April 23, 2002

SPRINGFIELD, MASS., April 23, 2001, at 10 a.m. EDT- Three of the greatest coaches in women's basketball history who collectively have logged over 60 years in the profession -- Wayland Baptist coach Harley Redin, Immaculata's Cathy Rush and NC State's Kay Yow, were named today by the Women's Screening Committee as finalists for enshrinement into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Redin, Rush and Yow were selected from a dozen women's candidates and are the third of four groups selected for consideration by the Honors Committee for election into the Class of 2002. On Wednesday, the Hall of Fame will release the names of finalists selected by the North American Screening Committees. Previous finalists include veterans Forrest Anderson, Grady Lewis and Earl Lloyd, and international finalists Pedro Ferrandiz, Dino Meneghin and the late Drazen Petrovic.

Redin, Rush and Yow have previously been finalists. An individual needs 18 of 24 votes from the Honors Committee for enshrinement, scheduled for September 27, the day before the Basketball Hall of Fame opens a new $103 million Hall of Fame and retail complex.

The Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2002 will be announced on June 5, 2002 at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, CA. It will be the first opportunity to learn the identities of the new electees. "By announcing this class in Los Angeles, we are making a statement that the Basketball Hall of Fame is more than a building located in Springfield, Mass., the birthplace of basketball, but an organization that represents the best of the game from coast to coast," said John L. Doleva, President and CEO of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Yow, a native of Gibsonsville, North Carolina, has 625 career victories at Elon College and NC State, fifth best in women's basketball history. Yow, who led the Wolfpack to the 1998 Final Four, has led NC State into the NCAA Tournament 15 times in the last 19 years, a mark that includes nine Sweet 16 appearances. She has won five regular-season Atlantic Coast Conference titles and four ACC Tournament championships. Her teams have reached the ACC Tournament Final in 12 of 23 years. Yow, has coached 18 20-win seasons. Her teams have finished in the final Associated Press top-20 poll 16 times in her 22 seasons.

In 1978, Yow led the Wolfpack to the Elite Eight of the AIAW Tournament. Yow has earned numerous coach of the year awards, including Women's Basketball Coach of the Year by College Sports News (1998), Women of the Year In Sport by the National Organization of Women (1988), the Converse/WBCA Coach of the Year (1990) and the National Coach of the Year by Sports Illustrated For Women (2000). Yow, who is the only women's coach in history to win a Gold Medal at both the Olympics (1988, Seoul) and World Championships (1996), has compiled a 21-1 record in International competition.

Yow, who has been inducted into the Women's Sports Hall of Fame (1988) and the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame (2000), began her college-coaching career at Elon College in 1972. At Elon, she compiled a 57-19 record, a mark that included two North Carolina State titles.

In women's collegiate basketball history, few individuals have equaled contributions made by Harley Redin, former Wayland Baptist University coach. Redin, a native of Plainview, Texas, spent a total of 25 years coaching the men's (1948-57) and women's (1955-73) teams at Wayland Baptist. In 18 years as the women's coach, Redin's teams posted a 431-66 record, a mark that included six AAU National Championships (1956, '57, '59, '61, '70, '71), two undefeated seasons: (23-0 in 1955-56 and 29-0 in 1956-57), a 76-game winning streak from 1955-58 and 17 top-five AAU finishes. In addition to building the foundation for the winningest collegiate women's basketball program in history - Wayland Baptist entered the 2001-2002 season as the only women's team to win more than 1,000 games (1,352-356) - Redin's female players have won AlI-America recognition 65 times and 32 of those players were named to U.S. National Teams. As men's coach, Redin compiled a nine-year 171-97 record and his teams reached the NAJA National Tournament three times.

Redin, who was inducted into the first-ever Women's Basketball Hall of Fame on June 5, 1999, was awarded the 2000 Naismith Award for Outstanding Contributions to the game of women's basketball. He was named #42 in Sports Illustrated's 50 Greatest Sports Figures from Texas.

On the international level, Redin coached the women's U.S. National Team in the 1959 and the 1971 Pan American Games and in the 1963 World Tournament in Peru. He has been a member of both the U.S. Olympic Committee and the MU Rules Committee. In 1992 Redin was honored with the prestigious Josten's Service Award by Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) for his lifetime of service to women's basketball.

Cathy Rush, a native of Atlantic City, New Jersey, is widely acknowledged for her role in bringing national attention and scholarship money to women's sports. In seven seasons coaching at tiny Immaculata College in Immaculata, PA, Rush compiled a 149-15 record, a mark that included three consecutive AIAW national championships (1972-74) and six consecutive AIAW Final Fours (1972-77). In addition to leading Immaculata to the first AIAW national title and winning three-straight titles, Immaculata was the first women's college team to appear on national television (against the University of Maryland in 1975) and play outside the United States (against Australia in 1974). Rush was named Coach of the Year in 1973 and 1974 and was enshrined into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1979. In 1994 she earned the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) Pioneer Award.