Van Goor To Be Enshrined in Colorado Sports Hall of Fame – University of Colorado Athletics

            BOULDER – “Good things come to those who wait,” the quote credited to a British author in 1892, has been the battle cry of many who have been waiting for the University of Colorado’s Lisa Van Goor to be inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.

 

            That day has finally come, as on Wednesday, the Hall released its Class of 2025, in which Van Goor is one of six state superstars who will be inducted next April 9 in Denver. 

 

            Van Goor, who starred for the then-Lady Buffs from 1980-85, will be joined in the class by Mikaela Shiffrin, the World Cup skier who recently won her record 98th event; former Denver Nugget head coach Larry Brown (also well overdue); former Denver Bronco defensive end Simon Fletcher; one-time Colorado Rockie shortstop Troy Tulowitzki; and the late Theodore “Bubbles” Anderson, the only Colorado-born baseball player to play in the Negro League.

 

            “I want to thank the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame for inducting me into this prestigious group of athletes,” she said.  “It is indeed a privilege to receive this honor when this sport, this University and this state has given me so much more.   It comes at a perfect time in my life where I am old enough to truly appreciate it, but not too old to need assistance to get to the stage to accept it!”

  

            Van Goor will become the 64th athlete, coach and/or administrator associated with the University of Colorado to be enshrined in the Hall.

 

            “Success like mine does not come without the many people along the way who helped this girl from Yankton, South Dakota get there,” she continued.  “The numerous coaches including Sox Walseth who made sure I came to Colorado and Ceal Barry who took my level of play into my professional career overseas, my family who let their little girl go out and achieve her dream, my college teammates who never let me be a freshman, and the countless others along the way.”

 

            “We appreciate the Colorado Sport Hall of Fame recognizing Lisa’s achievements and are excited that she will be inducted in its next class,” CU athletic director Rick George said.  “She was one of our early outstanding female student-athletes, not only in basketball but across the board in all sports, in the early days after Title IX was enacted.  Lisa was a standout performer for us on the court, and after her professional career, returned to Boulder where she has been equally important in our ventures, most notably working with our alumni in our Buffs4Life program.”

 

            A 6-foot-3 center, Van Goor was a South Dakota legend by the time she graduated from Yankton High School.  She led the Gazelles to three straight state titles, was a two-time all-state performer and a Parade All-American as a senior. 

 

            But where would she play in college?  She had many suitors – over four dozen colleges were in pursuit.   She was first signed to play at the University of Colorado by coach Rene Portland, who left for Penn State in late May 1980.  Along came CU’s next coach, Sox Walseth, a South Dakotan himself, who drove to Yankton in mid-July to convince her to keep her commitment to the then-Lady Buffs.

 

               She did not disappoint as a freshman, averaging 18.5 points and 10.6 rebounds per game in being named to Kodak’s All-Freshman Team.  In earning all-conference honors as a freshman and sophomore, Van Goor led CU to back-to-back 28-win seasons and two Intermountain Conference titles.

 

               The opponents got tougher her junior year, when the Big Eight Conference first recognized the sport.  CU finished fourth (7-5) behind three ranked teams – 21-8 overall but undefeated at home.  Undaunted, Van Goor averaged 17.0 points and 10.3 rebounds per game (17.1 and 9.2 respectively in conference games).

 

               Walseth retired after the ’82-83 season, and was replaced by Ceal Barry (both of whom are Colorado Sports Hall of Famers).  At first, it was more of the same; with Van Goor leading the way, the Lady Buffs won their first four games under Barry, including a 95-73 rout of No. 16 Arizona State.  Then disaster hit: she suffered a stress fracture in her foot.  She missed the remainder of the season, and after qualifying for a medical redshirt, missed the first 15 games in ’84-85.

                                                                                                                                 

            She exited as CU’s all-time leader in scoring (2,067 points), rebounds (1,127) and blocked shots (281); the scoring mark held through 2011 (she is now second), but the others still stand.  And her 18.0 points per game still reign supreme (she owned the top average all five of her seasons).   In 115 career games, she scored in double figures 108 times, with 59 double-doubles, led the team in scoring 70 games and in rebounds 64 times.  CU was 83-32 with her in the lineup, and won its first 49 homes games with her on the court. 

 

            She remains the only player at CU – men or women – to have scored 2,000 or more points and have 1,000 or more rebounds; in fact, only four others have done the 1,000/1,000 double, Jackie McFarland and Erin Scholz for the women and Stephane Pelle and Andre Roberson for the men.

 

               During her time in Boulder, she was a three-time, first-team All-District and All-Conference performer, a two-time finalist for the Wade Trophy (national player of the year) and eventually made the Big Eight’s All-Decade Team.  She played on four USA Basketball national teams as well, the USA National Team after her freshman year, on the U.S. Junior select team that played in Cuba, and on two Jones Cup squads that played in Taiwan.

 

               After CU, she played professionally overseas for seven years in Spain (where she was a five-time All-Star), Italy and France, and once returning to the U.S., has been active as the director of special events for the athletic department in addition to coordinating reunions and events under Blake Anderson and Bill Harris for the school’s Alumni C Club.  She also has been very active with Buffs4Life – a non-profit that raises funds for former CU athletes and coaches in need – and spent 30 years on the Alumni C’s Board of Directors.

 

               Van Goor will be the seventh associated with women’s basketball to be inducted into Colorado’s Hall – the second state collegian – as she has been preceded by her two coaches, Sox Walseth (1998) and Ceal Barry (2006), former CU assistant coach, Evergreen’s Tanya Haave (2004), CSU’s Becky Hammon (2015), former Ridgway High School star Tracy Hill (2018) and longtime USA Basketball’s Carol Callan (2022, who also has been CU’s analyst on radio broadcasts for over three decades).

 

            CU’s Athletic Hall of Fame was founded in 1998, with its inaugural class having just one member: Byron “Whizzer” White.  Van Goor was one of five selected in the second class in 1999, along with Gil Cruter (track and field), Burdette Haldorson (basketball), William “Kayo” Lam (football, baseball) and Joe Romig (football).  Thus, not only the first female member of CU’s HOF, but at the time deemed one of the school’s top six most accomplished athletes.

 

            Other Hall of Fames she has been inducted into include the Yankton High School Hall of Fame (1995), the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame (2009), and the South Dakota High School Basketball Hall of Fame (2011, an inaugural inductee).

 

               And now, some 40 years after her final game as a Lady Buff, she will be recognized as one of the State of Colorado’s all-time greats.  This is the 60th class to be selected, and it will also mark the 60th anniversary of the inaugural first year (1965); there was no induction in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic, which delayed that induction ceremony until 2021.