Tamika Catchings officially received her Silver Anniversary Award this week during the NCAA Convention in Washington, D.C., with current and past Lady Vol leaders in attendance.

The award, which was covered HERE in an earlier column, is presented 25 years after the end of a player’s college career and recognizes professional achievements. Catchings became the second Lady Vols basketball player to earn the silver award, joining Michelle Marciniak in 2021. Pat Summitt also was honored in the category of women’s basketball in 1999, which marked 25 years of coaching at Tennessee.

Coach Kim Caldwell made the trip to D.C., along with Joan Cronan, UT women’s athletics director emeritus, and Angie Boyd Keck, senior associate athletics director and senior woman administrator.

Catching also returned this week to the Indiana organization, where she played her entire WNBA career – winning a WNBA title in 2012 with Summitt in attendance – and also served as general manager for the Indiana Fever from 2019 to 2022.

Pacers Sports & Entertainment (PS&E), which operates the Fever and Indiana Pacers, has added Catchings to the staff in a newly created role as an organizational ambassador.

“Tamika Catchings is synonymous with basketball excellence, leadership and community commitment in Indiana,” PS&E President and CEO Mel Raines said. “Her legacy as a champion along with her deep connection to our fans and her passion for uplifting others align perfectly with our mission. We are honored to welcome her back in an official capacity and excited for the impact she will make across our organization and community.”

Catchings relocated to Indianapolis after being drafted in 2002, made the city her permanent home, became an entrepreneur, bought a tea shop and started her Catch the Stars Foundation.

“Indiana has been my home since I was drafted by the Indiana Fever, and Pacers Sports & Entertainment played such an important role in my life and my journey,” Catchings said. “I’m thrilled to step into this new ambassador role and continue serving the communities, families and fans that make this place so special. I can’t wait to work alongside the Fever, the Pacers and my PS&E family to help strengthen the impact we can make together.”

“When you look at impact, there’s a lot of ways you can measure that,” Catchings said. “For me, one thing that I have always said is wherever I go and whatever space that I am able to move in to, I want to make sure I leave it better than when I came in.”

SOFTBALL

While Karlyn Pickens is still in college, she will have a softball field named after her in North Carolina today on Friday, Jan. 15, in Weaverville. North Buncombe High School will officially dedicate Karlyn Pickens Field at a presentation that will follow the girls varsity basketball game.

Her mother, Rebecca Pickens, posted on social media: “Such an amazing honor – so proud of her and thankful for our amazing community!”

Softball practice is underway, and the Lady Vols will start the season in three weeks on Feb. 5-7 at the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, Florida, with games against BYU, Liberty, Rutgers, Boston College and Oregon.

“Confidence is earned through preparation,” coach Karen Weekly told her players. “The feeling you’re going to dominate something is earned through preparation.”

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.