Tamika Catchings attended Stevenson High School from 1993-1995 and participated in volleyball, basketball, and track & field. Catchings was a standout basketball player for the Patriots as she anchored the 1995 I.H.S.A. Championship team, garnering All-State and All-American honors in 1994 and 1995. She was named Illinois Miss Basketball as a sophomore (1995), becoming the first underclassman in Illinois to receive the award. Her junior year, she moved to Duncanville, TX where she played volleyball and basketball, leading the volleyball team to a state championship in 1995 and the basketball team to a state championship in the 1996-97 season.
During her four years at the University of Tennessee, the Vols posted a collective 134-10 overall record and won the NCAA title in 1998. Since joining the USA National Team in 2002, she aided the USA to a combined 58-1 record in major international events, winning four-straight Olympic golds in 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016. She was the third overall draft pick of the Indiana Fever in 2001 and enjoyed a 15-year professional career, which included a WNBA MVP in 2011 and a WNBA Championship in 2012.