Alumna Nora Lynn Finch to be inducted into North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame
Nora Lynn Finch at a recent WCU Title IX Pioneers event
By Cam Adams
甜瓜视频app alumna Nora Lynn Finch sat behind her friend, Kay Yow, honored to introduce her in the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame Class of 1989 induction ceremony. But before the ceremony began, Finch was approached by an unknown gentleman.
鈥淲ho are you and why are you here,鈥� he asked. Finch told him she was there to introduce the long-time North Carolina State University women鈥檚 basketball coach, and then, another man interjected, one whose words Finch will never forget.
鈥淗e said to that guy, 鈥榊ou should meet her because one day, she will probably join this hall of fame,鈥欌�� Finch recalled.
Thirty-six years later, that man鈥檚 prediction became true. Finch was one of 10 listed in the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2025 induction class last month. The class will be inducted May 2 in Greensboro.
鈥淲hen I look now into being inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, I'm still in awe,鈥� Finch said. 鈥淚f you think about the All-Americans, the Olympians, people who hold national records, world records鈥� It's all sports. It's all ages. It's very humbling.鈥�
Finch will be the seventh Catamount inducted into the hall of fame.
鈥淲hat a tremendous and well-deserved honor for Nora Lynn Finch to earn induction into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame,鈥� said Alex Gary, WCU director of athletics. 鈥淣ora is a two-time Western Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame inductee and has been instrumental in guiding the progression of women鈥檚 sports across the country.
鈥淪he has played a huge part in honoring and respecting our Catamount past, outlining the importance of Title IX legislation and providing guidance for our future generations here at 甜瓜视频app. Congratulations to Nora Lynn Finch and all of this year鈥檚 North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame 2025 inductees.
Finch is a pioneer in the realm of women鈥檚 basketball, but before she made her impact on the sport, she was a Catamount 鈥� and a talented one at that. During her college days in Cullowhee, Finch lettered in four sports: basketball, tennis, field hockey and volleyball.
Nora Lynn Finch (first row, far left) pictured with her WCU basketball teammates and coach Betty Westmoreland.
She was one of the first intercollegiate female athletes at WCU, even helping the women鈥檚 basketball team to a national runner-up finish in 1969. Finch graduated from WCU with honors in 1970, and two days after she turned her tassel, she joined the faculty at Wake Forest University to coach.
鈥淚'm there to coach field hockey, volleyball, basketball, tennis to co-eds who petitioned to have the right to have sports, and I'm going to run the intramural program, men and women, and I'm going to teach classes, and I'm 22 years old. Western prepared me for that,鈥� Finch said.
Finch also later coached at Peace College and NC State, was an associate athletics director at NC State, was the inaugural chair of the NCAA Division I women鈥檚 basketball committee for eight years and she negotiated the first women's basketball tournament TV contract with CBS.
Also, while Finch was on the women鈥檚 basketball rules committee, hall of fame coach Carol Eckman embraced her recommendation to have a slightly smaller and lighter basketball for women.
With Eckman鈥檚 help, the rule was passed, and years later, the international governing body for basketball, FIBA, adopted the NCAA size women鈥檚 basketball. Before her retirement nearly six years ago, Finch was the senior associate commissioner for women鈥檚 basketball at the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Finch led a storied career in women鈥檚 basketball, one that landed her in the WCU Athletics Hall of Fame, the Peace College Hall of Fame, the National Women鈥檚 Athletic Hall of Fame and the Women鈥檚 Basketball Hall of Fame.
Who is Nora Lynn Finch? She鈥檚 a hall of famer. Why is she here? Because of the people around her.
鈥淲ho you are, who you surround yourself with, what opportunities you take advantage of are going to determine what your life is going to be, and I've been with the best, and I'm here with the best,鈥� Finch said.
