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Catchings will miss lifelong friend Kobe at hall of fame induction

They were just two kids barely in grade school, running through the streets and parks of Italy, chasing each other with a soccer ball.

"Soccer was our sport," Tamika Catchings said. "We weren't even thinking much about basketball back then."

And yet now, Catchings and that soccer-loving playmate will be honored together with the highest of all basketball honors. It was announced last week that they will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in August in Springfield, Mass.

"It's amazing. It's the fairy tale ending to a fairy tale story," Catchings said. "It's just that the main character is missing."

Catchings, a state champion at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, a superstar all-American at Tennessee, an Olympic gold medalist and one of the best WNBA players of all time, will be in the same Hall of Fame class as her lifelong friend, but she won't be able to celebrate with him.

Kobe Bryant, one of the best NBA players of all time, was killed in a helicopter accident in January. He is being honored by the hall of fame posthumously.

Catchings and Bryant grew up together because their fathers played professional basketball together. Harvey Catchings and Joe "Jellybean" Bryant were on the same NBA team in Philadelphia from 1975 to 1979, and then they both wound up playing in Italy in the mid-1980s when Catchings and Bryant were first and second graders, respectively.

"When we were in Italy, our moms would coordinate these trips and get-togethers for our two families," Tamika Catchings said. "There weren't a lot of African-American families over there and I think our moms wanted to make sure we had those connections growing up.

"We would all go to the gym with our fathers to watch basketball, but we mostly played soccer. That was our thing. Then, Kobe and I both got into basketball as we got older, and it's funny to think about how much our careers intertwined."

Catchings and Bryant were both champions, in the WNBA and the NBA respectively. They both won multiple Olympic gold medals with USA Basketball. They both wore jersey No. 24, and they both even suffered devastating Achilles tendon injuries that they came back from triumphantly.

"It's surreal to be at this point now because we had that history, we both followed each other's careers and we always had that mutual respect for each other," Catchings said. "It's not like we hung out all the time, but whenever we did see each other, we'd just start talking like no time had passed."

Speaking of passing time, Catchings finds it hard to believe that she's been retired from the WNBA and USA Basketball for nearly four years already.

She played the last season of her 15-year career with the Indiana Fever in the summer of 2016. She led the Fever to the 2012 WNBA championship and was the 2011 WNBA most valuable player.

Catchings was also a 10-time WNBA all-star, a 7-time first-team all-WNBA selection and a 5-time WNBA defensive player of the year.

A four-time Olympic gold medalist (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016), Catchings was also the national college player of the year in 2000 and helped Tennessee to the 1998 NCAA championship.

In 1995 as a sophomore in high school, Catchings led Stevenson to the IHSA Class AA state championship and was then named Illinois Ms. Basketball, the youngest player ever at the time to win the award. She then moved to Texas and led her school there (Duncanville) to a state title her senior year.

"If you told this 3-year-old girl, or this girl playing soccer or this senior in high school or this freshman in college that this (a hall of fame induction) would be happening some day, it wouldn't seem real," Catchings said. "There have been so many accomplishments over the years. But for basketball players, this is the lifetime achievement award. This is pretty high up there. It's the grand finale with all the fireworks.

"When I got the call, I was driving and I started screaming with my hands in the air and then I realized that I was driving and I had to get my hands back on the wheel. It's just so awesome. It's so exciting. I feel so blessed."

Catchings, who lives in Indianapolis and is active in her own "Catch the Stars Foundation," which serves underprivileged kids, is now the Vice President of Basketball Operations of the Indiana Fever. She also owns a tea shop, Tea's Me Cafe, in Indianapolis and has just completed her third book.

She has been married to Parnell Smith for four years.

"It's surreal that my playing days are in the rearview mirror now," Catchings said. "I'm in a different stage of life now and I'm having fun. But it's also a lot of fun to look back."

• Twitter: @babcockmcgraw

NBA legend Kobe Bryant will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame posthumously in August. Associated Press
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