Photo: John Mac / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
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Caitlin Clark grew up in West Des Moines, played at Dowling Catholic and stayed home for college at the University of Iowa. By the time she left, she was the all-time leading scorer in NCAA Division I basketball, men or women.
She led the Hawkeyes to back-to-back national championship games in 2023 and 2024. Iowa lost both, to LSU and South Carolina, but the 2024 final drew more TV viewers than the men’s title game that year. Carver-Hawkeye Arena sold out every home game.
The Indiana Fever drafted her first overall in 2024, and she was named the WNBA’s Rookie of the Year. An injury limited her 2025 season.
Around Iowa, kids wearing No. 22 jerseys are everywhere, including at C-G-D girls basketball games. Few athletes from the state have made people care about a sport the way she has.
Kim Sanders writes for Clarion News Online.