The Naismith Hall of Fame released its ballot last week of eligible nominees for the Class of 2026, and four former Lady Vol basketball players made the list – Candace Parker, Michelle Snow, Bridgette Gordon and Chamique Holdsclaw.

Which made me ask the question on social media: How in the ghost of Pat Summitt are Holdsclaw and Gordon not ALREADY in the Naismith Hall of Fame? So far, on Facebook, the post has been viewed nearly 42,000 times with 47 shares.

Both are already in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, and Parker will join them June 27, 2026, in Knoxville in her first year of eligibility. Parker also just entered her first year of eligibility for Naismith after retirement, so it follows that this is her first ballot.

Candace Parker makes an appearance as the ESPN College GameDay celebrity picker on campus. (Tennessee Athletics)

Snow had an excellent Tennessee, WNBA and overseas professional career, and the Pensacola native earned induction in the Florida Sports Hall of Fame in 2018. The 6-5 center still holds the spot of No. 16 for career blocks in the WNBA and was a two-time All-Star. She is No. 23 for the Lady Vols all-time in scoring at 1,497 points and No. 15 in rebounds with 888. Snow electrified the sport with her two-handed dunk for Tennessee in Hawaii on Nov. 25, 2000, becoming the third woman to dunk in a college game.

Georgeann Wells, a 6-7 center for West Virginia, was the first player to do so Dec. 21, 1984, and Charlotte Smith, a 5-11 forward for North Carolina, was the second on Dec. 4, 1994. Snow deserves a spot on the Naismith ballot for consideration.

But Holdsclaw and Gordon not already being in the Naismith Hall of Fame needs to be rectified. Both have been eligible for a long time. Gordon, who entered the coaching ranks, retired from playing basketball in 2000, and is the head coach at Florida A&M University. Holdsclaw, who became an author and mental health advocate, retired in 2010.

Clockwise from top left, Bridgette Gordon, Candace Parker, Chamique Holdsclaw and Michelle Snow. (Tennessee Athletics)

Holdsclaw is the No. 1 all-time scorer for Tennessee basketball, women and men, with 3,025 points, and No. 1 on the Lady Vols rebounding list with 1,295 boards. Gordon is No. 2 in scoring for Tennessee with 2,462 points. She even survived Pat Summitt threatening to send her home to DeLand, Florida, from Hawaii on a leaky raft in a story that can be read HERE.

Holdsclaw won three national titles, all in a row, for the Lady Vols and every major award and All-American status in women’s basketball before being taken No. 1 in the WNBA draft in 1999. Gordon was on Tennessee’s first national title team in 1987 and won another one as a senior in 1989.

Gordon also won every major award in college and All-American status and was taken in the WNBA’s first-ever draft in 1997, when she was eight years post-college. She won seven Italian Championships in Italy from 1989-1997.

Holdsclaw’s No. 23 and Gordon’s No. 30 are hanging in the rafters at Thompson-Boling Arena. Only six players have made it up there, and the others are Parker, Tamika Catchings, Daedra Charles and Holly Warlick. Catchings is already in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, and Parker, if not there on the first ballot, will be sooner rather than later.

Charles, who died in 2015, entered the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007 and also won every major award in the sport, including two national titles in 1989 and 1991 and became the first player from the SEC to win the prestigious Wade Trophy in 1991. Warlick is also in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and the first athlete at Tennessee, women and men, to have her jersey retired.

Need more statistical evidence for Holdsclaw and Gordon?

Semeka Randall, Chamique Holdsclaw and Tamika Catchings. (NCAA photo)

Holdsclaw is still the all-time leading scorer in SEC women’s basketball, was named WNBA Rookie of the Year in 1999, was a WNBA All-Star six times, WNBA scoring champion in 2002 and WNBA rebounding champion in 2002 and 2003, and earned an Olympic gold medal in 2000.

Gordon is still No. 2 on Tennessee’s all-time steals list with 336, was a college player on the U.S. Olympic team that won a gold medal in 1988 and was one of five players named to the NCAA’s 25th Silver Anniversary team in 2006.

Holdsclaw dealt with some well-documented mental health issues, including a suicide attempt that hospitalized her, but she responded by writing a book, making a documentary about her downfall called “Mind/Game: The Unquiet Journey of Chamique Holdsclaw,” and speaking on college campuses across the country to help young athletes seek help. Perhaps Gordon was somehow forgotten over time.

The finalists will be announced in February. The Class of 2026 will be unveiled April 4 during Final Four weekend with induction in mid-August in Springfield, Massachusetts. At least two former Lady Vols need to be in that class.

Maria M. Cornelius, a senior writer/editor at MoxCar Marketing + Communications since 2013, started her journalism career at the Knoxville News Sentinel and began writing about the Lady Vols in 1998. In 2016, she published her first book, “The Final Season: The Perseverance of Pat Summitt,” through The University of Tennessee Press and a 10th anniversary edition will be released June 16, 2026.