Tamika Catchings: A Two-State All-Time Great in High School Hoops

From high school to college to the Olympics to the WNBA, Tamika Catchings is one of the greatest female basketball players of all time. Her high school career was split between Illinois and Texas. She won two state titles at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire and was Miss Illinois Basketball in 1994-95.

Catchings finished her high school career at Duncanville (Texas) High School, where she led her team to the regional finals in 1995-96 and the Texas 5A state championship in 1996-97. In her junior season, Catchings was a member of the Duncanville girls volleyball team that claimed the 5A state title. In her senior basketball season at Duncanville, Catchings was Miss Texas Basketball and Naismith National Player of the Year.

At the University of Tennessee, Catchings led the Lady Vols to the NCAA title in her freshman season and a runner-up finish as a junior, when she was the Naismith College Player of the Year. In her four years, she helped Tennessee to an overall record of 134-10.

Catchings played with the Indiana Fever in the WNBA for 15 years and is third on the league’s all-time scoring list and fifth in career rebounding. She helped the Fever to the 2012 WNBA title, and she played on four Olympic teams that claimed gold medals. She has been named to the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Catchings’ outstanding high school basketball career will be commemorated in the NFHS National High School Hall of Fame during an induction ceremony at the NFHS Summer Meeting in Seattle, Washington, on July 1.

Question: What role did your high school basketball experience play in preparing you for your illustrious career as a professional and an Olympian?

Catchings: “I was blessed to have the opportunity that I had for my first two years (at Stevenson High School) in Lincolnshire, Illinois, and then my mom and I moved to Duncanville, Texas, so I went to Duncanville High School for my junior and senior year. I was really blessed with the coaches and assistant coaches that I had at both schools. I played basketball and volleyball, I ran relays in track and did the high jump, long jump; I did a lot of different things throughout my high school years. And then, along with my education, I think being able to play for successful (athletic) programs was instrumental in helping me grow as a person and putting me in a position to be successful beyond that level. So, it helped prepare me for that next level – going to college and knowing what it feels like to win – but more importantly, my coaches, my teammates, the people that were around the programs, our support staff, they were all really, really good.”

Question: Moving from Illinois to Texas in the middle of your high school career must have presented some unique challenges. Were there any coaches, administrators or teammates at Duncanville who were especially helpful in making a smooth transition for you?

Catchings: “Our assistant principal at the time, Kathy Terry, was at Duncanville, so when I made that transition, she was huge in terms of just making sure we were all good. And that wasn’t just for myself but for a lot of students transferring in, she was that person that every student in the school knew about. But the hardest part for me was, because I was born with my hearing disability, I always had my brother and my sister to fall back on, but they stayed at Stevenson when I moved to Duncanville. So, having to learn how to find my own voice, learning how to speak up for myself without having my sister there, having to get a new friend group, those were probably the toughest things. But I definitely feel that sports and being a student-athlete helped me develop a pre-formed group before I even got there, and I just became an addition. So, that transition wasn’t as hard having teammates to rely on.”

Question: What was your favorite memory from your time at each high school?

Catchings: “Playing and winning (an Illinois High School Association Class AA Girls Basketball State Championship) with my sister (Tauja) (at Stevenson). We didn’t win our freshman year, but we came back and won our sophomore year. It’s hard sometimes when you look at your favorite memory because, of course, winning is great and being able to have success on a team is amazing, but I think, more importantly, it’s the relationships, the people who become part of your team, part of your squad. It’s the people who have your back – no matter what – that’s what I remember. Going to people’s houses, we had potlucks where our parents would cook the food and bring us together. I remember going to some of the other games and supporting other sports – just the typical high school memories that you have of just being together. And the cherry on the top was winning games.

“At Duncanville, we went 40-0 (and won the 1997 University Interscholastic League Conference 5A Girls Basketball State Championship) my senior year. Just like at Stevenson, my memories are really good. And honestly, so many of the memories are sitting on the back stairwell at Duncanville just hanging out with my teammates – whether it was the volleyball players or the basketball players – talking about things that were going on at school and dating and all that stuff as we got a little bit older.”

Question: During your senior year, you became the first player at any level of basketball to officially record a quintuple-double with 25 points, 18 rebounds, 11 assists, 10 steals and 10 blocks. What do you remember from that game?

Catchings: “I remember after the game someone coming up and telling me about it and I was like, ‘oh, yeah, that’s cool,’ and they said, ‘no, do you realize that nobody else has ever done that?’ And honestly, that was just the way that I played. I loved playing sports, and I loved playing basketball. I was that player who was all over the place, and that was good and bad. But being able to be in so many different roles on the basketball court, so many different positions, to me, that’s just how I was. And at the end of the day, the most important thing was winning. And so, the individual accolades, they’re great and I definitely don’t want to discount them, but being able to have success as a team was most important to me.”

Question: Shortly after you were drafted by the Indiana Fever, you started the Catch the Stars Foundation, which has since impacted more than 15,000 Indianapolis-area youth and will celebrate 20 years of philanthropy in the spring of 2024. What comes to mind when you reflect on the difference you’ve made?

Catchings: “Impact! When we (with Tauja) came (to Indianapolis), we started with an organic idea: ‘we’re going to do a basketball camp.’ So, we started with the camp, then added the fitness clinic, and then the mentoring program the following year, and then started the actual Foundation in 2004. But when you go back and look, we started it in a way where we found a need in the city, and we found a need with kids. My passion is making a difference specifically for young people and providing opportunities. And that’s what we’ve been able to do: empower our youth to reach their dreams. Our programs are focused on fitness, literacy and youth empowerment. We’re about to give out $100,000 in scholarships, and then we’ll have the back-to-school celebration, where we give out over 1,000 backpacks filled with school supplies. So, what really comes to mind is impact, and being able to find a mission that makes a difference in the lives of our youth.”

Question: You were a 10-time WNBA All-Star and made the All-WNBA team 12 times, but you were also a three-time winner of the WNBA Sportsmanship Award. Who do you credit with instilling that sense of sportsmanship in you and teaching you to prioritize it during competition?

Catchings: “My family and Pat (former Tennessee women’s basketball head coach Pat Summitt). My dad would always say, ‘you’re a reflection of our family with that last name on the back of your jersey. Make it a good reflection.’ And I think it helped as I got older and started to understand that. And Pat was always about being humble, serving others, never met a stranger. On the basketball court, the mindset was ‘I want to fight, and I want to compete hard and I want to win for my team,’ but at the same time, you develop friendships with other people on other teams. In the WNBA, some of us would go to chapel service together 30 minutes before the game started. Both teams would be sitting in a circle, praying and getting The Word in before we go out on the floor and battle each other. It’s something bigger than just the game of basketball. It becomes a part of your life.”

Question: The overall value of sportsmanship at all levels of competition seems to be in decline. What are some of the things we need to be reinforcing at the high school level to make improvements in that area?

Catchings: “It’s a hard question. I know a lot of schools, like my little nephew’s school, have a SALT – Student-Athlete Leadership Team – and so they’re trying to instill some leadership components into our student-athletes. But in my own experience, my parents were very instrumental in my attitude and how I responded to different situations. So, I think part of it is putting some of the onus on the parents and making sure that kids understand the importance of having good attitudes, being positive, being able to work with other people, being able to communicate effectively. We also have to give a little grace, and that’s something that I’ve tried to think about. Grace from the standpoint of going through the COVID years and being stuck in a house, literally, for a year and a half, going through online school, sports getting canceled. And some kids, their parents put so much pressure on them to be professional athletes, and the reality is that very few of them make it to that point. But playing sports does allow you to learn all those skills – leadership, communication, team-building, being a team player – there are a lot of skills that team sports teach us. And I think it’s important for all of us to realize and understand that our focus should be on these skills that are learned and how they will translate to the rest of these student-athletes’ lives.”

Question: In addition to your professional basketball career, you won four gold medals while representing the United States at the 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympic Games. What stood out to you about those experiences?

Catchings: “It was awesome to be a part of one Olympic Games, let alone two, three and four. But the thing that I loved about that is obviously you have the best of the best in the world coming together. We never stayed in the Olympic Village, per se, but we had opportunities to go and hang out. And it’s cool as you’re sitting in the village, and you’re looking around at all the different tables that are set up in the meal hall and all the people walking around. Thinking about it from that standpoint, when we go over as Americans, we represent the entire United States, so it’s not just about me, it’s not just about my family, it’s about all of the people I don’t even know. Everybody is looking at us like ‘this is how Americans act,’ ‘this is how Americans respond,’ ‘this is how Americans dress,’ look, feel, all of that. And we had to be responsible for how we carried ourselves. And then, obviously, going over there and winning gold medals, coming home with the gold medals and being able to stand on the podium, being able to hear the national anthem being played and know the work that you put in as a youngster to get to this position.”

Question: You’re a member of several Halls of Fame, including the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. What makes this induction into the NFHS National High School Hall of Fame special to you?

Catchings: “Being inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame is honoring where everything started. I smile when I look back on those days and think about the priorities and the things that we thought about as teenagers trying to figure out the rest of our lives. Both of my high schools set me up to be successful in college. I’m just truly honored to be a part of this and be inducted into the Hall of Fame specific to my high school career.”

Question: Looking back on your entire career – all the awards and championships, the Hall of Fame inductions, the competitive stages that you’ve played on, your community impact – what are you most proud of?

Catchings: “I am most proud of the Catch the Stars Foundation and (owning Tea’s Me Café) because of what we have tried to accomplish and how we continue to try to build and grow and nurture our community. The young people who come through our programs now, very few of them know that I played basketball. But we’re still giving out scholarships and feeding into their futures. We’re still supporting them with books and other opportunities like our mentoring program and so many different things. We’re still able to impact them beyond me being a basketball player. These kids aren’t going to remember what I did on the court, but they will remember who helped them get their books, who helped them get to college, who helped them reach their dreams and goals. And I think that’s the most important part.”