The Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame will induct its 2025 class in June in Knoxville, Tenn., and Sylvia Fowles is still processing her inclusion. Her selection makes perfect sense to those who watched her 15-year professional career, but she remains remarkably humble about her extensive accomplishments, which include two-time WNBA Champion with the Minnesota Lynx, eight-time WNBA All-Star, and four-time Olympic gold medalist.
“For so long, I was in work mode,” said Fowles, who retired after the 2022 WNBA season. “I knew this was my job and I treated it as such. I didn’t really think about the phenomenal things I was doing; I just knew I was doing a task and every year, you try to better yourself or better a skill or add something to your game, and that’s exactly what I did. I spent 15 years trying to perfect my craft.”
That lack of checking off boxes or reviewing her accolades means she sometimes doesn’t realize her impact on basketball.
“I just so happened to be talented and very determined to be one of the best,” said Fowles. “This [hall of fame] news gave me the time to sit back and reflect. I was just telling my mom I am the true definition of ‘I am who I am’ because of the people I’ve been blessed to be around.”
Fowles is thankful for her family, the athletic director at her middle school who hounded her to play basketball, her brothers who showed her the fundamentals of the game, the coaches who helped her develop her skills, and her teammates.
After a calf injury during the WNBA’s bubble season in 2020, Fowles knew her playing days were winding down and she planned accordingly. She admitted that adjustment to post-retirement life wasn’t easy: She had to redefine herself outside of basketball.
“It took me back to the things that I enjoyed,” she said. Fowles had long expressed an interest in working in the mortuary business, and she has been doing that. She’s an avid crocheter, and friends are pushing her to start a website for her work. There are “aunty duties” for her siblings’ children. The NBA also keeps her busy with traveling for various programs, such as Her Time to Play and Basketball Without Borders.
“I’m pretty excited about how the year ended,” said Fowles. “Since my retirement, this was the first time I actually spent Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the new year at home. That was a big milestone for me.”