BOSTON, MA - Wheelock College women's basketball head coach Brooke Freeburg is one of 10 sports figures slated to be inducted into the Erie Metropolitan Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame on June 21.
An all-state and All-America basketball player during high school, Freeburg remains the only player in Erie County history to score more than 2,000 points. She also earned three All-America honors, including winning the 1999 national title in the javelin, and 12 medals at the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) track & field championships.
Already a 2005 inductee into the Pennsylvania High School Track & Field Hall of Fame, the Waterford, Pa., native won a pair of state championships in the javelin while competing for Fort LeBoeuf High School and another Pennsylvania title in the shot put. As of 2005, Freeburg's personal bests in the shot put and discus were both good for third in state history.
Freeburg played four years of Division I basketball at Providence College, graduating in 2004 after serving two seasons as a captain. She netted 413 points in 78 games, averaging career bests of 9.2 points and 3.4 rebounds while starting all 27 games in 2003-04. She started 73 of a possible 82 contests over her final three seasons after being limited by injury her freshman year.
Freeburg was also a standout javelin thrower for the Providence track & field team, qualifying for the outdoor NCAA Championship each of her four years, including drawing All-America honors in 2001. She twice won the javelin at the BIG EAST Championship, as her 2001 showing made her the first Friar - man or woman - to ever win a field event at the conference meet. Freeburg also won the javelin competition in 2001 at the prestigious Penn Relays and qualified for BIG EAST Academic All-Star honors in 2003 and 2004.
Having just completed her third season at Wheelock, Freeburg led the Wildcats to the cusp of their first postseason berth since 2001-02 this past winter. In her tenure, Wheelock players have earned a trio of all-conference laurels and four academic all-league honors, with 2010-11 winter academic accolades yet to be announced.
Freeburg previously coached at a number of basketball camps in the Northeast, including at Amherst College and Brown University, and has also coached at University of Notre Dame Associate Director of Women's Basketball Operations Angie Potthoff's camp in Erie, Pa.
Among the people joining Freeburg in her induction class are a Super Bowl-winning NFL player; a professional basketball player; a three-sport coach at Penn State Erie, the Behrend College; and the long-time sports information director at Mercyhurst University.