Basketball

Inducted in 2016

A determined point guard, Stirling played 163 WNBL games and represented the Opals at the 1975 World Championships. She was an outstanding player having won the state’s Best Player Award two years running.

In 1991, she retired as a player and took up the coaching reigns of the Adelaide Lightning two years later. She created one of the great dynasties of Australian Basketball, guiding the team to five consecutive WNBL Grand Finals, winning a hat-trick of titles from 1994-1996 and another in 1998. The 1994-1996 Lightning Team is one of only four teams to be recognised in the South Australian Sport Hall of Fame. Her escalating reputation as an outstanding Coach saw her doubling up as Opals Assistant Coach during this time with her position as Head Coach of the Opals presenting itself in 2001. She went onto create the greatest period of the Opals winning both the World Championship and Commonwealth Games Gold Medal in 2006. The year was complete as she was awarded the International Coach of the Year.

Her career was dutifully stamped with her induction alongside Michael Jordan into the International Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.