Grentz To Be Enshrined Into Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday
Sep 06 | Women's Basketball
NBA TV to exclusively televise 2022 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame weekend
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Former Rutgers women's basketball head coach Theresa Shank Grentz will be enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2022 on Saturday, Sept. 10. Grentz will be presented with the honor by Cathy Rush, Charles Barkley and former Rutgers women's basketball head coach and successor C. Vivian Stringer.
The two-day celebration will begin on Friday, Sept. 9, at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut with an autograph session, press conference in addition to the Tip-Off Celebration and Awards Gala. The following day will kick off with a VIP reception at the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts before heading to Symphony Hall for the red carpet show and enshrinement ceremony.
NBA TV will exclusively televise the 2022 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame weekend. In addition to programming on Friday, coverage of the enshrinement ceremony on Saturday will begin at 6 p.m. with the red carpet show.
Grentz, who coached the Scarlet Knights as their first full-time head coach from 1976-95, won the 1982 AIAW National Championship with Rutgers after winning three consecutive AIAW titles as a student-athlete at Immaculata University from 1972-74. Playing under her maiden name of Theresa Shank, she was a three-time first-team All-American for the Immaculata "Mighty Macs", as well as the 1974 national player of the year, and she had her jersey No. 12 retired by the school.
She went on to lead Rutgers to three NCAA Sweet Sixteen appearances and two NCAA Elite Eight berths in 1986 and 1987, culminating in a 434-150 record (.743) over 19 seasons "On the Banks." That included a 30-3 campaign in 1986-87, for which she earned National Coach of the Year honors.
Grentz then took the reins at Illinois for 12 seasons (1996-2007), helping the Fighting Illini to the 1997 Big Ten title, as well as trips to the Sweet Sixteen in 1997 and 1998, before retiring with 681 career wins with coaching stints at Saint Joseph's and Lafayette at the beginning and end of her 35-year career. Grentz also made numerous contributions to USA Basketball, notably coaching the United States to the gold medal at the 1990 FIBA World Championships (now World Cup) and a bronze medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
Alongside her Immaculata teammates, Grentz and the Mighty Mac were previously elected to the Naismith Hall of Fame Class of 2014. Grentz also joins Stringer (Class of 2009), in the Naismith Hall of Fame.
2022 Inductees and Presenters
Tim Hardaway – presented by Isiah Thomas (2000), Mitch Richmond (2014), Chris Mullin (2011), Yolanda Griffith (2021), Nate Archibald (1991)
Manu Ginobili – presented by Tim Duncan (2020)
Lindsay Whalen – presented by Dawn Staley (2013), Charles Barkley (2006)
Swin Cash – presented by Tamika Catchings (2020), Teresa Weatherspoon (2019), Tina Thompson (2018), Isiah Thomas (2000), Geno Auriemma (2006)
Bob Huggins – presented by Jerry West (1980), Rod Thorn (2018)
George Karl – presented by Roy Williams (2007), Gary Payton (2013), Bobby Jones (2019)
Marianne Stanley – presented by Cathy Rush (2008), Lisa Leslie (2015), Nancy Lieberman (1996)
Hugh Evans – presented by Reggie Miller (2012), George Gervin (1996)
Theresa Shank-Grentz – presented by Cathy Rush (2008), Charles Barkley (2006), Vivian Stringer (2009)
Del Harris – presented by Nancy Lieberman (1996), John Calipari (2015), Sidney Moncrief (2019)
Lou Hudson – presented by Spencer Haywood (2015), Jamaal Wilkes (2012)
Larry Costello – presented by Billy Cunningham (1986), Wayne Embry (1999), Bob Dandridge (2021)
Radivoj Korac – presented by Spencer Haywood (2015)
