The British Basketball group is coming collectively to pay tribute to the legendary pioneer Betty Codona OBE, who has sadly handed away.
An unrivalled colossus of the ladies’s recreation within the UK, Codona devoted 60 years of her life to passionately inspiring 1000’s of individuals to play the game that she liked a lot.
In a stellar profession that started as a PE Instructor and resulted in her founding the Sheffield Hatters in 1961, she not solely went on to win numerous titles and set up essentially the most profitable membership in girls’s basketball, however she additionally performed an immeasurable function in rising the sport.
The passion, dedication and expertise of Codona got here out in the whole lot she did. From when she proudly stepped out as a participant and competed within the first ever Nationwide Cup Championship in 1965, to when she subsequently delivered 40 separate items of silverware as head coach between 1989 and 2009, previous to transferring on to work because the Chair of the membership.
The record of honours that Hatters snapped up beneath her stewardship from the sidelines is staggering, with Codona having amassed an array of basketball titles together with the BBC Unsung Hero for Yorkshire. All of these fed into the 65 in whole that Hatters have gained since she based the organisation, making them essentially the most profitable ever.
Described by many who knew her as a pressure of nature, the inclusive and household atmosphere that Codona fostered inside Hatters is one thing she was fiercely happy with and can stay stronger than ever.
That social cohesion and group work was additionally a significant component within the awards that she was each given and in rivalry for. In addition to richly deserving her OBE, late final 12 months, at 83-years-old, she was shortlisted for The Sunday Instances Grassroots Sportswoman of the Yr Award.
Codona additionally had the Ladies’s British Basketball League Trophy Last named after her and WBBL Chair, Jim Saker stated: “After I first grew to become Chair of the WBBL, my first official obligation was to current flowers to Betty on her eightieth birthday earlier than the Betty Codona Trophy Last. It was my first assembly together with her, and from then on, she grew to become each a supply of recommendation however extra importantly, a revered good friend. She shall be sadly missed.”
Basketball England CEO, Stewart Kellett said: “Betty lived an amazingly full and productive life. Her ardour, dedication and selflessness in selling and serving the game, and particularly, girls’s basketball, has been unparalleled by way of its success and affect.
“She was one in all a form. Her spirit and generosity noticed her contribute to the game and her group in Sheffield over such an extended time period, positively impacting so many lives. She shall be significantly missed however her implausible legacy is rightly an enormous supply of delight kind her household and the Hatters membership and all of us in basketball.”
British Basketball Federation interim chair, Toni Minichiello stated: “The time period legendary is overused in sport, however it’s becoming in Betty’s case. She has been and continued to be the lynchpin for feminine basketball and basketball on the whole in Sheffield and throughout the nation for many years.
“Her tireless effort, spirit and affect and have accomplished a lot good for the sport and for the younger individuals who come via – and proceed to come back via – the Hatters membership. She goes to be sadly missed by many, however she leaves a dynasty behind her in her household and the membership that may proceed her sensible work lengthy into the long run.”
British Basketball League Chair, Sir Rodney Walker added: “Betty is rightly revered for her unbelievable work and legacy within the girls’s recreation, however what can by no means be forgotten is that she impacted the game for everybody, not only for women and girls. Her group work and dedication in serving to to develop the sport for all younger individuals and from so many various backgrounds, is what issues most. The game is extremely privileged to have had such a formidable and wonderful function mannequin like Betty for thus a few years.”
Betty’s household described her as: “An inspiration for all, she was decided, relentless, clever and most of all passionate. Betty’s ethos will dwell on via each feminine who has represented the Hatters. Everybody right here throughout the Hatters are deeply saddened however we stand united to hold on Betty’s values and beliefs as we respect the previous and we’ll forge the long run.”
She was extraordinarily happy with her two daughters Vanessa Ellis and Loraine Gayle who performed to the best stage of basketball in England all through the Eighties and Nineteen Nineties. Vanessa has adopted Betty’s footsteps into teaching, assistant teaching Nice Britain and main England to a Commonwealth Video games silver medal in 2008. She was most happy with her grandchildren: Tyler a Hatters coach; Georgia a star participant for the Sheffield Hatters WBBL and GB consultant; Quinn a prospect taking part in for Capo d’Orlando in Italy.
At present of their Diamond Anniversary 12 months, the legacy that Codona leaves the membership goes manner past the Hatters. It spans not solely the local people, but in addition leaves an indelible print on British Basketball itself.
The game will stand collectively this coming weekend in recognition of her staggering accomplishments, with 24 seconds of applause earlier than every recreation throughout the BBL, WBBL, and NBL, as British Basketball pauses to recollect and respect a real nice
