The 2018 class of the UW Athletic Hall of Fame has been selected and one new member will be announced each day from July 9-19. Visit UWBadgers.com each day to celebrate each new member of this distinguished and historic class of Badgers!
BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — Jolene Anderson was on her way to a video session with her professional basketball team in Schio, Italy — 45 minutes west of Venice — when she got a phone call from the States.
"When it popped up 'Madison' (on caller ID)," she said, "I just answered it."
Since she has been out of school for a decade — and spends the off seasons with her folks in northern Wisconsin, well over 300 miles from the state capitol — she truly had no idea who was calling.
Imagine her surprise then when athletic director Barry Alvarez was on the other end. Moreover, imagine her reaction when Alvarez informed her that she was going into the UW Athletic Hall of Fame.
"I was in shock," she confided, "because I never imagined anything like this happening."
Modesty has always been a part of her makeup.
Not only did Anderson rewrite the Wisconsin women's basketball record book — breaking Barb Franke's career scoring mark with 2,312 points — but she was celebrated in song prior to her senior year.
In concert with the school's promotional campaign to hype Anderson for All-America recognition, former basketball athletic communications director Tam Flarup wrote the lyrics and had a local radio station came up with a parody of a Dolly Parton song — aptly named "Jolene."
The lyrics did a good job of telling her early story:
Wisconsin native from afar, you can hear Superior's roar.
You honed your skills upon a big barn floor.
As a prepster, you were best,
Now you're on Wisconsin's quest.
And no one can compete with you, Jolene.
Born in Superior, Wisconsin, she was raised not far from the Great Lake's roar in Port Wing (Population: 164).
"Everybody knows everybody," she said of the tiny community 40 miles east of Duluth, Minnesota, on the south shore of Lake Superior. "If you blink driving through, you miss everything. There's no stop light."
There was no stopping Anderson at South Shore High School where she scored what was then a WIAA state record 2,881 points. During her four-year career, the Cardinals went 89-12.
As a senior, she averaged 37 points (including 58 against Bayfield) and 15 rebounds. Yet there were questions about her Big Ten Conference readiness because of her small-town roots and Division 4 background.
"Coming from such a small community, there's going to be doubters," Anderson conceded. "So, I felt every day I woke up in Madison, I was trying to prove somebody else wrong — that I could play."
For 12 months of the year in Port Wing, she had honed her shooting skills on two rims; one was anchored to the garage; the other was attached to the hay loft inside the family barn.
"Depending on the weather — minus-20 or 20-above — I was pretty much out there every day," she recalled. "Whether it was for five minutes or two hours, anytime I got the opportunity, I was there."
Her parents, Jim and Julie, who played at UW-Stout, were nurturing and encouraging.
"Nobody is more important than my family," said Anderson, who began dribbling a basketball when she was 4. "They believed in me from day one and pushed me to keep getting better."
Her late grandmother, Nancy Rantala, was also an inspiration; so much so that Jolene wrote her name and Rantala's favorite saying ("Run faster") on her wrist tape. That was not her only motivation.
"My older (male) cousins, who grew up a mile-and-a-half from me, didn't take it easy on me when I was growing up," she said. "If they could beat me 10-0, they'd beat me 10-0."
They made her earn every basket which served her well when she went off to college.
"Coming from a graduating class of 33 kids," she said, "you have the mindset that nothing in your whole life is going to come easy and you're going to have to work for everything."
She never eased up, either. Never became too comfortable with her role. Or success.
"Once I signed my letter of intent and was given the opportunity, I never settled for comfort," she said. "I knew every day there was going to be another person willing to take my spot."
Anderson, who always wanted to be a Badger, verbally committed to Jane Albright. And she didn't renege after Lisa Stone took over the program. Anderson was the first prospect Stone contacted.
Stone later predicted, "Jolene will leave here as the most decorated athlete in program history."
In 2005, Anderson started in an all-frosh backcourt with Janese Banks and wound up leading the Badgers in scoring with a 17.8 points per game average while being named the Big Ten's Freshman of the Year.
Along with scoring 20-or-more points 11 times, Anderson established UW freshman records for most points in a season (497); highest average; most 3-pointers (53) and free throw percentage (.852).
As a sophomore, she was named second-team All-Big Ten and reached the 1,000-point plateau in just 57 career games. Or faster than anybody else had previously at Wisconsin (male or female).
Beyond leading the team again in scoring (17.3), she reached double-figures in 29 straight games, which included seven double-doubles (third most in the conference) her second season.
As a junior, Anderson became the first Badger to win a Big Ten scoring championship by averaging 19.3 in conference action resulting in first-team all-league honors.
Anderson and Banks, who averaged 15 points, helped lead Wisconsin to a school-record 23 wins and the finals of the WNIT championship where the Badgers lost to Wyoming on its floor in Laramie.
An injury to point guard Rae Lin D'Alie was too much to overcome in the end. Even for Anderson who had a couple of 30-point performances against Arkansas State and Virginia in the postseason.
"It's one of the big things that will always stick out to me," Anderson said of the WNIT run. "We were a tight-knit group and every opportunity we stepped on the court we played for each other."
Anderson was subsequently tabbed as a Kodak District IV All-American. "After my junior year," she said, "I realized if I wanted to make basketball my profession, I'd have the opportunity."
Cue the chorus:
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
I know this year will greatly please the fans.
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
Bring us a Big Ten title 'cause you can.
Opponents worry in their sleep,
How to stop you or the 3,
They're crying when they call your name, Jolene.
In 2008, Anderson was the Big Ten Player of the Year (the first UW women's athlete to be so honored). She also punctuated her final college season by defending her conference scoring title (19.6).
In addition, she was named the Francis Pomeroy Naismith National Player of the Year for 5-foot-8 and under; and she was a WBCA/State Farm regional All-American.
Anderson led the Badgers in scoring all four seasons. She started 123 straight games and finished in double-figures 118 times — highlighted by a personal-best 42 against Iowa as a senior.
"Once you're in a zone like that, it's kind of indescribable — everything I threw up there went in," Anderson said. "But 42 points means nothing, if you don't win the basketball game."
The Badgers lost to the Hawkeyes in double-overtime. She took it hard. Still does — underlining her team-first mentality; a characteristic that resonated with a lot of people who watched her play.
It was true here and elsewhere. Anderson was a productive member of three USA teams that competed internationally and won gold medals in Hungary, Mexico and Russia.
The Wisconsin State Legislature even took note of Anderson's accomplishments.
Senator Robert Jauch, representing Port Wing and the 25th district, asked, with unanimous consent, that when the senate adjourned in March, "It do so in honor of Jolene Anderson …."
This was shortly after the Big Ten season and Jauch pointed out, "What's most significant about Jolene's approach to basketball is the heart that she puts into the game and her teamwork."
It was something that everybody could agree on — even politicians.
During her time on campus, Anderson got to be close friends with Alando Tucker, the all-time leading scorer for the men's basketball program with 2,217 points (95 fewer than Anderson).
"I looked up to him as an older brother," said Anderson, who got her undergraduate degree in sociology. "He was somebody that I could go to and get advice or a laugh."
The feelings were mutual. Tucker, incidentally, was also a Big Ten Player of the Year (2006-07).
"We definitely had a good relationship," said Tucker, who's now back at the UW as the Director of Student-Athlete Engagement. "She was a competitor and always smiling. I was a smiler, too.
"It was funny because we had the same tenacity on the court. But we also had the ability to flip the switch off the court. When she was playing, she was a much different person. So was I.
"I just felt we shared some similar personality traits. I watched her grow year after year — I watched Jolene and Janese Banks grow. They were two of the driving forces for the women's program."
Because of Anderson's scoring prowess, Tucker had fun comparing her to Michael Jordan. In turn, he saw Banks as Scottie Pippen, the talented, defensive-minded sidekick.
The one-two punch of Anderson and Banks combined for nearly half of Wisconsin's scoring output in each of the four seasons they played. Banks, an Indianapolis native, had 1,512 career points.
"Coach Stone always put us in a position to be the best we could be," Anderson said. "And my teammates pushed me every day and didn't let me settle for just being good.
"They expected me to be great."
Anderson, a second-round draft pick of the WNBA's Connecticut Sun, appeared in 24 games with seven starts as a rookie. After her release, she headed to Europe to extend her pro career.
"I lived out the dream for a half of a season (in the WNBA) and that's fine for me, I have no regrets," said Anderson, who has played in France, Poland, Turkey and Italy over the last 10 years.
"I've kind of lived every day to the fullest. Whatever country you're in, you're playing against the best of the best. WNBA players come over after their season and you're playing against them every day.
"It's amazing to see all these different cultures come together and play the game of basketball."
Nobody played it better than Anderson at Wisconsin.
That's why she's going into the Hall of Fame.
"I'm still kind of speechless," she said. "But I'm honored."
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UW Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2018
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