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Caitlin Clark surprised at UI Children’s Hospital with AP women’s Player of the Year award

josh helmer
·5 min read
3

The awards train keeps rolling along for Caitlin Clark. Named the Naismith Trophy winner yesterday, Clark was named as the Associated Press’ women’s Player of the Year today and the recipient of the Wade Trophy from the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.

These are three of the highest honors in the sport.

“She has electrified fans and media to an exciting new level,” WBCA Executive Director Danielle Donehew said in a statement. “She is an exceptional player whose dominance has inspired the next generation of women’s and girls’ basketball players.”

“It’s a huge honor,” Clark said of the AP women’s Player of the Year award. “I picked a place that I perfectly fit into and that’s allowed me to show my skill set. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t mean something. It’s not the reason you play basketball, it’s just something that comes along with getting to do what you love.

“There’s so many great players. You can go on and on and list the tremendous players. I think that’s really good for our game when there is a lot of great players. That’s what is going to help this game grow more than anything else.”

Clark heads to the Final Four averaging 27.3 points per game, 8.6 assists and 7.3 rebounds. She is shooting 39.2% from 3-point range on 324 attempts from distance. The West Des Moines, Iowa, native is the first Division I women’s basketball player to record more than 900 points and 300 assists in the same season.

In Iowa’s four NCAA Tournament games this March, Clark is averaging 30 points, 11 assists, 5.8 rebounds, 4.8 three-pointers and 2.5 steals. That included her 11th career triple-double totaling 41 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds in the Hawkeyes’ 97-83 Elite Eight win over Louisville. In the process, she became the first player to ever record a 40-point triple-double in NCAA Tournament history.

All of that is to say that Clark is doing things never before seen in women’s basketball and she’s more than deserving of sweeping all of the major national awards.

As a hometown kid, one of the coolest parts of Clark’s journey is her relationship to the state of Iowa and the community of Iowa City. Like many Iowa athletes, Clark also has a special relationship with the UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital and its patients. She’s a regular visitor to the Children’s Hospital and its patients.

Iowa head women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder and the Children’s Hospital combined to surprise Clark with the fact that she had won the AP women’s Player of the Year award.

Let the waterworks fly as we all get reminded that there are bigger things beyond the sensational basketball being played. Take a look below at a special moment for Clark at the Children’s Hospital.

A special moment

Special moments with special people

Didn't plan on it, but here we go

Very cool

Perspective

Bless those kids and their families

Respect from a rival

Bring home the title

Great way to share the news

Who you are off the court matters most

Bigger than basketball

All the feels

Little dusty

Happy tears

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Story originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire