Hall of Famer Donovan dies

NEW YORK, June 14, (AP): Anne Donovan, the Basketball Hall of Famer who won a national championship at Old Dominion, two Olympic gold medals as a player and another as a coach, died Wednesday of heart failure. She was 56.

In this July 31, file photo. Connecticut Sun coach Anne Donovan watches her players in a WNBA basketball game against the Seattle Storm in

Uncasville, Conn. (AP)

Donovan’s family confirmed the death in a statement.

“While it is extremely difficult to express how devastating it is to lose Anne, our family remains so very grateful to have been blessed with such a wonderful human being,” the statement said.

“Anne touched many lives as a daughter, sister, aunt, friend and coach. Anne was a person with strong faith, courageous spirit, a giving heart and love for everyone,” her family’s statement continued. “We are so proud of her accomplishments as a women’s’ basketball player and coach, but even more proud of her character, integrity, humility and kindness.”

Donovan was at the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tennessee, last weekend.

She was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995, was part of the inaugural class of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999 and was inducted in the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2015.

“Throughout her college and professional career Anne was one of ODU’s best ambassadors both for the institution and Lady Monarch basketball,” Monarchs athletic director Wood Selig said. In this file photo taken on Feb 4, Direct Energie Team’s French cyclist Lilian Calmejane competes in the fifth and last stage of the 48th edition of the Etoile de Besseges cycling race in Ales, southern France. Calmejane, leader of the Direct Energie team is back on the Swiss Tour after being given the green light

on June 14, in Loeche-les-Bains, Switzerland. (AFP)