Caitlin Clark’s retired No. 22 again puts former Iowa star in rare company

IOWA CITY — As Lisa Bluder spoke during Caitlin Clark’s jersey retirement ceremony, she recalled a moment when she arrived in the arena ahead of practice while Clark was getting extra shots in beforehand.

“You took a pause for a second, and you looked up there and you looked at those jerseys,” the now-retired coach said to Clark during Sunday’s postgame ceremony. ”I went over to you, put my arm around your shoulder and said, ‘Caitlin, someday your name is going to be up there. Your jersey is going to be up there.’“

In front of yet another sellout crowd and again with a celebrity presence — this time it was David Letterman sitting in the front row — the moment Bluder predicted had finally arrived.

Clark watched not far from where she hit many of her logo 3-pointers as a banner with her signature No. 22 was hoisted to the northeast end of the Carver-Hawkeye Arena rafters.

The honor puts Clark in rare company as only the third retired number in Iowa women’s basketball’s decorated history. The other two are Michelle Edwards and Megan Gustafson.

Edwards played at Iowa from 1984-88 and was a key part of two of C. Vivian Stringer’s Elite Eight teams. She was a 1988 Naismith and USBWA All-American. She also was named the Champion Products National Player of the Year.

Gustafson joined Edwards in 2019. The Port Wing, Wis., native became the first Big Ten athlete to be named a consensus national player of the year, sweeping the top honor from the Associated Press, USBWA and Naismith Trophy.

“The common thread between anybody that gets a jersey retired is just their mental fortitude,” Iowa Coach Jan Jensen said. “They’re just able to do things that most people can’t. … There’s an expectation for greatness.”

While Edwards, Gustafson and now Clark are the only ones with banners in the rafters, there are many other Iowa alumni who helped establish that expectation of greatness throughout the program’s history.

That includes a pair of players who donned the No. 22 Clark has now immortalized — Kathleen Doyle from 2016-20 and Sam Logic from 2012-15.

“There’s also been a lot of really good players to wear this number in this program,” Clark told reporters ahead of Sunday’s game and postgame ceremony. “Sam Logic, Kathleen Doyle — those two specifically have been very supportive of myself over my career.”

Going farther back in Hawkeye history, Toni Foster was a consensus All-American and a finalist for the Champion Player of the Year in 1993. She led the Hawkeyes in scoring and rebounding in three consecutive seasons, including when they went to their first Final Four in 1993.

Iowa women’s basketball has been more selective in which numbers to hang in the rafters than its men’s basketball counterpart on campus. The men’s program — which likewise has three Final Fours in its history — has retired either the jerseys or numbers of nine different players.

Iowa women’s basketball also has been more selective than some of its Big Ten peers that boast comparable levels of past success. Maryland, for example, has three numbers retired and another eight numbers that are “honored.” Iowa’s opponent on Sunday, USC — which, like Iowa, has been to three Final Fours in its history — has six honored numbers.

After a ceremony celebrating past greatness, Jensen already is looking forward to the time when Iowa can hoist a fourth retired jersey banner.

“My goal is to hopefully maybe get one more up there someday in this era,” Jensen said.

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