Stephanie White reacts to momentous Indiana Fever award

Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White first started in the WNBA 27 years ago.

She joined the league as a second-round pick in the 1999 WNBA Draft. She played five seasons — four with the Fever — before retiring in 2004. White immediately transitioned into coaching at the collegiate level before returning to the WNBA as an assistant coach for the Chicago Sky in 2007.

White became an assistant coach for the Fever in 2011 and was promoted to head coach in 2014. She parted ways with the team in 2016 and spent the next eight years with Vanderbilt, then later with the Connecticut Sun. White returned to Indiana ahead of the 2025 season.

Indiana Fever HC Stephanie White honors Val Ackerman after prestigious award

White has been around the WNBA for a very long time. Over the past three decades, she has had the opportunity to work with some of the most influential figures who have had a profound impact on women’s basketball.

One of those figures is Val Ackerman, who served as the first WNBA president from 1996 to 2005. On Saturday, the Fever honored the 66-year-old with the Lin Dunn Inspiring Women Award for everything she has done to elevate the game. The momentous honor is bestowed upon women who have shaped basketball and women’s sports.

Ackerman took center stage at halftime of the Fever’s game against the Los Angeles Sparks.

A legacy built on courage, innovation, and belief in what women’s sports could become

As part of Inspiring Women Night presented by @AnthemBCBS, we honored a true pioneer of women’s basketball. Val Ackerman, the @WNBA‘s founding president whose leadership helped shape the… pic.twitter.com/L8W8czQD3U

— Gainbridge Fieldhouse (@GainbridgeFH) June 28, 2026

White addressed Ackerman’s momentous honor after the Fever’s 111-87 win over the Sparks.

“I think the growth of the league is evident with what we have,” the Fever coach said during the postgame press conference. “The new CBA, corporate sponsorships, fans in the stands, filled arenas, all of that.

“But I think it’s also important to remember where it came from. This is not just sport, but life, right? To remember your beginnings. And Val Ackerman was a game-changer. She was the first commissioner of our league. (Then NBA commissioner) David Stern trusted her with getting this baby off the ground, and then to be able to honor her 30 years later.”

White credited Ackerman for being a trailblazer. She then turned her attention to how the current generation can build on the foundation that Ackerman helped establish.

“I was a player when she was the commissioner, and now as a coach,” White continued. “And to see her come into the building and what she continues to do for sports in general, but women’s sports in particular, I hope that she could take a moment to just take it all in. Like some of us do most of the time, we have those moments where it’s like, man, I can’t believe that this is where we are.

“We always knew we could be here, and now we are. And then for our younger players and our younger generation, how do we keep growing it for the next generation? So I think it gives us really good perspective.”

Ackerman continues to fight the good fight. Today, she serves as the commissioner of the Big East Conference.

As for White, she, too, has had a significant impact on the game in her own right. However, at this point, the former WNBA Coach of the Year is focused on the task at hand. And that’s to lead Caitlin Clark and the Fever to their first championship since 2012.

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Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/stephanie-white-indiana-fever-award-ackerman/