July 7, 2011

• Kim Basinger (Basketball, 1976-79; Volleyball, 1976-77)
• Heather Bowie Young (Golf, 1995-97)
• Cat Osterman (Softball, 2002-03, 2005-06)
• Chris Plonsky (Administration, 1982-86, 1993-current)
• Sanya Richards-Ross (Track, 2003-04)
• Kelly (Wilson) Schmedes (Soccer, 2001-04)

AUSTIN, Texas -- Five distinguished former University of Texas student-athletes and a current administrator will be inducted this fall into the UT Women's Athletics Hall of Honor, the Women's Hall of Honor Committee announced Thursday. The 12th Longhorn Women's Hall of Honor class includes: Cat Osterman, three-time softball National Player of the Year and 2004 Olympic gold medalist; Sanya Richards-Ross, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and five-time NCAA Champion in track; Kelly (Wilson) Schmedes, two-time soccer All-American; Heather Bowie Young, golf's 1997 NCAA individual champion; Kim Basinger, a finalist for the first-ever Wade Trophy and the first basketball student-athlete to commit to legendary Texas coach Jody Conradt; and Chris Plonsky, current UT women's Athletics Director.

The Class of 2011 will be inducted at an 11:30 a.m. Central ceremony and luncheon on Friday, Nov. 18 at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin. They will be enshrined during ceremonies at the Texas-Kansas State football game the following day. Tickets to the Friday luncheon are $35 and available by calling the T-Association at (512) 471-6340. Interested patrons may also sponsor a table of 10 for $450.

One of the top pitchers in softball history, Osterman was a three-time National Player of the Year and four-time All-American during her four seasons at The University of Texas. The only softball individual to ever win National Player of the Year honors three times, she paced the Longhorns to three trips to the Women's College World Series (2003, 2005 and 2006) while earning USA Softball's National Player of the Year honor in each of those three seasons. During her redshirt season of 2004, Osterman trained with the USA National Team and was the only collegian and youngest member of the Olympic Team that earned a gold medal in Athens. A three-time selection as Big 12 Conference Female Athlete of the Year (2003, 2005 and 2006), she still holds UT career records in victories (136), ERA (0.51), shutouts (85) and no-hitters (20) and holds the NCAA record for career strikeout ratio per seven innings (14.35). Osterman was a recipient of the NCAA Today's Top VIII Award in 2006, an honor presented to the top eight senior student-athletes in the country.

Richards-Ross was a five-time NCAA Champion and 11-time All-American during her two seasons in Austin (2003-04) and remains one of the top 400-meter runners in the world. She claimed individual titles in the 400 meters at the 2003 NCAA Outdoor and 2004 NCAA Indoor Championships and earned crowns in the 4x400 meter relay at the 2003 NCAA Indoor, 2003 NCAA Outdoor and 2004 NCAA Indoor Championships. Still the UT record-holder in both the indoor and outdoor 400 meters, Richards-Ross also won eight Big 12 Conference individual titles and four league relay crowns. She earned Olympic gold medals with Team USA's 4x400 meter relay in both 2004 (Athens) and 2008 (Beijing), won the 400 meters at the 2009 World Outdoor Championships and has earned three additional World Outdoor titles on Team USA's 4x400-meter relay (2003, 2007 and 2009). Richards-Ross is a two-time recipient of both the IAAF World Athlete of the Year and the Jesse Owens Award (2006, 2009).

The school's all-time leader in career points and assists, (Wilson) Schmedes was a two-time All-American at Texas. She earned National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) second-team All-America and Big 12 Conference Rookie of the Year honors as a freshman in 2001 while leading the Longhorns to their first-ever league championship. Schmedes then claimed NSCAA third-team All-America and Big 12 Player of the Year accolades in her sophomore season (2002). She set school single-season marks for points, goals and assists as a senior in 2004. Schmedes claimed ESPN The Magazine first-team Academic All-America honors and was a recipient of the NCAA Today's Top VIII Award in 2004, an honor presented to the top eight senior student-athletes in the country.

Bowie Young was a two-time All-American at Texas who claimed individual medalist honors at the 1997 NCAA Championship. She received the Honda Broderick Award as the Collegiate Female Golfer of the Year and was a co-recipient of the Marilyn Smith Award as the National Senior Female Golfer of the Year in 1997. Bowie Young, who also won the individual title at the 1997 Big 12 Championship while leading UT to the first-ever team title in the league's history, earned first-team All-America and Big 12 Conference Player of the Year accolades as a senior. She claimed second-team All-America honors as a junior in 1996, helping the Longhorns win the final Southwest Conference team championship and place third at the NCAA Championships. Bowie Young transferred to Texas after spending two years at Arizona State, where she earned first-team All-America honors in both her freshman (1994) and sophomore seasons (1995) and helped the Sun Devils capture back-to-back NCAA team titles. She has been a member of the LPGA since 2000 and has over $3 million in career earnings and a victory at the 2005 Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic.

Basinger was the first basketball student-athlete to commit to former head coach Jody Conradt and was the leader of the Texas Basketball program in the early years. A three-year letterwinner in basketball (1977-79) and two-year letterwinner in volleyball (1976-77), Basinger was a finalist as a junior in 1977-78 for the first-ever Wade Trophy, an award given to the women's National Player of the Year in college basketball. She was a team co-captain in her senior season (1978-79) and led the Longhorns to a 37-4 mark and a No. 4 ranking in the final Associated Press poll. One of the top student-athletes of her era, Basinger earned the UT Scholar-Athlete Award, given to the top female student-athlete at The University, and received UT's Outstanding Student Award by the Health and Physical Education Department in 1979.

Plonsky recently completed her 22nd year of association with The University of Texas and her ninth year as women's athletics director, senior woman administrator and director of men's/women's athletics external services. Since she assumed the role of women's AD in 2001, the Longhorns have won two NCAA team titles (2005 Outdoor Track and Field, 2006 Indoor Track and Field) and 32 Big 12 Conference championships. The department's liaison with multimedia rights holder IMG College, Plonsky played a major role in the recent ground-breaking agreement between UT, IMG College and ESPN for the Longhorn Network, a television network exclusively dedicated to UT and UT sports coverage which will launch on August 26, 2011. She first joined the UT Athletics staff in January 1982 as women's sports information director and spent four-and-a-half years in that capacity. After a seven-year stint with the BIG EAST Conference office, Plonsky rejoined UT Athletics in October 1993.

The six inductees were selected by the 21-member UT Women's Athletics Hall of Honor Selection Committee. The committee is chaired by Dr. Jim Deitrick, professor of accounting in the Red McCombs School of Business. In addition to Deitrick and Plonsky, the committee includes: Tina Bonci, Beverly Bowes Hackney, Brad Buchholz, Jody Conradt, Stephanie DeMunbrun, Dr. Linda Ferreira-Buckley, Mary Herman, Courtney Houston, Becky Marshall, Howard Nirken, Sonia Perez, Lynn Pool, Dr. Robert Prentice, Dr. Randa Ryan, Sally Schlobohm Tan, Jill Sterkel, Craig Way, Lynn Wheeler and Joan Whitworth.

2011 Longhorn Women's Hall of Honor Inductee Bios

Kim Basinger (Basketball, 1976-79; Volleyball, 1976-77)
(B.S.E. Physical Education, The University of Texas, 1979; Master's Education, Stephen F. Austin State University, 1982; J.D., The University of Texas School of Law, 1988)
Basinger was the first basketball student-athlete to commit to former head coach Jody Conradt and became the leader of the UT program in the early years. After spending her freshman year at the University of Texas at Arlington (where she played for Coach Conradt), Basinger transferred to Texas prior to the fall semester in 1976 when Conradt took the head coaching job in Austin. During her sophomore season (1976-77), she led the Longhorns to a 36-10 mark and a third-place showing at the AIAW Region 4 Tournament and was named the team's Most Valuable Player. As a junior (1977-78), Basinger was a finalist for the first-ever Wade Trophy, which honors the women's National Player of the Year in college basketball. She helped Texas to a 29-10 record and a No. 15 ranking in the final Associated Press poll. Basinger was a team co-captain as a senior and led the Longhorns to a 37-4 mark and a No. 4 ranking in the final AP poll. In addition, she earned two letters with the UT volleyball team as a sophomore and junior (1976-77). One of the top student-athletes of her era, Basinger received her Bachelor's of Science degree in Physical Education, summa cum laude, from The University of Texas in 1979. She also earned the UT Scholar-Athlete Award, given to the top female student-athlete at The University, and received UT's Outstanding Student Award by the Health and Physical Education Department as a senior. Basinger was drafted by the New Orleans Pride of the Women's Professional Basketball League (WBL) in 1979 and played briefly for the franchise. A recipient of the Texas Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (TAIAW) Graduate Study Scholarship which honored the graduating student-athlete with the highest GPA in the state of Texas, she served as a Graduate Assistant Coach in women's basketball at Stephen F. Austin until completing her Master's degree in Education with honors in 1982. Basinger was the head women's basketball coach at Sam Houston State University from 1982-86, directing the LadyKats to the Lone Star Conference post-season tournament finals in 1984. She then returned to Austin in 1986 and received her J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law in 1988. Basinger joined her current Austin-based law firm in 1988, was admitted to the Texas Bar in 1989 and became a partner in what is now the firm of Wilson Grosenheider Jacobs Basinger & Loiacono, L.L.P., in 1996. The firm's practice consists primarily of insurance defense litigation, construction litigation, ERISA litigation, defense of professional liability claims and insurance coverage analysis.

Heather Bowie Young (Golf, 1995-97)
(B.B.A. Finance, The University of Texas, 1997)
The 1997 NCAA individual champion and National Player of the Year, Bowie Young is one of the top golfers in school history. Bowie Young began her collegiate career at Arizona State, where she earned first-team All-America honors in both her freshman (1994) and sophomore seasons (1995) and helped the Sun Devils capture back-to-back NCAA team titles. After transferring to Texas, she helped the Longhorns win the final Southwest Conference team championship and place third at the NCAA Championships as a junior in 1996. Bowie Young earned second-team All-America and first-team All-SWC honors in her junior season. She capped off her collegiate career in 1997 by claiming individual medalist honors at the NCAA Championship and the Big 12 Championship. Bowie Young claimed the Honda Broderick Award as the Collegiate Female Golfer of the Year and was a co-recipient of the Marilyn Smith Award as the National Senior Female Golfer of the Year. She also earned first-team All-America and Big 12 Player of the Year accolades while leading Texas to the first Big 12 team title in 1997. During the second round of the 1997 NCAA West Regional, she fired a 67 to set a then-UT record for lowest 18-hole score. Bowie Young also found success in the classroom, earning GTE/CoSIDA first-team Academic All-America accolades as a sophomore (1995) at Arizona State and as a senior (1997) at Texas. In addition, she claimed a spot on the National Golf Coaches Association (NGCA) All-American Scholar Golf Team in her sophomore season at Arizona State (1994-95) and both of her years at UT (1995-96 and 1996-97). An Academic All-SWC first-team choice as a junior and an Academic All-Big 12 first-team selection as a senior, Bowie Young earned her Bachelor's degree in Finance from The University of Texas' McCombs School of Business in December 1997. She turned professional in 1997 and played on the Futures Tour until 2000, when she qualified for the LPGA. A member of the 2003 U.S. Solheim Cup team, Bowie Young claimed victory at the 2005 Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic and recently went over the $3 million mark in career earnings on the LPGA. She resides in Fort Worth, Texas, with her husband, Jeremy.

Cat Osterman (Softball, 2002-03, 2005-06)
(B.A. Psychology, The University of Texas, 2007)
A three-time National Player of the Year, four-time All-American and 2004 Olympic Gold medalist, Osterman is one of the most decorated student-athletes to ever compete at The University of Texas. During her freshman year in 2002, she earned second-team Louisville Slugger/National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-America honors while posting a 36-8 mark and a 0.83 ERA. Osterman also tossed the first perfect game in UT softball history, the first of her nine career perfect games. As a sophomore in 2003, she was named USA Softball's Collegiate Player of the Year while registering a 32-6 mark and 0.38 ERA and leading Texas to its second-ever appearance at the Women's College World Series. Osterman took a year off from college in 2004 to train with the USA National Team, and she was the only collegian and youngest member of the Olympic Team that earned a gold medal in Athens. She returned to campus for her junior season (2005) and posted a 30-7 mark with a 0.36 ERA, including 22 shutouts, six no-hitters and three perfect games. Osterman again earned National Player of the Year honors in addition to the 2005 ESPY Award as "Best Female College Athlete" and led Texas back to the WCWS. In her senior season (2006), she tallied a 38-4 record with a 0.42 ERA, including 28 shutouts and five no-hitters, while earning National Player of the Year accolades and helping Texas reach the Women's College World Series for the third time in her career. The only softball individual ever to win National Player of the Year honors three times, Osterman also earned the 2005-06 Honda Softball Player of the Year Award, the 2006 ESPY Award as "Best Female College Athlete" and the 2005-06 SportsWoman of the Year Award for a Team Sport by the Women's Sports Foundation. On the conference level, she won Big 12 Pitcher of the Year honors in each of her four seasons and remains the only athlete in league history to win a major award four times. Osterman earned 25 career Big 12 Pitcher of the Week honors, the most by a Big 12 athlete in any sport, and was named Big 12 Conference Female Athlete of the Year a record three times (2003, 2005 and 2006). Osterman still holds UT career records in victories (136), ERA (0.51), shutouts (85) and no-hitters (20) and holds the NCAA record for career strikeout ratio per seven innings (14.35). She also ranks second in NCAA history in career strikeouts (2,265) and career shutouts and fifth in career wins. Osterman posted the lowest ERA in the NCAA during three of her seasons (2003, 2005 and 2006) and remains the only player in NCAA history to lead the nation in ERA three times. She also found success in the classroom, earning ESPN The Magazine third-team Academic All-America accolades as a sophomore and three Academic All-Big 12 honors (2003, 2005 and 2006). In addition, Osterman was a two-time recipient (2004-05 and 2005-06) of the UT Women's Athletics Department's highest endowed scholarship honor, the V.F. "Doc" Neuhaus Endowed Presidential Scholarship, and earned a Big 12 Conference Dr. Prentice Gautt Postgraduate Scholarship in 2006. She also was a recipient of the NCAA Today's Top VIII Award in 2006, an honor presented to the top eight senior student-athletes in the country. Osterman became just the fifth UT student-athlete to earn the award, joining Football's Kenneth Sims (1982), Swimming's Betsy Mitchell (1989), Diving's Vera Ilyina (1999) and Soccer's Kelly Wilson (2004). The No. 1 pick in the 2006 Pro Fastpitch X-Treme Draft and the No. 1 pick in the National Pro Fastpitch Draft, she completed her Bachelor's degree in Psychology from The University of Texas in 2007. Following her graduation, she competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and won a silver medal with Team USA. Osterman served as an assistant coach at DePaul University for three years (2008-10) while pursuing her Master's Degree and is currently playing professionally in Japan and in the National Pro Fastpitch with the USSSA Pride of Orlando, Fla.

Chris Plonsky (Administration, 1982-86, 1993-current)
(B.S. Journalism, Kent State University, 1979)
Plonsky recently completed her 22nd year of association with The University of Texas and her ninth year as women's athletics director, senior woman administrator and director of men's/women's athletics external services. She currently directs UT's 11-sport women's athletics program and is the liaison with multimedia rights holder IMG College, which performs corporate sponsorship sales and radio network/internet/television production and distribution. Since Plonsky assumed the role of women's AD, the Longhorns have won two NCAA team titles (2005 Outdoor Track and Field and 2006 Indoor Track and Field) and 32 Big 12 Conference championships. Plonsky played a major role in the recent ground-breaking agreement between UT, IMG College and ESPN for the Longhorn Network, a television network exclusively dedicated to UT and UT sports coverage which will launch on August 26, 2011. She also supervises UT's trademark and licensing staff, which works directly with IMG College's Collegiate Licensing Company. UT generates more trademark royalties than any other CLC client. Plonsky earned her Bachelor's degree in Journalism from Kent State University in 1979. She is a former editor of The Daily Kent Stater campus newsletter and was named the school's outstanding journalism graduate (magna cum laude) in 1979. She also lettered three years in basketball (1975-78) and served as team co-captain during her junior season. Plonsky was a student sports information director at Kent State from 1976-79. Following her graduation, she worked as women's SID at Iowa State from 1979-81 and first joined the UT Athletics staff in January 1982 as women's sports information director. Plonsky was named BIG EAST Conference office director of public relations in July 1986 and spent seven years with the league in public relations and assistant/associate commissioner capacities. She rejoined UT Athletics in October 1993 as Associate AD for External Services under men's AD DeLoss Dodds. On a volunteer basis, Plonsky serves as a board member of the National Football Foundation/College Football Hall of Fame, NCAA and USA Basketball. Her past NCAA committee work includes service on the NCAA Committee on Academic Performance (CAP), the NCAA President's Task Force on Commercialization and five years with the Division I Management Council. Plonsky also is a former member of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Executive Committee and the board of directors of the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA). She was NACMA president in 1999-2000, and in June 2003 was inducted into the NACMA Hall of Fame. In Austin, Plonsky is a member of the UT Libraries Advisory Council, the Capital Area Crime Stoppers board and the University Federal Credit Union supervisory committee.

Sanya Richards-Ross (Track, 2003-04)
A two-time Olympic gold medalist, four-time World Champion, five-time NCAA Champion and 11-time All-American, Richards-Ross remains one of the top 400-meter runners in the world. During her two seasons in Austin, she led the Longhorns to three Top Five team finishes at the NCAA Championships. As a freshman in 2003, Richards-Ross helped Texas to a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championship with second-place individual performances in the 200 meters and the 400 meters while running the anchor leg on the NCAA Champion 4x400-meter relay. She then led the Longhorns to a second-place showing at the NCAA Outdoor Championship by winning the 400-meter individual title, running the anchor leg on the victorious 4x400-meter relay and helping the 4x100-meter relay to a third-place finish. In her sophomore season in 2004, Richards-Ross helped Texas to a tie for seventh place at the NCAA Indoor Championship by winning the 400-meter individual title, running the anchor leg on the NCAA Champion 4x400-meter relay and placing second in the 200 meters. She then led the Horns to a fourth-place showing at the NCAA Outdoor Championship by placing third in the 400 meters. Still the UT record-holder in both the indoor and outdoor 400 meters, Richards-Ross also excelled on the conference level during her career. She swept all four possible Big 12 Conference Indoor and Outdoor Performer of the Year accolades in both 2003 and 2004 and won eight league individual titles and four conference relay crowns. Richards-Ross turned professional following her sophomore year and earned her first Olympic gold medal as part of Team USA's victorious 4x400-meter relay at the 2004 Athens Games. Four years later at the 2008 Beijing Games, she won a bronze medal in the 400 meters and claimed her second Olympic gold medal by anchoring the Team USA's winning 4x400 meter relay. Richards-Ross also won the 400 meters at the 2009 World Outdoor Championships and has claimed three World Outdoor titles on Team USA's 4x400-meter relay (2003, 2007 and 2009). In addition, she has claimed five USA Outdoor 400-meter championships (2003, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2009). Richards-Ross earned World Athlete of the Year accolades from the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and the Jesse Owens Award (USA Track and Field's highest annual honor) in both 2006 and 2009. She made history in 2005, becoming the youngest woman ever to run under 49 seconds in the 400 meters with her time of 48.92 in Zurich. One year later at age 21, Richards-Ross set the American record in the 400 meters with her time of 48.70 at the IAAF World Cup in Athens. She won the Visa Humanitarian Athlete of the Year award in 2005 for her participation in USA Track and Field's "Be a Champion" program, and she was one of four individuals selected to receive the Outstanding Young Texas Ex Award in 2010. Richards-Ross resides in both Austin and New York City with her husband, former UT football player Aaron Ross.

Kelly (Wilson) Schmedes (Soccer, 2001-04)
(B.S. Kinesiology, The University of Texas, 2004)
A two-time All-American and UT's all-time leader in career points and assists, (Wilson) Schmedes is one of the top soccer players in school history. As a freshman in 2001, she earned National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) second-team All-America and Big 12 Rookie of the Year honors while leading Texas to a 14-6-0 mark and the school's first-ever Big 12 Conference title. Schmedes claimed NSCAA third-team All-America and Big 12 Player of the Year accolades in her sophomore season (2002), helping the Longhorns to a 15-5-1 record and a No. 14 ranking in the final NSCAA poll. During her senior season in 2004, she set school single-season marks for points (46), goals (16) and assists (14) while leading Texas to a 15-7-2 mark, a trip to the NCAA Tournament Third Round and a No. 16 ranking in the final NSCAA poll. Schmedes was a four-time All-Big 12 first-team and NSCAA All-Central Region first-team selection, and she still holds UT career records for points (129) and assists (41), shares the mark for game-winning goals (13) and ranks second in goals (44). In the classroom, Schmedes earned three Academic All-Big 12 first-team accolades. She also claimed ESPN The Magazine first-team Academic All-America honors, an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, and was a recipient of the NCAA Today's Top VIII Award in 2004, an honor presented to the top eight senior student-athletes in the country. She is one of only five UT student-athletes to earn the award, joining Football's Kenneth Sims (1982), Swimming's Betsy Mitchell (1989), Diving's Vera Ilyina (1999) and Softball's Cat Osterman (2006). Schmedes earned her Bachelor's degree in Kinesiology with high honors from The University of Texas in December 2004. She made two appearances on the U.S. National Team at the 2002 and 2005 Algarve Cup and also played professionally both in the United States (2005, 2007-09) and Sweden (2006). Schmedes resides in Charleston, S.C. with her husband, former UT track athlete Gregg Schmedes, and their son, Isaiah. The couple is expecting their second child (girl) in August.