Carol Callan (2025) - CU Athletic Hall of Fame - University of Colorado Athletics

Carol Callan

Induction:
2025

The 2024-25 season was Carol Callan’s 44th handling color commentary on CU’s women’s basketball radio broadcasts … One of the first schools to have radio for the sport for both home and road games starting in the 1980’s, she teamed with Jim Gray for the first four broadcasts on the student radio station during the 1979-80 season at coach Rene Portland’s request … The student station expanded to do all the home games with various students handling the play-by-play, but Callan was the constant with the analysis … Soon after, KBOL-Radio in Boulder signed on to do all the games, with her teaming with John McCurdy and the late Tony Kindelspire until KOA took over the contract; she has since been paired with Tim Smile, Mike Rice and Cory Lopez and has missed only two seasons due to her obligations with USA Basketball (1995-96 and 2021-22) … She assisted CU coach, the late Jerry Zancanelli, while earning a dual Master’s degree in Business Administration and Physical Education from CU in 1977, also spending 10 years as the head coach of the girls’ basketball team for Boulder’s Fairview High School … Her Knights won the school’s first state title in 1985, besting No. 1 Pomona 41-37 in ending its 24-game winning streak and finishing 20-5 for the season (a member of that team, Monica Kosenski, became a future Buffalo) … She became the third girls’ coach in state history to win at least 100 games at the time … After her second son was born, she took over as Fairview’s athletic director, a position she held until 1995 (the last two years of which she also was an assistant principal) she joined USA Basketball in Colorado Springs, and soon became the national team director and an architect of women’s USA Basketball for 27 years guiding the program to seven Olympic gold medals, five FIBA World Cup golds (and one bronze) – those teams combining for a 101-1 record … Overall in all official FIBA competitions, those teams won 43 gold medals out of a possible 50 and had an incredible 323-11 record … She was responsible for all facets of the historic 1995-96 USA Basketball Women’s National Team that posted a remarkable 52-0 record, and assisted with the 1996 U.S. Olympic Women’s Basketball team that featured CU’s Ceal Barry as an assistant coach that went 8-0 and won the first of eight consecutive gold medals since … She retired from USA Basketball following the team’s gold medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games … She became the president of FIBA Americas (International Basketball Federation) in 2019, when she was elected the 11th and first female president of the organization; she was awarded the Naismith Outstanding Contributor to Women’s Basketball … Remains involved to this day with FIBA’s 3x3 programming since 2010, including the first-ever Olympic gold medal in the ’20 Tokyo Olympics … She has been enshrined in three Hall of Fames, the most prestigious of which is Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame when she was inducted in 2020 … She was inducted into the Sportswomen of Colorado Hall of Fame in 2008 and then into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in 2022 … She received the ‘Honorary C” Award from CU in 2003 … She graduated from William Woods University (Fulton, Mo.) in 1975 with a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physical Education, and played on the Owls’ women’s basketball team in its initial season (’74-75) as a varsity sport, helping the team post an 8-5 record … She is married to Dave Callan, the Leadership Coordinator for CU’s Scripps Student-Athlete Leadership & Career Development program, and the couple has two grown sons, Greg and Tom (both CU graduates along with Dave) … She was born on February 5, 1953 in St. Louis, Mo.