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October 20, 2008

'Conversations with Dave Revsine' Features Two Hall of Fame Women with Big Ten Ties

Revsine visits with basketball legend McConnell-Serio and auto racing pioneer Guthrie

CHICAGO – Although they cemented their legendary status in dramatically different arenas, Suzie McConnell-Serio and Janet Guthrie both can claim Hall of Fame credentials in their sports and deep Big Ten ties.

At 7:30 PM ET on Wednesday, Oct. 22, the Big Ten Network presents Conversations with Dave Revsine. In this 30-minute program, Revsine sits down with McConnell-Serio, a 1988 Penn State graduate and basketball star, and Guthrie, a Michigan graduate who was a pioneer in the sport of auto racing.

"These are two remarkable women who made it possible for others to follow in their footsteps," Revsine said. "They were trailblazers."

In a word, Janet Guthrie is a pioneer. After graduating from the University of Michigan in 1960 with a degree in physics, Guthrie originally worked as a flight instructor and an aerospace engineer before beginning her auto racing career in 1963. In 1977, Guthrie became the first woman to qualify and compete in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500, finishing 29th and 12th, respectively. She raced at Indy twice more and finished as high as ninth in 1978.

Guthrie's helmet and race suit are on display at the Smithsonian and she is a charter member of the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame. She was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2006.

McConnell-Serio graduated from Penn State and became one of the most decorated players and coaches in women's basketball history. As a player, she was a two-time Olympic medalist and a former WNBA Newcomer of the Year. In 1999, Sports Illustrated selected McConnell-Serio as one of the top 50 athletes in Pennsylvania history. As a coach, she led Oakland Catholic High School in Pittsburgh to five state championship games and three state titles. Success followed McConnell-Serio into the professional ranks, where she guided the Minnesota Lynx to the playoffs and also earned the WNBA Coach of the Year Award.

McConnell-Serio has returned to her native Pittsburgh, where she enters her second year as the head women's basketball coach at Duquesne University. In June 2008, she was elected to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.

About the Big Ten Network:
The Big Ten Network is the first national network dedicated to covering one of the premier collegiate conferences in the country. With more than 400 live events, and nearly all of them in HD, the network is the destination for Big Ten fans across the country and allows fans to see their favorite team, regardless of where they live. Operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the Big Ten Network showcases a wide array of classic-to-current sports and televises more Olympic sporting events and women's sports than has ever been aired on any other network. Original programming highlights activities and accomplishments of some of the nation's finest universities. Each year, the network offers approximately 35 football games, 105 regular season men's basketball games, 55 women's basketball games, dozens of Big Ten Championship events, a nightly studio show, coaches' shows and classic games. Available to all cable and satellite providers nationwide, the network currently has agreements with AT&T U-Verse, Charter, Comcast, Cox, DirecTV, DISH Network, Insight, Mediacom, Time Warner Cable, Verizon FiOS and 230 cable operators.

For updated information on the Big Ten Network, go to www.BigTenNetwork.com.

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