2012 Media Guide - WNBA.com

Indiana's "do-everything" forward returns for her 12th season in the
WNBA after capturing her first MVP honor in 2011…Catchings led the
Fever in points per game, rebounds, assists and steals in each of her
first six active pro seasons and again in 2010 and 2011 – no other
WNBA player has led her team in as many categories in even one of
those seasons...she has been named the WNBA’s Defensive Player of
the Year an unprecedented four times – in 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2010
…second in WNBA MVP balloting in 2002, 2009 and 2010, she has
finished among the top three in balloting for the WNBA MVP Award in
six of her 10 active pro seasons…she has finished among the top five in
MVP balloting in 9 of 10 active seasons, asserting herself as one of the
world’s premier players...she has scored in 312 of 313 games played in
her pro career...she is a seven-time WNBA All-Star and nine-time All-
WNBA recipient...she has earned WNBA Player of the Week honors 14
times, third in WNBA history.
She has averaged 16.5 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.5
steals per game during her career...she became the WNBA’s all-time
leader in steals during the 2011 season and she enters the 2012
campaign needing just 45 free throws to become the league’s all-time
leader in free throws made…she is the only player in WNBA history to
rank among Top 25 all-time leaders in points (5,176, 6th), rebounds
(2,367, 6th), assists (1,147, 9th), steals (775, 1st) and blocks (278,
14th)…she also ranks among WNBA career leaders in free throws
made (1,433, 2nd) and 3-point field goals made (453, 8th)...she
averages more steals per game (2.48) than any player in WNBA history
with more than two seasons…Catchings owns four of the top five
single-season steals figures in league history and in 2009 finished just
one shy of Teresa Weatherspoon’s league record of 100 in a season
(94 in 2006; 94 in 2002; 90 in 2005; 99 in 2009)...a member of the
WNBA’s 10th Anniversary All-Decade Team, awarded in 2006, she is
the only player in WNBA history to ever rank in the league's top 10 in
scoring, rebounding, assists, steals and blocked shots in the same
season...Catchings, though, has done it twice – in 2002 and 2006...she
has posted double-doubles in nearly one-fourth of her professional
games (72-of-313).
Catchings is a two-time Olympic gold medalist for the United States,
medaling at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, and again in 2008 in
Beijing, China...she also helped the United States to a goal medal in the
2010 World Championships in Czech Republic. She will represent the
U.S. at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England.
Off the court, Catchings is one of the country’s most highlyregarded
citizen-athletes…within the past year alone, she was a
spokesperson for Indy’s Super Cure, a community initiative of the 2012
Indianapolis Super Bowl Host Committee to aid in research and
donation of healthy breast tissue; she was named an NBA/WNBA
ambassador for its Dribble to Stop Diabetes Campaign; she was named
to serve on the board of trustees of the Women’s Sports Foundation;
and appeared with First Lady Michelle Obama in Des Moines, Iowa, as
part of Obama’s “Let’s Move Tour,” geared toward solving the problem
of childhood obesity.
In 2011, she was voted a Top 5 Finalist for the United Nations NGO
Positive Peace Award and one of ten “Dream Team for Public Service”
2012 INDIANA FEVER MEDIA GUIDE
#24 TAMIKA CATCHINGS
Position: Forward
WNBA Years: 11
Height: 6-1
Weight: 167
Born: July 21, 1979 in Stratford,
New Jersey
High School: Duncanville
(Duncanville, Texas)
College: Tennessee ‘01
Drafted: By Indiana, first round,
2001 WNBA Draft (3rd overall)
finalists for the Jefferson Award for outstanding service by an
athlete…she was invited to President George W. Bush’s State of the
Union Address in 2004 and was named a finalist for the 2006 Wooden
Citizenship Cup, presented annually to the nation’s top professional
athlete who exhibits outstanding community service…she was the 2008
female recipient of the Rotary Club of Tulsa Henry P. Iba Citizen-Athlete
Award…she was the first recipient of the WNBA’s Dawn Staley
Leadership Award, presented in 2008 to the player who best
exemplifies the characteristics of a leader in the community and reflects
Staley’s leadership, spirit, charitable efforts and love for the
game…Catchings is the current president of the WNBA Players
Association.
PRO - WNBA
2011: The WNBA’s Most Valuable Player started in 33 games
before missing the final game of the regular season…she averaged
15.5 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game…her seventh point
vs. the Liberty, 8/13, was the 5,000 of her career, becoming the sixth in
league history to reach that mark…she matched a career-high with 32
points and was 17-of-19 from the foul line in that game…she set Fever
records for free throws made and attempted the same night…she
became the first player in WNBA history to score 5,000 points, have
2,000 rebounds, and dish 1,000 assists…she recorded a season-high
15 rebounds at Connecticut 6/17…she ranked fourth in the WNBA in
steals and became the league’s all-time leader on 7/9 vs. Washington,
passing Ticha Penicheiro…she had a season-high six thefts in that
game, including a WNBA-record tying five in the fourth period…she
posted four double-doubles in 33 games…in addition to being named
WNBA MVP, she was named to the All-WNBA First Team and the
WNBA All-Defensive Team…she had a string of 114 consecutive starts
snapped by a bruised knee, three starts away from the franchise record.
2010: The WNBA’s MVP runner-up for a second straight season,
Catchings posted perhaps the finest year of her career… an 18.2-point
scoring average was her best since 2003 and her 48.4 percent shooting
clip easily the best of her career…she shot a career-high 44.8 percent
from the 3-point stripe and led the WNBA in steals (77) for the fourth
time…she recorded a season-high 30 points during a 95-93 win over
eventual East champion Atlanta, 8/6…she posted eight double-doubles
in 34 games and twice was named the Eastern Conference Player of
the Week…in addition to being named to the All-WNBA First Team and
WNBA All-Defensive Team, she received the league’s Kim Perrot
Sportsmanship Award…Catchings represented the USA in the Stars at
the Sun midseason classic featuring stars of the WNBA against the
USA Basketball National Team, preparing for the World
Championships.
2009: The WNBA’s MVP runner-up started in all 34 games…she
averaged 15.1 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.9 steals per
game…Catchings won her third WNBA Defensive Player of the Year
award and was only one steal from tying the WNBA record for most
steals in a season (100)…she was also named to the All-WNBA First
Team and the WNBA All-Defensive Team…along with teammate Katie
Douglas, Catchings was an All-Star starter…Catchings was named
On top Tamika Only of all Tamika of Catchings Catchings’ Catchings and myriad Sheryl has of started other Swoopes awards, more are games the she WNBA’s was and honored played only more three-time with minutes the WNBA’s honorees in a Fever Kim as Perrot Defensive uniform Sportsmanship than Player Tully of Bevilaqua. the Award Year. in 2010.
38 • FeverBasketball.com