Honda Cup winners from Cheryl Miller to Caitlin Clark mark 50 years
The 2026 Honda Cup ceremony spotlights a half-century of college stars whose influence stretched far beyond campus.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
4 min read
The 2026 Honda Cup winners conversation arrives with extra sparkle Monday night, as the Collegiate Women Sports Awards celebrate their 50th anniversary and prepare to crown this year’s top NCAA women’s athlete.
The Honda Sport Award honors athletes in 12 NCAA-sanctioned women’s sports for athletic performance, academics and community involvement, according to CBS Sports. The Honda Cup then goes to one athlete from that group of 12.
This year’s finalists include UCLA basketball standout Lauren Betts, Stanford swimmer Torri Huske and Jordynn Dudley, a two-time national champion in soccer at Florida State, CBS Sports reported. The ceremony is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network.
The anniversary event is also expected to bring back major names from the award’s past. The Collegiate Women Sports Awards said past winners including Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Ann Meyers, Missy Franklin and Chamique Holdsclaw are expected, calling it “one of the largest gatherings” of elite women’s college athletes from the past 50 years.
Who are the Honda Cup winners who changed women's sports?
CBS Sports highlighted nine past winners whose college dominance carried into wider influence: Cheryl Miller, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Dawn Staley, Lisa Fernandez, Mia Hamm, Misty May-Treanor, Maya Moore, Katie Ledecky and Caitlin Clark.
Miller won the Honda Cup in 1984 at USC after leading the Women of Troy to NCAA basketball titles in 1983 and 1984. CBS Sports noted she also won Olympic gold at the 1984 Los Angeles Games and appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1985, before an ACL injury shortened her playing career.
Joyner-Kersee followed in 1985 at UCLA. She won NCAA heptathlon titles in 1982 and 1983, then collected three Olympic gold medals, two silvers and a bronze across heptathlon and long jump, according to CBS Sports. Her 7,291-point heptathlon at the 1988 Seoul Olympics remains the world record, and Sports Illustrated named her the greatest female athlete of the 20th century.
Staley, the 1991 winner from Virginia, led the Cavaliers to three straight Final Fours and later made six WNBA All-Star teams while winning three Olympic gold medals with Team USA. CBS Sports pointed to her coaching career at South Carolina as her biggest impact: 12 straight Sweet Sixteen appearances, six straight Final Fours and three national championships.
Fernandez became the first softball player to win the Honda Cup in 1993 after a UCLA career that included a 93-7 pitching record, two national titles and four Women’s College World Series trips. She later won three Olympic gold medals and one silver with Team USA, and CBS Sports said she now serves as a UCLA associate head coach and general manager of the Utah Talons.
Hamm was soccer’s first Honda Cup winner in 1994 after helping North Carolina win four straight national championships. She later became the face of the U.S. women’s national team, winning two Olympic golds and two Women’s World Cups, and CBS Sports noted her roles in three eras of U.S. women’s pro soccer, including her current co-ownership of Angel City FC.
May-Treanor won in 1999 after captaining Long Beach State to a 36-0 season and the 1998 NCAA volleyball championship. She became best known in beach volleyball, where she and Kerri Walsh Jennings won three Olympic gold medals and 112 straight professional matches from 2007 to 2008, according to CBS Sports.
Moore won in 2010 and 2011 at UConn, where she led back-to-back unbeaten national title teams in 2009 and 2010. After Minnesota selected her No. 1 overall in 2011, she helped the Lynx win four WNBA championships in six years and became the first women’s basketball player signed by Air Jordan, CBS Sports reported.
Ledecky, the 2017 winner from Stanford, won four NCAA individual titles and helped the Cardinal capture the national championship that year. Internationally, CBS Sports credited her with nine Olympic golds, four silvers and a bronze, plus 17 world records and current marks in the 800- and 1500-meter freestyle.
Clark won the Honda Cup in 2023 and 2024 at Iowa, where she became the NCAA Division I career scoring leader and took the Hawkeyes to consecutive national championship games. Drafted No. 1 by the Indiana Fever in 2024, she has been an All-Star starter in each of her first three WNBA seasons, and CBS Sports reported she became the first WNBA player with a 40-point, 10-assist game after posting 45 points and 10 assists against Seattle on July 17.
This story draws on original reporting from CBS Sports.