Tara VanDerveer
b. 1953
Category
Coaching
Year Inducted
2010
VanDerveer, who owns a home at Chautauqua Institution and has vacationed every summer there since she was 8, was born in Melrose, MA on June 26, 1953.
While at Chautauqua, she participated in competitive sailing at the Chautauqua Yacht Club and was a waterfront counselor at the Chautauqua Boys and Girls Club and holds the club's record for the longest softball throw that was made in the 1960s. She also achieved the difficult advanced swimming degree in Group 8 at Chautauqua.
VanDerveer won three NCAA titles at Stanford. She captured the crowns in 1990, 1992 and 2021. Her teams made 13 appearances in the NCAA Final Four.
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Her record at Stanford is an outstanding 1064-220 over 37 seasons. Her teams won 27 Pac-12 season championships and 15 Pac-12 tournament titles.
Prior to that, the former Indiana University starting guard began her coaching as an assistant at Ohio State for two seasons. Next, she became the head coach at Idaho University and recorded a two-year record of 42-14 and then went on to a five-year career at Ohio State University where she had a 110-37 record, including four Big 10 titles.
Upon her retirement in 2024, VanDerveer had established an overall collegiate coaching record of 1216-271. She retired as the winningest coach in NCAA history, male or female.
Internationally, she coached USA women's Olympic basketball team to a perfect 60-0 record and a gold medal in the 1996 summer games at Atlanta.
For that effort, she was honored as the 1996 USA Basketball National Coach of the Year and also selected as the 1996 USOC Elite Basketball Coach of the Year.
In addition to the CSHOF, VanDerveer is an inductee of the Indiana University Hall of Fame, Greater Buffalo Hall of Fame, Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, Women's Sports Foundation Hall of Fame, Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
When time allows Tara is a very avid piano player and has produced her own CDs.
She has also published a book called Shooting From The Outside, is a five-time national Coach of the Year, has been the Pac 12 Coach of the Year eleven times and a two-time Big-10 Coach of the Year.
more about Tara VanDerveer
Memorabilia
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Photographs
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Publications
transcribed publications
- Kindberg, Scott. "VanDerveer Loves Her Time Here." Post-Journal (Jamestown), June 17, 2010.
- Eddy, Scott. "Hall of Fame Basketball Coach Keeps Returning To Chautauqua." June 28, 2010.
- Follansbee, Geof (editor). "Excellence, Community, and Belonging: Tara VanDerveer on the Lessons of Chautauqua." Chautauqua Pillars, Fall 2010.
- Kindberg, Scott. "Cardinal Rule." Post-Journal (Jamestown), July 20, 2013.
- McCauley, Janie. "'Grand’ Moment." Post-Journal (Jamestown), February 4, 2017.
- Kindberg, Scott. "Learning From A Legend." Post-Journal (Jamestown), June 23, 2019.
- Kindberg, Scott. "A ‘Laser’ Among ‘Pinballs’." Post-Journal (Jamestown), December 18, 2020.
- Kindberg, Scott. "'Work To Be Done'." Post-Journal (Jamestown), July 21, 2021.
- McCauley, Janie. "VanDerveer Becomes Winningest Coach In College Basketball History." Post-Journal (Jamestown), January 22, 2024.
- Kindberg, Scott. "Legendary Career." Post-Journal (Jamestown), April 12, 2024.
scanned publications
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Videos
Tara VanDerveer Basketball Hall of Fame Induction Speech (2011)
Stanford Women's Basketball: Mic'd Up | Tara VanDerveer at California (2020)
Tara VanDerveer (2021) on her Career and Chautauqua
Websites
- Antonucci, Mike. "Game On." Stanford Magazine. January/February 2010. Accessed February 27, 2019. https://stanfordmag.org/contents/game-on.
- Smith, Michelle. "Historic win creeps up on VanDerveer." ESPN. November 27, 2013. Accessed February 27, 2019. http://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/10047280/women-college-basketball-stanford-cardinal-tara-vanderveer-wins-900th-career-game.
- "International Women's Sports Hall of Fame." Women's Sports Foundation. Accessed December 13, 2020. https://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/sports/international-womens-sports-hall-of-fame/.
- "Tara VanDerveer." Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame. Accessed February 27, 2019. https://www.buffalosportshallfame.com/member/tara-vanderveer.
- "Tara VanDerveer." Indiana University Hall of Fame. Accessed December 13, 2022. https://iuhoosiers.com/sports/2015/4/1/GEN_20140101408.
- "Tara VanDerveer." Wikipedia. Accessed February 27, 2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tara_VanDerveer
- "Tara VanDerveer." Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. Accessed February 28, 2019. https://www.wbhof.com/famers/tara-vanderveer/.
- Smith, Michelle. "Top 10 moments of Tara VanDerveer's coaching career." ESPN. February 2, 2017. Accessed February 27, 2019. http://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/18601199/top-10-moments-tara-vanderveer-coaching-career.
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