Jordan Horston has an answer for anyone wondering if a WNBA team would be supported by fans in Tennessee.
“The Tennessee fan base for women’s basketball is very supportive,” said Horston, who played for the Tennessee Lady Vols and is headed into her third season with the WNBA’s Seattle Storm. “They support you forever. Throughout your college career and as a professional player and I love it. Fans in Tennessee are very passionate about basketball.”
Horston and several other WNBA players, who are in Nashville this week for start of the Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball League at Municipal Auditorium, loved hearing last week that Nashville submitted a bid for a WNBA franchise, which would start playing in 2028 at Bridgestone Arena if approved by the league.
Horston, a Dallas native, particularly likes that the proposed franchise’s name − Tennessee Summitt − pays homage to legendary Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt.
“I went to Tennessee so I know that this is a great place for any women’s sports,” Horston said. “I love the team’s name. Of course, I’m playing for Seattle and that’s where my loyalty is, but I was like, ‘Dang, the Summitt; that would be nice. It just shows what has happened over the years and all Pat has done, not just in sports but for women in general.
“For them to acknowledge her that way warms my heart.”
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In 2023 Horston became the third former Lady Vol to be drafted by Seattle in the first round, joining Semeka Randall (2001) and Shekinna Stricklen (2021).
Nashville’s bid couldn’t come soon enough for former Mt. Juliet star Alysha Clark, who is headed into her 13th WNBA season currently with the Las Vegas Aces. She has been pushing for a pro franchise in Tennessee for many years.
“I can’t emphasize it enough and I talk about it a lot any chance I get doing media interviews,” said Clark, who played at Belmont and Middle Tennessee State in college. “I always talk about the rich women’s basketball history that’s here in Tennessee. Fans have traveled around to all the schools to watch good women’s basketball. For so many years they have poured into that and established the legacy that you now see.”
Clark has played in 383 WNBA games on three different teams. At 37 she’s still going strong, but will she be around to play in a game in Nashville if the Tennessee Summitt’s bid is accepted?
“Oh, I don’t know,” she said. “That’s not until 2028. That’s a long way away right now. I’m just trying to get through this year and then we’ll see.”
Like Clark, Isabelle Harrison was a local high school star at Hillsboro. She was a freshman at Tennessee in Summitt’s final season (2011-12).
Harrison would naturally like to the see the WNBA in Nashville, but she wants to see the league expand to many other cities as well with its new-found popularity sparked by some of its young star including Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso.
“I feel like every city has the potential to have a team, but specifically in Tennessee because we don’t have a professional team yet,” Harrison said. “I’m not going to say we don’t have anything because obviously Vanderbilt is here and I’ve got to root for Tennessee. It would be amazing for the city to have a women’s professional team here period, so I’ll be excited to see it.”
Harrison’s younger sister Dorie, who also played at Hillsboro and then Kentucky and Lipscomb, said Nashville’s WNBA bid is long overdue.
“The focus is on women’s basketball right now, but it’s been on women’s basketball in Tennessee for a long time,” Dorie Harrison said. “Nashville, and Tennessee in general, has such a rich basketball history it’s come full circle for us. The bid by the Tennessee Summitt is bringing more energy, more eyes to Athletes Unlimited and that’s exactly what we’re here for.”
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Summitt: Local players say WNBA franchise good idea for Nashville
