Inducted 1996. Three-Sport Star Wend on to Become Conference Player of Year in Basketball at Illinois State.
Susan Wellman, a 1983 graduate, had a hand in several of Notre Dame’s state tournament teams in three sports. However, basketball was her best sport. She was the first player named to the Class A state basketball all-tournament team for three consecutive years, finishing with 1,458 career points and 837 career rebounds. As a senior, she was named an honorable mention All-American by Street & Smith’s magazine and by USA Today. She was a second-team Chicago Catholic All-American and was named to the Champaign News-Gazette All-State team.
In volleyball, she was named to the Champaign News-Gazette All-State team as a senior and played for the Lady Raiders’ third-place squad in 1982 and second-place squad in 1983. In softball, she was the left fielder on teams that finished third and first in the state tournament.
Wellman starred in basketball at Illinois State University, where she graduated as that school’s ninth-best rebounder and 13th-highest scorer. She was named the Gateway Conference Player of the Year in 1988 and was named to the Women’s NIT All-Tournament team as she led the Redbirds to a 20-11 record. She was also a GTE Academic All-District pick.
Wellman played briefly in the Women’s Basketball Association for the Illinois Knights and St. Louis River Queens. She coached girls basketball at Chatham Glenwood High School and at Ursuline Academy in Springfield while also working in medical technology at St. John’s Hospital in Springfield. After two years as an assistant coach at Southern Illinois University, Wellman was hired last spring as an assistant coach at the University of Tulsa.