Indiana Fever To Retire Jersey of Tamika Catchings

Tamika Catchings will be the only player in Indiana Fever franchise history to wear No. 24.

The Fever announced Wednesday that Catchings’ jersey will be retired during a ceremony at halftime of the team’s home game against Los Angeles on Saturday, June 24.

Catchings’ banner will join those of her former coach, Lin Dunn, plus Indiana Pacers honorees Roger Brown (#35), Mel Daniels (#34), George McGinnis (#30), Reggie Miller (#31), coach Bobby “Slick” Leonard and owner Mel Simon in the rafters of Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Weekend festivities around the jersey reirment will tip off Friday, June 23 with a Fall Creek Block Party from 5-9 p.m., near Catchings’ Tea’s Me Café (140 E. 22nd Street), featuring a KIDS ZONE built by Catchings’ Catch The Stars Foundation. Arena activities next Saturday include face painting, balloon artists, caricatures, poster stations and more. The first 3,000 fans will receive a commemorative Tamika Catchings #24 poster.

Catchings joined the Fever in 2001 as the team’s first-round draft pick. When she retired 16 seasons later, she was a four-time Olympic gold medalist, 12-time All-WNBA recipient and 10-time WNBA All-Star, 2011 league MVP and the MVP of the 2012 Finals. She’s also the all-time leading rebounder in WNBA history and its No. 2 all-time leading scorer.

Catchings has also been an all-star in the community. In 2015, she was inaugural winner of the ESPN Sports Humanitarian of the Year. Last summer, she became the first two-time recipient of the WNBA’s Dawn Staley Community Leadership Award and the first three-time winner of the WNBA’s Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award.