After making a sensation in college basketball; helping to lead her team to a national championship, female basketball player Caitlin Clark earned Rookie of the Year honours and is now the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year.
Clark is just the fourth basketball player to win Athlete of the Year honours behind Sheryl Swoopes, Rebecca Lobo, and Candace Parker.
Clark and her teammates at Iowa helped to fill the seats at the arenas and significantly raise the viewership on television with her record setting play. And it continued when she was drafted to the Indiana Fever.
Of the 74 sports journalists voting for the Athletes of the Year, 35 of them voted for Clark. Gold medal winning Olympic gymnast Simone Biles came in second with 25 votes with boxer Imane Khelif coming in third with just four votes.
Speaking on her being named the Female Athlete of the Year Clark said, “I grew up a fan of Candace Parker and the people who came before me and to be honored in this way, is super special and I’m thankful. It was a great year for women’s basketball and women’s sports.”
She added, “I’m thankful for the people I got to do it with,” Clark said. “A year ago I was still in the early part of my senior year in college. … How fast things change, and now I can see how great a college season it was.”
While at Iowa, Clark broke the NCAA Division I scoring record – male and female – with 3,951 points. She is a two time national champion in NCAA basketball.
Iowa has plans to retire Clark’s number 22 jersey.
As a rookie for the Fever, she set a new single-game assist with 19 and a new season record with 337. Known for her three point shots, she hit the 100 mark in just 34 games.
But it has not all been sunshine and roses for Caitlin Clark, win this age of social media, hse has seen plenty of detractors. Rebecca Lobo spoke on Clark and her ability to deal with the controversy saying, “I would say she’s navigated it almost flawlessly. she hasn’t had any big missteps or misspeaks at a time you’re under constant scrutiny. She’s seemed to say and do all the right things. That’s just incredible at a time when it’s constant attention and scrutiny. She has not done anything to tarnish this sort of mild persona she has.”
Indiana Pacers player Tyrese Haliburton spoke on Clark saying, “you’d be remiss not to acknowledge how crazy her fan base is and the eyes she gets with everything she does. It’s a different type of popularity, she’s one of the most popular athletes in the world. It’s not just women’s sports anymore. It’s really cool to see and she just handles it with such grace.”
Taking time for meeting with fans and signing autographs, Clark said, “for me it’s still really fun. Whether it’s 15 seconds or 10 seconds or five seconds can be very impactful in a young girl and young boys life. Seeing the fans going crazy an hour before tipoff, I never take that for granted. That’s super cool and I never want that to go away.”
Television viewership of WNBA games has increased 300 percent and the Women’s NCAA basketball championship had more viewers this season than the men; beaten only by the Olympics.