BRONX, N.Y. – Anne Gregory O'Connell, the all-time leading scorer and rebounder in the history of Fordham Women's Basketball, received yet another illustrious honor last Thursday night, garnering the Thurman Munson Award at the annual fundraiser benefiting the AHRC NYC Foundation.
O'Connell, who was recognized alongside New York baseball standouts Tino Martinez and Howard Johnson at Manhattan's Pier 60, scored 2,548 points and pulled down 1,999 rebounds during her four seasons at Fordham, where her number 55 currently hangs in the rafters of the Rose Hill Gymnasium. Munson's widow, Diana, was on hand to help present the awards in her late husband's honor.
This past fall, O'Connell earned enshrinement into the Bronx Basketball Hall of Fame as a member of the institution's second class. A 2017 inductee into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame, she became the first female member of the Fordham Athletic Hall of Fame in 1986.
A two-time nominee for the Wade Trophy and an honorable mention All-American, O'Connell graduated from Fordham College Rose Hill in 1980 after leading the Rams a four-year record of 90-38, including an appearance in the AIAW regional finals in 1979, where the Rams lost to a Tennessee team coached by a young upstart named Pat Summitt. O'Connell currently tops the Rams' all-time record lists in points, rebounds and blocks (200). Her 1,999 boards are 800 clear of second place on the Fordham career ledger.
Following a brief professional stint in Europe, she returned to the United States and played for the New Jersey Gems of the Women's Professional Basketball League. After wrapping her playing days, she began a four-decade career in Catholic education, including a 20-year tenure as a guidance counselor at Holy Trinity High School on Long Island.
O'Connell, was married to the late Jim O'Connell, a longtime Associated Press college basketball writer and the recipient of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's Curt Gowdy Award, for 37 years.
The AHRC's annual fundraiser raised more than $700,000 to support the foundation's outstanding work in providing services and advocating for individuals, especially children, with intellectual and developmental disabilities. To learn more about the AHRC and its mission, click here.
