Three days after her final college game at Iowa in the women’s national championship game, Caitlin Clark’s jersey will forever be immortalized in the school’s history.
Clark’s No. 22, the number she wore in her four years with the Hawkeyes, is now retired, the school announced Wednesday. No women’s basketball player for Iowa can wear a jersey with that number. It will always belong to Clark.
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“There will never be another 22,” the team wrote on social media Wednesday.
One of college basketball’s all-time greats, Clark rewrote the record books over four seasons at Iowa. Clark became the NCAA women’s basketball all-time leading scorer and eventually eclipsed Pete Maravich’s record for most points in Division I history, men’s or women’s.
There will never be another @CaitlinClark22 & there will never be another 2️⃣2️⃣.
The #Hawkeyes will retire Clark's No. 22. pic.twitter.com/bTyWRXwJir
— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) April 10, 2024
The Athletic unanimously named Clark the National Player of the Year this season. She led the country in points (31.8) and assists per game (8.8).
Clark, whose Iowa career ended with Sunday’s loss to South Carolina in the national championship game, has helped create monumental gains in viewership in women’s college basketball. The Iowa-South Carolina game drew a record 18.9 million viewers, making it the most-watched basketball game (men’s or women’s, college or pro) since 2019, according to ESPN.
When Clark played during her final season, she was a draw. Of the Hawkeyes’ 32 regular-season games this season, 30 sold out or set arena attendance records for women’s basketball. In Iowa City, tickets sold out for the Hawkeyes’ first- and second-round games in 30 minutes.
Clark is the third Iowa women’s basketball player to have her jersey retired. Michelle Edwards (1985 to 1988) had her No. 30 jersey retired in 1990 while Megan Gustafson (2015 to 2019) had her No. 10 retired in 2020.
Required reading
- Caitlin Clark’s last day as a college superstar: No championship, but contentment
- Like Steph and Jimmer before her, Caitlin Clark is a ‘once in a lifetime’ experience
- Caitlin Clark will be ‘backbone of a franchise’: Anonymous WNBA GMs scout guard prospects
- The moments that made Caitlin Clark The Athletic’s women’s basketball Player of the Year
(Photo: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
