Fernandez and Jolly will be honored on June 8 at the TPepin Hospitality Centre
TAMPA (May 10, 2022) – University of South Florida head women’s basketball coach Jose Fernandez and head women’s sailing coach Allison Jolly will be two of six honorees in the 2022 Class of the Sports Club of Tampa Hall of Fame at induction ceremonies on June 8 at the TPepin Hospitality Centre in Tampa.
Joining Fernandez and Jolly in the 38th Hall of Fame Class are: Daren Puppa (Former Tampa Bay Lightning Goalkeeper), Brad Johnson (Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers Quarterback), Monte Kiffen (Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers Defensive Coordinator) and Gayle Sierens (Former WFLA news/sports anchor).
In addition, The Glazer Family will be honored with the Sports Club’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Hall of Fame banquet begins at 5:30 p.m. with the dinner and program beginning at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $75 per person or $600 per table of eight and can be purchased online at www.tampasportsclub.org. The deadline for ticket purchase is May 27, 2022. Proceeds from the banquet benefit the Boys and Girls Clubs of Tampa Bay and other youth sports organizations in the Tampa Bay community. For more information contact Christy Purdy, cpurdy2@tampabay.rr.com.
Fernandez, who just finished his 22nd season as head coach of the women’s basketball team at South Florida, was hired in November 2000 and immediately began laying the groundwork for what would become a perennial top 25 program.
Under his guidance, the Bulls have compiled 10 20-win seasons, including six straight from 2012-13 through 2017-18. South Florida has made the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament eight times in its history (2006, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021 and 2022), all under Fernandez, and won the Women’s National Invitation Tournament in 2009. In all, the Bulls have advanced to 17 postseason tournaments and have won two conference championships, taking both the regular season and American Athletic Conference crowns in 2021. In addition, Fernandez was named the 2018 and 2021 American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year.
The Bulls have posted 14 wins over Top 25-ranked teams, including a 57-54 victory over defending National Champion and No. 7-ranked Stanford in November of 2021. During the 2021-22 campaign, South Florida advanced to its seventh AAC Tournament championship game in nine seasons as a member of The American.
Known as one of the top recruiters in Division I women’s college basketball and a developer of talent, Fernandez has had six of his players drafted by WNBA teams, including two first-round picks – Kitija Laksa (2020, Seattle Storm) and Courtney Williams (2016, Phoenix Mercury) – and several others are playing professionally overseas.
Jolly, who just completed her 15th season as head coach at South Florida, is one of the most successful women in United States sailing history. Born in St. Petersburg, Jolly began sailing at the age of 10 and attended Florida State where she won the National Collegiate sailing championship in 1975 and 1976. In 1976 she was awarded the Adams Cup for winning the U.S. Women’s Sailing Championship while also placing second in the European women’s championship. She also finished second in the Timme Angsten Memorial Regatta in Chicago, a race that includes collegiate sailing teams from across the country.
At age 20, she became the youngest woman ever to win the Yachtswoman of the Year Award from the New York Yacht Club, which is widely considered the top prize in yachting.
After qualifying for the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, Jolly and her sailing partner, Lynne Jewell, became the first women to win a gold medal in sailing in the modern Olympic games, doing so in the 470 Class.
During her coaching career, Jolly has guided the Bulls to six ICSA Women’s Singlehanded National appearances and 12 consecutive appearances in the ICSA Women’s Dinghy Nationals.
In November of 2016, Jolly was inducted into the Florida Sports Hall of Fame and in 2019 she became just the second Floridian and fifth woman to be inducted into the U.S. National Sailing Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I.
About USF Athletics
USF Athletics currently sponsors 19 varsity men’s and women’s teams that compete in 11 different sports, 18 at the NCAA Division I level in the American Athletic Conference, which will expand to 21 teams with the recently announced additions of women’s lacrosse (2023-24) and women’s beach volleyball (2024-25). The Bulls’ athletic program began in 1965 and completed its 55th season in 2020-21. Nearly 450 student-athletes train and compete in the athletic district located on the east end of the campus in Tampa, Fla. The Bulls have claimed 26 American Athletic Conference team titles since joining the conference in 2013, including seven trophies in the 2021 calendar year, and own 136 conference titles in department history. The Bulls have posted a combined annual grade-point average over 3.0 for seven straight years and have posted a program-record 14 straight semesters with a combined GPA over 3.0 as of fall of 2021. USF has had over 500 student-athletes earn their degree since 2016-17.
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