Believe it or not, Caitlin Clark wasn’t the first superstar to don an Indiana Fever jersey.
That honor belongs to basketball Hall of Famer Tamika Catchings.
Regarded as one of the greatest WNBA players of all time, Catchings played her entire 15-year career with the Fever, from 2002-2016.
In that span? A resume that very few can match.
Catchings led the Fever to their first and only championship in franchise history in 2012, when she was the MVP of the Finals.
She was league MVP the year prior.
Catchings was a ten-time All-Star, seven-time All-WNBA First-Team (five-time Second-Team) and a jaw-dropping WNBA Defensive Player of the Year five times.
A ten-time All-Defensive First-Team (two-time Second Team), 2002 Rookie of the Year and member of the WNBA tenth, 15th, 20th and 25th Anniversary Teams.
The Fever retired her No. 24 jersey and raised it high into the rafters.
On top of all that, Catchings was a four-time Olympic gold medal champion with Team USA.
There was nothing that Catchings didn’t accomplish in the world of basketball.
She became one of the sport’s greatest ever players, and did so all with a hearing disability.
Catchings won gold at the 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer OlympicsGetty Catchings became a role model for those with hearing disabilitiesGettyAt three years old, Catchings was diagnosed with a hearing impairment.
She had to wear hearing aids growing up, until one day, she inexplicably had enough with them, and simply threw them away and didn’t wear them again for years.
Catchings learned to embrace her disability and turned it into a strength of hers, and credited what she had to go through as a child as a reason she got to where she was now.
During a TED Talk that Catchings gave in 2019, she spoke about her journey and what she would tell her younger self who threw away her hearing aids.
“I’d say, ‘Everything’s gonna be okay,'” Catchings said.
“This is what you’re going through now. But, one day, you’ll look back, and this will just be a part of your story. You will one day impact thousands, maybe millions of people.
“People ask all the time, ‘If you could change one thing about your life, what would you change?’
“And, honestly, I am the person that I am today because of everything that I went through, so I wouldn’t change anything.”
Catchings now spends a lot of her days managing tea shops.
In 2017, she purchased her first tea shop, Tea’s Me Cafe, in Indianapolis and has since expanded it to three locations.
From 2020 to 2022, Catchings was the Vice President of Basketball Operations and General Manager for the Fever.
No one knows that franchise and community better than Catchings.
Catchings led the Fever to three Finals appearancesGettyAnd while the Fever have their first superstar in Clark since Catchings hung up her shoes, it’s an important reminder to remember who did it first.
Clark may well end up being a better player than Catchings, but that’s a conversation ten-plus years down the road.
For now, respect both, and honor the great basketball tradition that Indianapolis has fostered over the decades.
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