Katie Smith

Her father, John Jr., played football at Ohio University (OU), and won three varsity letters in the 1960s before becoming a dentist.

Her younger brother, Tom, earned three varsity letters playing football at Ohio University as well as being a member on their track and field team.

Katie Smith (born June 4, 1974) is the lead assistant coach for the Minnesota Lynx of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).

She is the former head coach of the New York Liberty.

A retired professional basketball player, Smith's primary position was shooting guard, although she sometimes played small forward or point guard.

She was the all-time leading scorer in women's professional basketball, having achieved over 7000 points in both her ABL and WNBA career.

She participated in the inaugural WBCA High School All-America Game in 1992, scoring fourteen points, and earning MVP honors.

Smith attended Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio from 1992 to 1996, and helped lead the Buckeyes to a Big Ten championship and the NCAA title game her freshman year.

During her career at OSU, Smith broke the Big Ten scoring record for points scored in a career, in men's or women's basketball.

She earned two Big Ten Conference player of the year awards as a senior: the conference's own award and the Chicago Tribune Silver Basketball.

Tom won the 1996 Mid-American Conference championship in the discus throw.

Her older brother, John, was a member of one of 11 University of Mount Union football teams that won the NCAA Division III title.

He now is the head football coach at Bexley High School.

At Logan High School she was named the national Gatorade National Player of the Year during her senior year as she guided the Lady Chieftains to the Division I Ohio Girls' Basketball state championship game.

Smith was named a High School All-American by the WBCA.

Smith graduated in 1996 with a degree in zoology.

From 1999 to 2005 Smith played for the Minnesota Lynx, where her outside shooting was the central focus of the Lynx offense.

On January 21, 2001, Ohio State honored her as the first female Buckeye athlete to have her number retired.

She was also inducted into the Ohio State Varsity O Hall of Fame in October 2001.

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Smith played for the Columbus Quest of the ABL, helping the team to win both League championships in its only two full seasons of existence.

During the 2001–02 season she played for Polish Lotos Gdynia.

In 2005, she became the first American female basketball player to score 5,000 total points in a professional career.

On July 30, 2005, Smith was traded to the Detroit Shock along with the Lynx's 2006 second round pick, for Chandi Jones, Stacey Thomas and the Shock's 2006 first round draft pick.

In 2006, Smith became the first WNBA player to win All Star games as a member of both the Eastern and Western Conference teams.

She also became the only player to earn both ABL and WNBA championship rings when the Shock won the WNBA title, defeating the Sacramento Monarchs, the same year.

On August 16, 2007 she became the first professional women's basketball player to score 6,000 career points (ABL and WNBA combined).

Smith was the MVP of the 2008 WNBA Finals, when the Detroit Shock beat the San Antonio Silver Stars 3–0.

On March 16, 2010, Katie Smith signed a contract with the Washington Mystics as a free agent.

On April 29, 2011, Smith was acquired by the Seattle Storm in a three-team trade with the Washington Mystics and Indiana Fever.

At the 2011 WNBA All-Star Game, she was announced as one of the Top 15 players in the fifteen-year history of the WNBA as voted by fans.

On September 11, 2011 Katie Smith became the third player to score 6,000 points in her WNBA career.

At the end of her career in 2013 Katie had a total of 7,885 professional career points, including 1,433 from the ABL and 6,452 from the WNBA.

In 2013, Smith was picked up by the New York Liberty and announced that the 2013 season would be her last.

In 2016, she was voted one of the WNBA Top 20@20.

On March 31, 2018, Smith was named to the 2018 class of inductees for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

In the same year, Smith was also inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.

Smith was born in Logan, Ohio, where she spent her formative years.

She began playing basketball as early as the 5th grade on a boys' team and took tap dance and ballet lessons as a youngster.

She grew up in a family of student-athletes.