Catchings, Tamika (1979-…), ranks as one of the greatest forwards in the history of professional women’s basketball. She stands 6 feet 1 inch (185 centimeters) tall. She led high school, university, professional, and international teams to championships. Catchings was a 10-time Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) All-Star. She played all 15 seasons of her WNBA career with the Indiana Fever.
Tamika Devonne Catchings was born in Stratford, New Jersey, on July 21, 1979. Her father, Harvey, had an 11-year career as a backup center in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Tamika’s older sister, Tauja, was also a standout player. The sisters starred at Stevenson High School, near Chicago, leading teams to state championships in 1995 and 1996. Tamika spent the next two years at Duncanville High School in Texas. She led teams there to state championships in volleyball and basketball. Catchings recorded basketball’s first quintuple-double—double figures in five statistical categories—tallying 25 points, 18 rebounds, 11 assists, 10 steals, and 10 blocks in a 1997 game.
After graduating, Catchings enrolled at the University of Tennessee and played for its top-ranked Lady Volunteers team, led by head coach Pat Summitt. The team won a national championship in 1998. Catchings was recognized as the Naismith College Player of the Year in 2000. A top student, Catchings earned a bachelor’s degree from the university in 2001 and a master’s degree in 2005.
The Fever selected Catchings with the third overall pick in the 2001 WNBA draft. She missed the 2001 season with a knee injury but came back the next year to win the Rookie of the Year award. In 2012, she led the Fever past the Minnesota Lynx to capture the franchise’s first WNBA championship. Her Fever teams also came within one win of titles in 2009, when they lost to the Phoenix Mercury, and 2015, when they succumbed to Minnesota. Catchings won a record five Defensive Player of the Year awards. She was voted the league’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 2011. At the time of her retirement in 2016, she ranked as the WNBA’s career leader in steals and free throws and second in points and rebounds. She served as president of the WNBA Players Association from 2012 to 2016. She later served as the Fever’s general manager and held other positions in the organization.
Catchings also starred for the United States in international competition, winning gold medals at the Summer Olympic Games in 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016. During the WNBA off-season, she played professionally for teams in China, Turkey, Poland, South Korea, and Russia. She co-wrote a memoir, Catch a Star: Shining Through Adversity to Become a Champion (2016, with Ken Petersen). The book documents Catching’s early struggles with hearing and speech difficulties. She was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021.
