|
For more information, contact:
The St. Louis Sports Commission
314-992-0684
mschreiber@stlsports.org
ALL-STAR LINEUP TO LEAD WOMEN'S FINAL FOUR®
MARCH TO THE ARCH ON SATURDAY
COACHING LEGENDS PAT SUMMITT AND
MUFFET MCGRAW TO ALSO MAKE APPEARANCE
ST. LOUIS – April 1, 2009 – Three past Women’s Final
Four stars and an Olympic gold medalist will be among the "grand
marchers" for Saturday's March to the Arch Fueled by Powerade®.
Niele Ivey, Kristin Folkl, Jackie
Stiles and Dawn Harper will lead thousands of
St. Louisans who will dribble basketballs down Market Street to celebrate
the Women's Final Four's return to the Gateway City. Saint Louis University
coach Shimmy Gray-Miller will also be among the celebrity
dribblers bouncing from St. Louis Union Station to Kiener Plaza.
Gray-Miller connects to the present, while Ivey, Stiles and Folkl represent
a glorious past: Ivey, a Cor Jesu Academy graduate, led Notre Dame to
the national championship in 2001 – the last time the Women's Final
Four took place in St. Louis. Those who attended the event will forever
remember Stiles, the humble superstar who catapulted an underdog Missouri
State team to St. Louis and the national semifinals. Stiles is the all-time
leading scorer in NCAA Division I basketball history and is the only woman
to score more than 1,000 points in a single season.
Folkl, meanwhile, is one of the greatest female athletes to come from
Missouri. At St. Joseph's Academy, she won four basketball and four volleyball
state titles. She played both sports at Stanford, appeared in the Women's
Final Four in 1995 and 1997, and was part of three volleyball national
championship teams.
Though not synonymous with basketball, Harper is one of the area's celebrated
female athletes. The East St. Louis native won the gold medal in the 100-meter
hurdles at last summer's Olympic Games in Beijing. She has followed in
the footsteps of Jackie Joyner-Kersee by being a role model and inspiration
to young people throughout the region and achieving remarkable international
success.
Thousands of local residents and college basketball fans will be able
to march alongside these celebrity dribblers on Satuday. The first 3,000
participants age 6 to 16 who register for the March will receive a free
basketball and t-shirt courtesy of Powerade, Wilson and the NCAA. Fans
of all ages are encouraged to participate by bringing their own basketball.
The March to the Arch gets underway at 12:30 p.m. at Market and 18th streets.
Registration begins at 9:30 a.m. on the south parking lot at Union Station.
Festivities at Union Station will include live music and entertainment
by the Show-Me Drum Line and the Girls Inc. Power Steppers. Several of
the area's NCAA women's basketball teams will also be on hand to mingle
with fans and sign autographs. At noon, legendary Tennessee coach Pat
Summitt and Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw will
make an appearance and give a pre-march "pep talk" to all dribblers.
McGraw coached the Irish to the national championship in 2001. Summitt
is the all-time winningest coach in NCAA basketball history (men or women).
She won her 1,000th game this season.
The 2009 NCAA Women’s Final Four will be the 10th NCAA Division
I Championship to take place in St. Louis this decade. The region previously
hosted the Women’s Final Four in 2001 and the Men’s Final
Four in 2005. The St. Louis Organizing Committee for the 2009 Women’s
Final Four includes the Missouri Valley Conference, St. Louis Convention
& Visitors Commission, and the St. Louis Sports Commission.
-www.NCAA.com/finalfour-
|
