Get to know your Fever
Published on September 2, 2005 under Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Indiana Fever News Release
Indiana players and coaches have quoted that adage throughout the season and, while the Fever was in second place in the Eastern Conference from start to finish all year, it never posted the hot streak it's experiencing now - with two weeks left in the WNBA Playoffs. Indiana won five of its last six games in the regular season, and after a first-round sweep of the New York Liberty, Indiana has won 7-of-8 heading into its conference finals appearance next week.
Indiana's First Major Sports Title?
The Pacers have never won an NBA title and the Colts, while in Indianapolis, have never won an NFL title. Could Indiana's Fever be two weeks from an WNBA title and the first major sports championship among Indy's pro sports teams?
WNBA Players Are Remarkable Role Models and Pioneers
Not only are Fever players accomplished female athletes who are fit, healthy role models for physical fitness and healthy living, it is worth noting that nearly every Fever player has her college degree. Many WNBA players have husbands and children. Many have dual careers. Dozens play overseas during the winter in Europe, Australia, Russia or Korea. And unlike many of their male counterparts in other pro sports, WNBA athletes do not make six-figure salaries. WNBA players realize that their league is still very new on the American sports landscape, and they welcome their role as pioneers for the league that is now in just its ninth season. They are intelligent, educated, fit and healthy - on and off the court. They are dedicated to their craft, but when their playing careers end, each of these women will undertake family and/or additional careers.
Mild-Mannered Former NBA Sharpshooter and Coach Guides Fever
In a recent magazine article, Michael Jordan was asked "who was the purest shooter he ever had seen?" Jordan's reply: "Brian Winters." A nine-year NBA guard (1974-83) whose jersey was retired by the Milwaukee Bucks, Winters is in his second season as head coach of the Indiana Fever, jumping from over 20 years of NBA coaching experience to join the ranks of the WNBA.
The father of six children, including three daughters who have become accomplished athletes themselves, Winters guided the Fever to a 16-18 mark in his first season, and a narrow miss at the 2004 WNBA Playoffs. This year, however, he has engineered the stingiest defense in the WNBA while orchestrating a steady, consistent season that has never produced more than two consecutive losses. Indiana has won games with its defense, clutch play, timely efficiency, and a chemistry that every player cites as a difference in this season's success. A candidate as the WNBA's Coach of the Year, Winters has directed the finest season in Indiana Fever history. Counting the playoffs so far, Indiana has won 23 of the 36 games it has played.
On the court, he is a mild-mannered, gentleman who has joined a growing trend of male coaches in a professional women's sports league. Off the court, he is equally as mild while managing his family and watching his oldest son, Brendan, follow in his footsteps as an outstanding college star. Brendan, a senior at Davidson University, was the Player of the Year in the Southern Conference last season as a junior, and could draw attention from professional scouts this winter.
TAMIKA CATCHINGS is one of the world's top five women's basketball players. She is All-Everything for the Fever and has her own list of storylines:
- At the University of Tennessee, she was an Academic All-American in college who recently completed her master's degree.
- She overcame a hearing disability in her youth. She tells the story that she used to be teased because she wore hearing aids and glasses, and used basketball as a way of escaping that teasing because she knew that on the court, she was better than everybody else.
- She recently began her own charitable foundation - the Catch A Star Foundation - which benefits disadvantaged youth. She regularly donates time and money, usually for youth, and at Thanksgiving each year she participates in the Pacers Annual Thanksgiving Dinner. Three years ago, she purchased turkeys for the dinner, and after a local supermarket chain pitched in with turkeys the past two years, Catchings contributed socks, gloves and blankets for the Indianapolis homeless who participated. She also conducts basketball camps and fitness clinics, but rather than charging a fee for participation, she often requires only a contribution of canned food items which are donated to Gleaner's Food Bank as part of her Thanksgiving contributions.
- She is the son of a former NBA star, Harvey Catchings, who was a former teammate of her current head coach, Brian Winters.
- She was named this week as the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, and was the WNBA Rookie of the Year in 2002.
- She has led the Fever in points, rebounds, assists and steals in each of the past four seasons. No other star has led her team in as many categories during any of those four seasons. In 2005, she set records for assists and steals.
- She won her first Olympic gold medal while starting every game for Team USA in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
NATALIE WILLIAMS is one of the league's most veteran superstars. The 34-year old center has announced her retirement at the end of this season, after a lengthy pro career which began in the late '90s when women's pro basketball had its earliest beginnings in the United States. The mother of adopted twins, she won an Olympic gold medal in 2000 in Sydney. Her daughter is named Sydney in honor of those Olympics, and her son, Turasi, is named in honor of current women's basketball superstar Diana Taurasi. Williams will retire as the leading rebounder in the history of U.S. women's pro basketball. She pondered retirement after the 2004 season, but wanted to play one more season with hopes of a championship - and she has helped lead the Fever within two wins of reaching the WNBA Finals. She has played 10 pro seasons and only once has even reach the conference finals - which the Fever begin next Thursday.
TULLY BEVILAQUA has very quickly become a fan favorite of Fever followers at Conseco Fieldhouse. The charming 33-year old Australian point guard is enjoying the finest year of her seven-year career, reviving a career that was spent coming off the bench the past two years in Seattle. After signing a free agent contract with the Fever last winter, Bevilaqua has bolstered the Fever offense and defense with her intelligent, gritty, tenacious style of play that endears fans and teammates. Bevilaqua is noted for her tenacity on defense - steals, taking charges, tying up opposing players and generally wreaking havoc. She was named to the WNBA's All-Defensive First Team this week, and is characterized by her kamikaze style of play that results in as much time on the floor, as on her feet! Off the court, she is also one of the team's most friendly and likable characters - characterized mostly for her Aussie accent and a constant, contagious smile. She was raised in a small town, in a house without a phone or indoor plumbing as a child. Prior to the 2005 season, she celebrated her 10-year wedding anniversary with husband Dirk. Dirk, who still resides at their home in Western Australia (Perth), made his first visit to Indy during the past two weeks.
DEANNA JACKSON has been one of the Fever's top players off the bench this season, in what is her second year in a Fever uniform. One of Indiana's top characteristics this season has been the play of its bench, and Jackson is one that keeps the Fever reserves as competitive as its starting lineup. A recent storyline involves her family, however, which hails from Alabama. Her mother works in Mobile, Ala., and was forced to evacuate to her hometown of Brewton, Ala. An uncle resides in New Orleans and has not been contacted by family since Hurricane Katrina.
JURGITA STREIMIKYTE was another key "newcomer" to the Fever roster this year, though in one sense, she's no newcomer at all! One of the top players in all of Europe and the top women's player from Lithuania, the pro basketball veteran was actually a member of the Fever's first two seasons in 2000 and 2001. She gave birth to a son, Tomas, prior to the 2003 season, and has since played professionally throughout Europe before her return to the Fever this season. She is a dead-eye shooter from 10-to-15 feet from the basket, and was inserted into the starting lineup at the All-Star Break in early July. Since that point, Indiana has won 15 of 22 games. Her husband, Danius, was a professional marathon runner who competed for Lithuania in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
KELLY MILLER is in her second year in a Fever uniform. It is her fifth WNBA season, though for the first three seasons, she was relegated to bench duty in Charlotte. The Fever traded for the former No. 2 draft pick, however, believing that her abilities as a shooter would benefit the Fever offense. Since coming to Indy, she has started every game of the past two seasons and has become the Fever's second-leading scorer. She is a sharp-shooting 3-point specialist who is one of the career 3-point percentage leaders in WNBA history. She also is the twin sister of another WNBA star, Coco, who is a regular with the Washington Mystics. With Washington's season now over, Coco and her parents are present at every Fever game.
EBONY HOFFMAN was the Fever's top draft pick of 2004, and has been another valuable bench contributor for this season's Fever. If you want personality, Hoffman is always at the center of attention. The 6-2, 210-lb. center took part in a ballroom dancing contest earlier this season with local media personalities; she has regularly been a guest on local radio shows - talking about a variety of topics from the NBA; to politics; to her own California winery. She is always on full volume with laughter, a joke, or an opinion on any topic. In a recent segment on ESPN, she interviewed each of her teammates, and she is scheduled to appear with Tamika Catchings next spring in a taping of ESPN's "Teammates" show featuring featuring pairs of professional sports teammates.
HOLLY HEITZMAN-ALLISON is in her sixth season as the athletic trainer with the Indiana Fever, and is the only person to have been on the bench during every game in franchise history. She was named the 2005 Clinical/Professional Athletic Trainer of the Year by the Indiana Athletic Trainers Association (IATA).
KELLY KRAUSKOPF is in her sixth year as the Chief Operating Officer of the Fever, and is responsible for assembling the Fever roster that is contending for the current WNBA Championship. She assumed duties as the team's General Manager in 2003. A native of Texas, Krauskopf served in the WNBA league office before assuming her duties with the Indiana franchise when it was first established in Summer 1999. One of her primary tasks with the WNBA was establishing its first set of playing rules when the league was first established prior to the 1997 season. She serves on the USA Basketball Women's National Team Selection Committee, and is the highest-ranking female sports executive in Indianapolis.
Women's National Basketball Association Stories from September 2, 2005
- Monarchs Western Conference Finals Tickets On Sale - Sacramento Monarchs
- Complimentary Storm Fans Shuttle available tomorrow afternoon - Seattle Storm
- Fever hosts opening game of eastern conference finals - Thursday, Sept. 8 - Indiana Fever
- Sacramento's Nicole Powell named 2005 WNBA Most Improved Player - WNBA
- Sacramento's John Whisenant named WNBA Coach of the Year - WNBA
- Get to know your Fever - Indiana Fever
- Mercury to begin search fo new head coach - Phoenix Mercury
- Sun forward Taj Mcwilliams-Franklin recieves Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award - WNBA
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
