UMKC Hall of Fame Spotlight - Katie Houlehan
12/12/2008 12:00:00 PM | General, Athletics
by Dan Stroud
UMKC basketball alum Katie Houlehan has launched and made more three point shots than any player in Kangaroo women's basketball history. The former Kangaroo shooting guard also leads the program in all-time free throw percentage at 89.7 percent and is second all-time in scoring with 1,445 career points.
Having so many records and countless accolades to look back on, what does Houlehan miss most about her days on the UMKC campus?
"Wearing sweat pants to work," Houlehan said without a moment's hesitation. Coming in a close second though were the relationships she shared with teammates from her senior class. Â
A teammate who played with the newly inducted UMKC Hall of Fame honoree told Houlehan this was a great honor certainly for the former star guard, but also for the rest of the team as well.
"I didn't even realize that I was on the radar for such an award," Houlehan said. "I'm very proud ... it's very humbling."
But there's something even deeper, more emotionally charged about this honor that stirs within Houlehan as her induction nears. She and her mother Nancy have been thinking of another family member; someone who in both their minds paved the way for not only Houlehan, but women everywhere.
Prudy Bowan, the Kangaroo standout's aunt is a member of Baker University's Hall of Fame. Bowan played volleyball, basketball and softball at Baker. She played before Title IX, the law that allowed women to receive an equal share of the nation's scholarship revenues.
Bowan recently passed away after battling Multiple Sclerosis. Houlehan recalled speaking about her aunt's role in making it possible for her to get the scholarship that would pay for her education, a view shared by both mother and daughter.
"My mother is honored and excited that I'm following in Aunt Prudy's footsteps," Houlehan said. "Prudy was unbelievable! I was afraid to take her on ... and she was in a wheel chair!"
Growing up with three older brothers and an athletic mom, Houlehan said she got better and better because of her siblings and their friends. She recalled that the first basketball team she played on was a boy's team.
"When I was seven years old, playing with the boys, I thought I was going to play in the NBA," said Houlehan. "I just played, and it was the boys that I'd usually compete against."
A highly recruited player out of Bishop Meige High School in 2000, Houlehan said she struggled with leaving town or staying home. In the end the pull of family and community was just too great and UMKC basketball history was all the better for that fact.
"All things being equal, I'm just a homebody," Houlehan said. "I would not have changed the decision to come to UMKC to this day."
When asked about her greatest accomplishment as a Kangaroo, again without hesitation Houlehan throws out a pair of team accomplishments. Topping the list was the squad's surprising rise to the Mid Continent Conference championship game her senior year.
Despite falling just short against long time nemesis Oral Roberts, the mayor and the city honored the team by holding a "Kangaroo Day" which included a street sign being erected next to O'Dowd's on the Plaza. Second on the list was defeating the Kansas Jayhawks twice in three years.
Houlehan said she found a friend for life in a tough, gritty assistant coach on that last Kangaroo squad. It was a transition year and Candace Whitaker turned the senior star's err of entitlement on its ear.
"Candi was always pretty strong headed," Houlehan said. "She would actually yell at us. She was the only coach that was ever actually mean to me."
The two had a conversation after the guard's playing days were over in which the player admitted to the coach just how much the challenge was appreciated. That admiration for Whitaker continues to this day.
"Hiring Candi has been a great move for this program," Houlehan said. "She's very passionate and won't settle for anything less than doing things the right way."
Houlehan, who holds an M.B.A. from Rockhurst University to go with her B.A. at UMKC, now works as a financial planner with Compass Financial Resources out of Kansas. She is excited about the commitment the firm has to education about finances, especially for teachers.
In her spare time she has tried coaching at the college level, at the primary level, and this year is an assistant coach for Blue Valley North High School in Overland Park.
Not wanting to leave three point specialist's father John out of the mix it should be noted just where his excitement about his daughter's honor lies.
"Dad's just happy to have an excuse for a party," a laughing Houlehan quipped.
With the friends the Kangaroo shooting star has accumulated over her first 26 years, it seems there could be the makings for a big one on the horizon.
(This is the second of a nine-part series featuring the inaugural UMKC Athletics Hall of Fame class.)
Hall of Fame Features
