Hall of Fame DeShawne Blocker

DESHAWNE BLOCKER STILL MAKING HISTORY

An ETSU women’s basketball All-American was selected to the Southern Conference Hall of Fame as the league office announced its 2022 class. DeShawne Blocker, who played women’s basketball at ETSU from 1991-95, was the first member named to the 2022 class on May 16.

Student-athletes who competed for a minimum of two seasons in the Southern Conference were eligible for consideration, along with coaches and administrators who spent at least five years in the league. A pool of more than 200 candidates from the conference’s current and former member institutions were nominated for consideration. The pool of former studentathletes, coaches, and administrators was cut down to 40 individuals who comprised the final ballot. A voting panel of 20 media members and league administrators made the selection of the induction class.

“I’m excited about being awarded such an honor,” Blocker said. “To be listed among some of the best in the conference, it speaks volumes, and I would not have been able to receive such an award without some amazing teammates and coaches and family backing. I’m just so thankful.”

Blocker, who earned All-America honorable mention after her junior and senior seasons, led the NCAA in total rebounds with a SoCon single-season record 450 in 1993-94, while her average of 17.3 per contest not only led the NCAA but still ranks fourth in a season in NCAA history and second in a season in SoCon history, 28 years later. She had the NCAA single-game high for rebounds in 1992-93 with 25 against Marshall and in 1993-94 with 28 against Covenant, which remains a SoCon single-game record.

The Augusta, Georgia, native finished her career with 2,086 points, which is third in ETSU program history and tied for seventh in SoCon history, and a career average of 19.5 points per game, which ranks fifth in league annals. Blocker totaled 1,361 rebounds (third in SoCon history), with her career average of 12.7 boards per game ranking eighth in NCAA Division I history at the end of her career and 12th today. That mark remains second in SoCon history nearly three decades later, while her career 59.8 field-goal percentage is third in SoCon history.

The 1991-92 SoCon Freshman of the Year, the 1992-93 and 1994-95 SoCon Player of the Year, and the league’s Female Athlete of the Year in 1994-95, Blocker is one of just five women’s basketball players in league history to earn first-team All-SoCon honors four times.

She was the SoCon tournament Most Outstanding Player in 1995, despite the regular-season champion Bucs falling to Furman in the title game, 88-85. Blocker’s 1994-95 squad went on to play in the postseason in the National Women’s Invitational Tournament, marking the Bucs’ first ever postseason appearance.

Following her collegiate career, she played professionally for three years in Spain, Greece, Austria, and Finland. She would later return to ETSU as an assistant coach from 2006-13, helping lead the Bucs to postseason play four times in that span.

Blocker was named to the SoCon’s 25th Anniversary Team celebrating a quarter century of women’s athletics in 2007-08 and earned a spot on the 100th Anniversary Team as the league celebrated its centennial in 2021. She was inducted into ETSU’s Hall of Fame in 2005.

Blocker becomes the fifth women’s basketball player to be enshrined in the SoCon Hall of Fame and the first from ETSU.

Phil Perry, Southern Conference, and Lauren Templin, ETSU Athletic Communications |  Photos by Larry Smith