KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Lady Vol basketball legend Candace Parker staved off Father Time to help the Chicago Sky win the franchise’s first WNBA championship and capped off 2021 by being named The Associated Press’ Female Athlete of the Year for a second time.
Parker also won the AP award her rookie year with the Los Angeles Sparks in 2008, when she was honored as the WNBA’s MVP and top rookie. She helped Tennessee win the national championship that year.
The 35-year-old Parker is now a working mom in the twilight of her playing career who also is a basketball analyst for TNT.
Parker was a superstar in her three seasons at Tennessee from 2005 to 2008, making headlines as the first woman to dunk in an NCAA Tournament game, and the first woman to dunk twice in the same college game. She holds nine all-time records for the Lady Vols.
In 2004, she beat out the men by winning the McDonald’s High School All-American slam dunk contest. She was inducted into the University of Tennessee Athletics Hall of Fame in October 2019.
The LVFL represented Team USA and won gold in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London games.