A former Ursuline standout and her coach at the school are among eight people who will be inducted into the Delaware Basketball Hall of Fame on Jan. 27. The ceremony will take place over lunch at the Embassy Suites Hotel, 654 S. College Ave., Newark, beginning at 11 a.m.
Kate Mills, a two-time first-team all-state basketball player for Ursuline in the early 2000s, is one of six players who will be honored. Her coach, Steve Johnson, and a benefactor of the sport are the others.
Mills was the Gatorade Player of the Year in 2004, leading the Raiders to the state championship. For her career, she scored 1,438 points. She went on to the University of Massachusetts, where she averaged 17.4 points and 7.3 rebounds and led the Minutewomen in minutes, field-goal percentage, free-throw percentage, rebounds, block and points.
When she graduated, she was UMass’ all-time leader in blocks and free-throw percentage, and fourth in points. As of the beginning of this season, Mills still holds the record for blocks and is in the top 10 in several offensive categories. After college, she played professionally in Spain and Portugal for six years.
Mills, also the Gatorade Player of the Year for volleyball in 2004, was a member of Ursuline’s inaugural Athletic Hall of Fame class in 2015. She is a civil engineer for the city of Dover.
Johnson spent 12 years as a coach at St. Mark’s, Seaford and William Penn as well as Ursuline. He led his teams to five state championship games, winning the boys’ title with St. Mark’s in 1989 and William Penn in 1999, along with the girls’ crown with the Raiders in 2004. The Brandywine High School graduate started the Hoops Against Hunger program, providing free clinics and encouraging social service.
The other inductees:
• Purnell Ayers, Delaware’s player of the year in 1975 and ’76, when he led Cape Henlopen to consecutive state titles.
• Sarah Cashman, a first-team all-state selection as a senior in 1979 at Tower Hill who had a record-setting career at Colgate University.
• Jermaine Medley, the state player of the year in 1996 at Wilmington High School who was a three-year starter at Villanova University.
• Tony Washam, first-team all-state for Concord High School in 1978 who led West Virginia to the second round of the NCAA tournament in 1982.
• James Webster, first-team all-state at Howard High School in 1955 and ’56. Among the state’s first dominant big men, he died Dec. 9.
• Mort Kimmel, a Wilmington attorney who transformed the annual Blue-Gold games after assuming the leadership in 1998.
Tickets for the ceremony are available at debbhof.ticketleap.com/delaware.
