Caitlin Clark, the former Iowa Hawkeyes and current Indiana Fever basketball star, has been awarded the prestigious Honda Cup for the second consecutive year.
The Honda Cup is awarded to the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year, recognizing outstanding achievements in athletic performance, leadership, and academic excellence. It encompasses 12 different NCAA-sanctioned sports.
It is one of the highest honors a female college athlete can receive.
Clark joins just three other women to have captured the Honda Cup twice – UCLA swimmer Tracy Caulkins (1982, 1984), UConn basketball player Maya Moore (2010, 2011), and UCLA softball player Rachel Garcia (2019, 2021).
While she couldn’t attend the awards show due to her WNBA schedule, Clark was pleased with being chosen as the winner of the Honda Cup once again.
She was particularly happy to be associated with her idol Moore.
“It’s hard to wrap your head around. To be in the same air as her is pretty incredible,” Clark told the Associated Press. “She’s someone I grew up idolizing since I was 10 years old and wanted to do everything like her.”
Caitlin Clark Takes Home The Honda Cup
Caitlin Clark’s back-to-back Honda Cup wins are a testament to her exceptional talent and impact on the world of collegiate sports.
She is also a two-time Associated Press Player of the Year during her career at Iowa.
Chris Voelz, executive director of the Collegiate Women Sports Awards, issued a statement stressing the historic nature of Clark’s latest achievement.
“In our 48-year history, only a handful of athletes have won the Honda Cup twice,” said Voelz. “Just as she achieved numerous historical firsts in her senior year, Caitlin Clark makes history with us as the fourth two-time Cup winner and only the second to win it back-to-back.
“With an exceptional class, we are thrilled to welcome her to the sisterhood of all-time greats in college athletics and eagerly anticipate the continued impact of her influence on our culture and the nation’s sports community.”
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Caitlin Clark Idolizes Maya Moore
Moore is the only other basketball player besides Caitlin Clark to win the Honda Cup twice. She had a legendary basketball career, winning multiple titles at every level from high school to the WNBA.
Moore retired in 2023 after a career that included four WNBA championships, two Olympic gold medals, and numerous other accolades.
Clark has that an interaction she had with Moore as a child helped inspire her love of basketball. She was able to hug her favorite player on the court after a Minnesota Lynx game in 2014.
“Ten seconds can go a long way in somebody’s life,” Clark said of the memory. “That’s a good lesson whether you play sports or don’t play sports, how you treat somebody matters.”
The Indiana rookie says she tries to pattern her own behavior after Moore by taking “as much time as I can for those young girls.”
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