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Indiana Fever retire former Tennessee Lady Vols star Tamika Catchings’s jersey

By Caleb Calhoun

Mar 9, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Team USA basketball player Tamika Catchings speaks to the media at the 2016 Team USA Media Summit at the Beverly Hilton. Mandatory Credit: Michael Madrid-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 9, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Team USA basketball player Tamika Catchings speaks to the media at the 2016 Team USA Media Summit at the Beverly Hilton. Mandatory Credit: Michael Madrid-USA TODAY Sports /
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The WNBA’s Indiana Fever retired the jersey number of former Tennessee Lady Volunteers star Tamika Catchings Saturday night.

She was a legend with the Tennessee Lady Vols as part of the greatest team in NCAA women’s basketball history. Now, Tamika Catchings is a legend with the Indiana Fever, where she spent her entire 15-year professional career in the WNBA.

The franchise retired Catchings’s number at Bankers Life Fieldhouse Saturday night as they hosted the Los Angeles Sparks, who ironically have another Lady Vols legend in Candace Parker.

Catchings’s accomplishments at the pro and college levels are amazing.

There’s nothing she hasn’t done.

In college, Catchings won a national championship, was an All-American, and won just about every Player of the Year Award possible in 2000.

Then, in the professional ranks, she won the WNBA regular season MVP in 2011 and the WNBA Finals MVP in 2012, when she led the Fever to the championship.

Her accolades also include being a five-time defensive player of the year award winner, a 10-time all-star, and a 12-time All-WNBA player, including seven times on the first team.

Because of her accomplishments, her No. 24 jersey will hang over the Indiana Fever stadium forever.

Catchings joins Peyton Manning as two Tennessee legends to become professional legends in the city of Indianapolis.

The same year she gets her jersey retired, Manning is scheduled to have a statue unveiled in his honor.

Catchings and Manning also both have their Tennessee jersey numbers retired.

According to reports, Catchings couldn’t stop crying tears of joy at every event related to having her jersey retired Saturday.

There is a sad element to it as well, though. Pat Summitt is no longer around, so she couldn’t see that accomplishment.

She is one of the greatest Tennessee Vols legends in the history of the program. And she’s now one of the greatest WNBA legends.

The Fever did lose to the Sparks Saturday, which was the one bitter moment of the night.