Caitlin Clark honored as AP Female Athlete of the Year following her impact on women’s sports

Caitlin Clark raised the profile of women’s basketball to unprecedented levels in both the college ranks and the WNBA, and Tuesday she was named the AP Female Athlete of the Year for her impact on and off the court.

After leading Iowa to the national championship game, Clark was the top pick in the WNBA draft as expected and went on to win rookie of the year honors in the league. Fans packed sold-out arenas and millions of television viewers tuned in to follow her journey. Clark’s exploits were far reaching, casting a light on other women’s sports leagues along the way.

A group of 74 sports journalists from The Associated Press and its members voted on the award. Clark received 35 votes, Olympic gymnast Simone Biles was second with 25 and boxer Imane Khelif was third, getting four votes.

Clark is only the fourth women’s basketball player to be honored as the female athlete of the year since it was first presented in 1931, joining Sheryl Swoopes (1993), Rebecca Lobo (1995) and Candace Parker (2008, 2021).

“I grew up a fan of Candace Parker and the people who came before me and to be honored in this way, is super special and I’m thankful,” Clark said in a phone interview. “It was a great year for women’s basketball and women’s sports.”

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Clark broke the NCAA Division I career scoring record for both men and women finishing her career with 3,951 points while guiding Iowa to its second consecutive national championship game. After her Hawkeyes lost t South Carolina for the title, Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley took the mic during her team’s celebration and said, “I want to personally thank Caitlin Clark for lifting up our sport.”

For all the success Clark has had and the attention she has brought to women’s basketball, she is often the centerpiece of debates and online toxicity towards her and other players in the league.

For her part, Clark has disavowed the toxic discourse.

Lobo also has been impressed with the way the 22-year-old Clark has handled the pressure and attention that has come her way.

“I would say she’s navigated it almost flawlessly. she hasn’t had an big missteps or misspeaks at a time you’re under constant scrutiny,” Lobo said. “She’s seemed to say and do all the right things. That’s just incredible at a time when it’s constant attention and scrutiny. She has not done anything to tarnish this sort of mild persona she has.”

As Clark handled the praise — and the backlash — during the heat of competition, it was hard for her to appreciate just what she was able accomplish over the past year. But after having time to reflect on the whirlwind tour, she appreciates those who were there alongside her for the ride.

“I’m thankful for the people I got to do it with,” Clark said. “A year ago I was still in the early part of my senior year in college. ... How fast things change, and now I can see how great a college season it was.”

Iowa sold out all of its games at home and on the road with Clark as the main attraction. That momentum continued into the pros. Her No. 22 jersey was prevalent wherever she played during her rookie season and will be retired at Iowa.

“You’d be remiss not to acknowledge how crazy her fan base is and the eyes she gets with everything she does,” said Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, who was often spotted courtside at Clark’s Indiana Fever games. “It’s a different type of popularity, she’s one of the most popular athletes in the world. It’s not just women’s sports anymore.

“It’s really cool to see and she just handles it with such grace.”

Clark said she enjoys spending time with fans at games, usually taking a few minutes before and after games to sign autographs.

“For me it’s still really fun,” she said. “Whether it’s 15 seconds or 10 seconds or 5 seconds can be very impactful in a young girl and young boys life. Seeing the fans going crazy an hour before tipoff, I never take that for granted. That’s super cool and I never want that to go away.”

After a slow start to her WNBA career, Clark eventually found her stride there too. She set the single-game assist record with 19 and also had 337 assists on the season to break that mark as well. Clark, known for her logo-distance 3-pointers, was the fastest player to reach 100 3’s when she did it in 34 games which helped Indiana reach the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

Lobo, who won the AP female athlete of the year award after lifting UConn to its first national championship, was on the court for launch of the WNBA two years later. The ESPN analyst sees Clark’s ascension as something different.

“She’s brought unprecedented attention both in the building, but also viewership to the sport that was worthy of it but didn’t have it yet,” Lobo said. “There’s never been anything like this.

“That timeframe from 1995-97 was a baby step in the progression of it all. This is a giant leap forward. I’ve never seen anything like this. There’s more attention then the sports ever had.”

The numbers have been record breaking when Clark is part of a broadcast:

— TV viewership in the WNBA was up 300% thanks in large part to Clark with ABC, CBS, ION, ESPN, and ESPN2 all having record viewers when Fever games were on.

— The NCAA women’s championship game outdrew the men on TV for the first time in the sport’s 42-year history with 18.9 million viewers tuning it to watch the event. It was the second most watched women’s sporting event outside of the Olympics in the history of U.S. television.

— The 2024 WNBA draft was the most-watched in league history with 2.4 million viewers.

Clark credits the community of women athletes for the popularity increase of women’s sports, saying “we” did this or “we” did that when asked about it.

“It’s fascinating, you don’t always appreciate how many people 18 million is,” Clark said. “You see that number against a college football game or the Masters or whatever it is as far as the biggest sporting events in our country and it puts it in perspective. We outdrew the men’s Final Four.”

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AP Sports Writer John Marshall contributed to this story from Phoenix.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball