Wendy Palmer Selected to 2025 North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame Class
RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame announced Tuesday (Dec. 17) that Wendy Palmer, a former All-American and ACC Player of the Year at Virginia, has been named to its 2025 induction class.
Palmer was the first Cavalier to total at least 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in her career at Virginia. She was the ACC Player of the Year in 1995 and 1996, earning USBWA and Kodak All-American First Team honors during the same seasons. She is the program’s career rebound leader (1,221) while ranking first in double-doubles (58), second in field goal percentage (.614) and fourth in scoring (1,918). She helped lead the Cavaliers to three trips to the NCAA Elite Eight, four ACC Regular-Season titles and the 1993 ACC Tournament championship. Her retired No. 31 hangs from the rafters at John Paul Jones Arena.
Palmer was selected in the 1997 Elite Draft by the Utah Starzz in preparation for the WNBA’s inaugural year of competition and was a second-team All-WNBA selection that season. She played 11 years in the WNBA (1997-2007), averaging 10.1 points and 5.9 rebounds in her career. She was a WNBA All-Star in 2000 and the WNBA’s Most Improved Player in 2004. She also received the Black Legends of Professional Basketball John Isaacs Service Award.
Palmer returned to her alma mater as an assistant coach on Debbie Ryan’s staff from 2009-11, helping to recruit and sign a top-15 class that included Monica Wright.
Palmer, the 1992 NCHSAA Female Athlete of the Year, attended Person High School in Roxboro, N.C., where the WBCA named her a High School All-American.
The 61st induction class will be enshrined during the annual celebration on Friday, May 2, at the Sheraton Greensboro Hotel Joseph S. Koury Convention Center at 5 p.m. The group of 11 inductees includes Palmer, Greg Ellis, Nora Lynn Finch, Rollie Geiger, David Gentry, Dale Inman, Bobby Isaac, Cullen Jones, Chester McGlockton, Jimmy Raye and Miles Wolff.