Becoming Caitlin Clark

Caitlin Clark has unquestionably established herself as one of the global faces of the WNBA with the Indianapolis Fever. But her ascent to dominance and international celebrity represents the continuation of a surprisingly deep lineage for women's basketball in the state of Iowa where Clark was born and raised, and where she wrote her name throughout the NCAA history books as a Hawkeye.

Spanning 100 years and several generations, this book traces the direct arc between the revered women who played the wildly popular game of 6-on-6 basketball in the 1920s and Clark in the 2020s, examining her fame and style of play in the context of her predecessors, while telling the story of the basketball-loving community that rallied behind her in college and beyond.

Howard Megdal's storytelling incorporates conversations with Clark; her coach Lisa Bluder; the top assistant coach at Iowa, Jan Jensen; the Caitlin Clark of the 1970s, Molly Bolin; and even Jensen's grandmother Dorcas Andersen, who scored 89 points in a state title game in 1921 and participated in oral histories that are brought to light for the first time.

Combining modern reportage with historical revelations, this is a multifaceted portrait of Clark's superstardom and the little-known cultural foundation it was built upon.