Joan Crawford

A tough offensive player who possessed exceptional rebounding and passing skills, Joan Crawford was an Amateur Athletic Union star and a leader of the women's basketball movement in the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s. At 5-foot-11, Crawford played center for 14 AAU seasons (1955-69), two with Clarendon in Texas and 12 with Nashville Business College (NBC). She teamed with fellow Hall of Famer Nera White at NBC forming a great duo that gave other teams fits. Crawford was named to 13 consecutive AAU All-America teams and won ten AAU championships with Nashville Business College. Crawford was named Most Valuable Player in the 1963 and 1964 AAU National Tournaments. She led the United States to a gold medal in both the 1959 and 1963 Pan American Games, averaging 11.4 points per game in 1959 and 16.3 in 1963. Crawford was also a member of the 1957 U.S. World Championship team that defeated Russia for the gold medal.