BRONX, N.Y. – Fordham women's basketball Hall of Famer Anne Gregory O'Connell, the all-time leading scorer and rebounder in the history of Fordham Women's Basketball, will become a member of another Hall of Fame, the Basketball Old Timers of America Hall of Fame, in May.
The ceremony will be held at Sirico's (8023 13
th Ave., Brooklyn) on May 1 at 6:00 p.m. Tickets are available by clicking
here.
The Hall of Fame induction is one of many accolades bestowed on O'Connell, the most recent when she garnered the Thurman Munson Award at the annual fundraiser benefiting the AHRC NYC Foundation in 2024.
O'Connell 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 as the lone retired number of the women's basketball program.
In the fall of 2023, 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.
