Colorado University Athletics
Van Goor Headed For S.D. Hall
BOULDER ? University of Colorado women’s basketball standout Lisa Van Goor will be one of eight new inductees next April into the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame at the organization’s annual banquet, set for April 4 in Sioux Falls.
She will become the fourth person who had an athletic career at Colorado to be inducted into South Dakota’s Hall, joining Bob Stransky (football), Carroll Hardy (football, baseball) and Van Goor’s coach at CU, the late Russell “Sox” Walseth.
Van Goor, a 1980 Yankton High grad, was the first female to be inducted into the University of Colorado Sports Hall of Fame, actually going into CU’s Hall in the second class in 1999, before the three other aforementioned South Dakotans, who entered in subsequent classes.
The 6-3 center is still the all-time leading scorer (2,067 points), rebounder (1,145) and shot blocker (289) in CU women’s basketball history and was the first player of either gender to score 2,000 career points and gather 1,000 rebounds in being named a first-team all-Intermountain Conference performer her freshman through junior years (1981-83).
She missed most of the 1983-84 season due to a knee injury and came back to finish the following year, playing her only season in the old Big Eight Conference. Colorado was 83-32 in the 115 career games she appeared in.
Van Goor was a finalist for the Wade Trophy (given to the best women’s basketball player in the nation) in both 1983 and 1985. Colorado was a Top 20 team in 1981 and ’82 and played in the AIAW (Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women) playoffs before migrating to the NCAA when it took over sponsorship of women’s sports in 1983.
She played on the World University Games team in 1981 and the Jones Cup team in 1982 and ’83. Before women’s pro basketball started in the United States, she played professionally in Spain, Italy and France for seven years.
At Yankton, she was first-team all-state in 1978 and ’79 and led the team to the state Class A title both seasons. She worked in the CU athletic department and its fundraising arm, the CU Foundation, for eight years in events and fundraising.
Other members of the 2009 inductee class are golfer/coach Peggy Kirby, track sprinter Lee “Lefty” Hisek, football coach Bob Young, Olympic trapshooter Frank Hughes, state activities association official Ruth Rehn, basketball player/referee Roger Nelson and USA Today founder Al Neuharth.
The Hall of Fame was established by the South Dakota Sportswriters Association in 1968 and is now an independent non-profit organization. With these new inductees, the Hall will boast a membership of 195.