former NCAA Division I basketball coach andAzzi was also a collegiate and professional basketball player and an Olympic and FIBA world champion. Azzi was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.
Anne Theresa Donovan was an American women's basketball player and coach. From 2013 to 2015, she was the head coach of the Connecticut Sun.
Joan Crawford is an American former basketball player and member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, and Amateur Athletic Union Hall of Fame.
Denise Curry is an American former basketball player and college and professional basketball coach. Curry was inducted in the inaugural class at the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999.
Phyllis Holmes was a longtime basketball coach for Greenville College in Greenville, Illinois. She also served as a women's Olympic assistant coach for USA Basketball.
Billie Jean Moore was an American college basketball coach. She was the first head coach in women's college basketball history to lead two different schools to national championships. Moore coached the California State-Fullerton Titans from 1969 to 1977, winning the Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (CIAW) national title in her first year in 1970. She led the UCLA Bruins from 1977 to 1993 and won the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) national title in 1978. Her overall college coaching record was 436–196. Moore was the head coach of the first United States women's national basketball team to compete in the Olympics. In 1999 she was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.
Janice Faye Lawrence Braxton is an American professional women's basketball player. She was born in Lucedale, Mississippi. Braxton was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.
Venus Lacy is an American former star basketball player, at the high school, college, Olympic and professional levels. A wide-bodied, muscular 6-foot-4-inch (1.93 m) center, at her best Lacy was an intimidating force inside the paint, both scoring and rebounding. Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, she won championships at every level, but her American professional career was diminished by injuries she sustained in a 1997 car accident.
Cathy Rush was the head women's basketball coach at Immaculata from 1972 to 1977. She led Immaculata to three consecutive AIAW national titles from 1972–1974. She led the Mighty Macs to six consecutive final four appearances in her six seasons with the school, attaining a 149–15 record. Rush was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame on April 7, 2008. She had also been inducted to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.
The Pan American Team is one of the teams under the auspices of the USA Basketball organization. The Pan American Games are held every four years in the year before the Olympics. The first Pan American Games were held in 1951, but those games were men only. The second Pan American games in 1955 included women's teams. Eligible teams are the members of FIBA Americas. The USA has participated every year since the 1955 event, except for 1995, when the game were canceled, due to too few teams committed to play.
John L. Head was an American basketball coach. He was the head coach of the Nashville Business College women's basketball team from 1948 to 1969. Over the course of 21 seasons, his teams won the national championship eleven times and finished in second place four times. Head was inducted in the inaugural class at the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999.
Juliene Brazinski Simpson is an American former basketball player who competed in the 1976 Summer Olympics. Simpson and her 1976 USA Olympic women's basketball teammates were inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2023.
Katherine Washington was a former American women's basketball player who played on the first two U.S. women's national teams, earning world championships in 1953 and 1957. Washington played for the Nashville Business College team of the Amateur Athletic Union, and later for Wayland Baptist College, earning All-American honors six times. Washington was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000.
Tommie J. Patterson was an American professional basketball forward who played two seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Baltimore/Capital Bullets (1972–74). He attended Ouachita Baptist University, leaving college after his freshman season to enroll in the US Army for three years, before returning to Ouchita Baptist. Patterson was selected by the Bullets in the second round of the 1972 NBA draft as the 25th overall selection.
Charlotte Lewis was an American basketball player who competed on the 1976 United States Olympic team.
Harley Redin was an American basketball head coach for Wayland Baptist University from 1948 to 1973. With the men's team, Redin had 151 wins and 88 losses during his 1948 to 1956 tenure. With the women's team from 1955 to 1973, Redin had 429 wins and 63 losses and won the Amateur Athletic Union tournament six times. Outside of Wayland Baptist, Redin coached the American women's basketball teams that medalled at the 1959 Pan American Games and 1971 Pan American Games. Redin was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999 and a co-recipient of the 2018 John Bunn Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.