Two USWNT legends are seeing their legacies cemented, as the National Soccer Hall of Fame announced on Thursday that retired forwards Tobin Heath and Heather O'Reilly are first-ballot inductees as members of the Class of 2026.
Both Heath and O'Reilly retired as World Cup champions and Olympic medalists, winning their 2008 and 2012 Olympic golds as well as their 2015 World Cup title as teammates.
The USWNT icons led all voting on the Hall of Fame's Player Ballot of 20 finalists, which only allots two to three athletes per annual class for induction.
O'Reilly snagged 47 of the 48-person selection committee's votes, with Heath earning 45 nods for inclusion.
Fellow former USWNT star Sam Mewis finished fifth on the ballot with 32 votes in her first year of eligibility, while longtime NWSL and USWNT player Amy Rodriguez came in seventh with 28 votes.
Longtime Seattle Reign defender Stephanie Cox — a 2008 Olympic gold medalist with the USWNT — also snagged votes, ranking 15th on the Class of 2026 Player Ballot.
Though they fell short of making the cut, a trio of former USWNT stars also earned votes on the 10-finalist Veteran Ballot, with longtime midfielder-turned-broadcaster Aly Wagner as well as legendary '99ers Tiffany Roberts and Lorrie Fair all snagging tallies.
The National Soccer Hall of Fame will induct Heath and O'Reilly as part of its six-person Class of 2026 in a ceremony at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, on May 1st.
The Women's Basketball Hall of Fame is ushering in a blockbuster new class, announcing a list of its 2026 inductees this week with honorees spanning four players, two coaches, an ESPN contributor, and a posthumous veteran standout.
Two-time WNBA MVP Candace Parker (LA Sparks, Chicago Sky, Las Vegas Aces) headlines the player lineup, with the three-time WNBA champion joined by 2019 WNBA MVP Elena Delle Donne (Chicago Sky, Washington Mystics) and French standout Isabelle Fijalkowski (Cleveland Rockers), as well as three-time WNBA champ with the Houston Comets Amaya Valdemoro.
Minnesota Lynx manager and four-time WNBA Coach of the Year Cheryl Reeve also received a nod alongside nine-time national championship-winning Kirkwood Community College head coach Kim Muhl and former Clemson great Barbara Kennedy-Dixon, while ESPN analyst Doris Burke snagged an honor for her decades-long coverage.
Calling the Class of 2026 "eight distinguished legends of this exceptional sport," Hall of Fame president Dana Hart said in Friday’s release that "They exemplify the highest standards in women's basketball and have made substantial contributions to the sport, along with shaping the game's historical trajectory."
The formal induction ceremony of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2026 will take place at Knoxville's Tennessee Theatre on June 27th.
Three retired WNBA icons received their flowers over the weekend, as Minnesota Lynx legends Sylvia Fowles and Maya Moore and Seattle Storm great Sue Bird took their places in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday — making the 2025 WNBA class arguably the most dominant in HOF history.
"Now that I'm in the Hall, I believe I have become Auntie Maya," Moore said in her enshrinement speech. "I want to challenge you up-and-comers to learn to love and seek out joy and connection as your biggest motivator."
With 11 Olympic gold medals — more than any other HOF group — and 10 league championships between them, plus countless individual honors, Fowles, Bird, and Moore comprise the strongest women's basketball Hall of Fame class in history.
Even more, this is the first year that the Naismith has added a full trio of WNBA players to its hallowed halls — a testament to the unmatched careers of Bird, Moore, and Fowles.
"Put us on a 3×3 team, you'd have some problems — we'd be pretty good," Bird joked. "It is pretty special to go in with people who aren't just amazing players, having impact on and off the court, but these are players that I got to experience life with."
"I think that would be fair to say that they would have the title of best class ever," Minnesota head coach Cheryl Reeve said.
The US Olympic and Paralympic Hall of Fame announced their Class of 2025 on Tuesday, with this year's iconic cohort headlined by tennis titan Serena Williams and track legend Allyson Felix.
Alongside four-time Olympic gold medalist Williams and seven-time gold medalist Felix — the most decorated woman in Olympic track and field history with 11 total medals — four other women and one women's team snagged spots in the 2025 class.
Joining the pair are gymnastics icon Gabby Douglas, a two-time team gold medalist and the first Black woman to take individual all-around gold in Olympic history, and three-time beach volleyball gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings.
Additional inductees include the gold medal-winning 2004 USA women's wheelchair basketball Paralympic team, five-time Paralympic gold medalist in track Marla Runyan — the only US athlete to have competed in both the Paralympic and Olympic Games — and multi-sport specialist Susan Hagel.
Hagel competed in six Paralympic Games across three different sports — archery, track and field, and wheelchair basketball — picking up four gold and two bronze medals along the way.
Barrier-breakers honored as Class of 2025 Legends
Also earning Hall of Fame honors are two trailblazing Black women, named as the Legends of the Class of 2025.
Renowned volleyball player and 1984 silver medalist Flo Hyman — whose work to bolster Title IX as well as her role helping Team USA to their first-ever Olympic medal in women's volleyball were crucial to growing the sport in the US — will be posthumously celebrated.
Honored alongside Hyman will be 1976 Olympic bronze medalist Anita DeFrantz, the first and only Black woman to medal in rowing.
DeFrantz, the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) first-ever woman member, is still helping to make Olympic history, casting the deciding vote to elect the IOC's first woman president this past March.
The Class of 2025 is the 18th overall group and first since 2022 to enter the Hall of Fame.
Following their July 12th induction, the US Olympic and Paralympic Hall of Fame will bloom to 210 individual and team members.
Retired WNBA star Layshia Clarendon is being inducted into the LGBTQ Sports Hall of Fame, with the former LA Spark earning recognition for contributions both on and off the court on Thursday.
After coming out in a 2015 Players Tribune article, Clarendon made history as the league's first openly trans and nonbinary player. They played 11 seasons in the WNBA, repping half of the league's 12 teams by the time they retired in 2024.
The 2017 All-Star's off-court endeavors included advocating for justice and inclusivity across all sectors. They became the first vice president of the WNBA Players Association in 2016, helped negotiate the league's game-changing 2020 CBA, and served on the league's Social Justice Council, among other accomplishments.
"Layshia made a huge impact on and off the court throughout their outstanding basketball career," said former LA coach Curt Miller. "Lay was a true professional, showing up each day with a desire to help our teams compete and improve."
"Off the court, Lay is a trailblazer and impacted so many with their bravery to be authentic and unapologetic while consistently fighting for the marginalized."
Current USC manager Lindsay Gottlieb, who coached Clarendon at Cal, echoed Miller's assessment.
"The way the W looks and feels right now is largely a testament to the people that have been doing the work," she said. "And there's no one more important in that realm than Layshia."
Clarendon joins first LGBTQ Sports Hall of Fame class in 10 years
First established in 2013, the LGBTQ Sports HOF honors coaches, athletes, advocates, and executives "who have made an enduring impact on the sports world through leadership, visibility, and commitment to inclusion."
The HOF grew to 49 inductees through 2015. It then lay dormant for a decade before the Sports Equality Foundation resurrected it.
The SEF plans to announce additional members of the 2025 class in the coming weeks.
This year's cohort will be officially inducted in Las Vegas on August 10th. Then, Clarendon will join past honorees like tennis icon Billie Jean King, USWNT star Megan Rapinoe, WNBA standout Brittney Griner, and golf legend Patty Sheehan in the LGBTQ HOF.
Becky Hammon, coach of Las Vegas Aces, was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame Saturday because of her playing career, and for good reason: A six-time WNBA All-Star and two-time First Team selection, Hammon was the league’s assists leader in 2007 and her No. 25 was retired by the Aces.
But during her speech, Hammon took a moment to acknowledge Greg Popovich, who in 2014 hired her to be the first assistant coach in NBA history, jumpstarting her coaching career.
"I know you weren't trying to be courageous when you hired me, but you did do something in professional sports that nobody had ever done." 🗣️
— NBA TV (@NBATV) August 13, 2023
This moment between @BeckyHammon & Pop 🥹❤️@Hoophall | #23HoopClass pic.twitter.com/G3gk51vLU5
“Pop, I’m not going to look at you,” she said during the speech, pausing for several moments to hold back tears.The crowd applauded. “You’re a man of principle and excellence. I know you weren’t trying to be courageous when you hired me. But you did do something no one else in professional sports has ever done.”
Popovich, who has won five NBA titles over 27 seasons with the Spurs, was also inducted into the Hall of Fame on Saturday.
“I’m in love with her,” Popovich said of Hammon in an ESPN interview. “She is a fiery, competitive, take-no-prisoners gal. The first time I knew that was when I went to see the WNBA team for San Antonio. She was the point guard for that team and she reminded me of my youth. She was a wiseass out there on the court, chewing her gum, directing traffic, making everybody do what she wanted to do. And she just ruled the whole gym.”
The Aces (26-3) return to the court Sunday night against the Atlanta Dream (15-15). Hammon will be back on the sideline, likely with a message from Popovich in her head.
“I don’t even know if you know how many times you’ve actually texted me that, ‘Just be you,’” Hammon said to Popovich during her speech. “You’ve changed the trajectory of my life, and of so many other young girls and women. Thank you. I love you.”