Katherine May "Katie" Smith
Hocking County (1974 – )
2007 Women's Hall of Fame Inductee -- Sports

Former Logan High School athlete, OSU player, and Olympic gold medalist, Katie is arguably one of the best female athletes to ever to play the game of basketball, and she has impacted the sport at every level.

Nominated by Jacqueline Jones Royster
Executive Dean and Senior Vice Provost
The Ohio State University Colleges of Arts and Sciences

Katherine May “Katie” Smith has raised the profile of women in sports. She is arguably one of the best female athletes to ever play the game of basketball, and has impacted the sport at every level.

Katie Smith began playing basketball in Logan, Ohio. She excelled, leading the Logan Lady Chiefs to runner-up in the Division I Girls’ Basketball State Championship. She was named the National Gatorade Player of the Year and the High School Basketball Coaches’ “Ms. Basketball” for her accomplishments.

At the Ohio State University, she helped to lead the Buckeyes to a Big Ten Championship, their first Final Four appearance, and the NCAA title game her freshman season. In 1993, she was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year, National Freshman of the Year by Sports Illustrated, and earned the Kodak All-American honors.

By her senior season at OSU, Katie Smith had been named a Kodak First Team All-American twice, had been a three-time All-Big Ten First Team Selection and the Big Ten Player of the Year.

She also excelled in the classroom, earning recognition as an OSU Scholar-Athlete (all four years), an Academic All-Big Ten recipient (three years), and the GTE Co-Academic All-American of the Year. She was offered a number of scholarships, including a distinguished NCAA post-graduate scholarship.

Katie Smith represented the United States on two gold medal-winning Olympic teams and earned five other gold medals and two silver medals in international competition, including two World Titles.

In addition to being the only OSU female athlete to have her number retired, Ms. Smith was the first women’s basketball player inducted into the Ohio State Varsity “O” Hall of Fame in 2001. In 2002, she was named the Ohio State Female Athlete of the Century; in 2006, she was named to the WNBA All-Decade Team as one of the 10 best and most influential players during the league’s first ten years of play.

When she isn’t playing basketball, Ms. Smith can be found taking classes at OSU in preparation for application to dental school.