Western Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame
Nora Lynn Finch - Women's Basketball, Field Hockey, Tennis, and Volleyball - (1967-70)
Nora Lynn Finch, an honors graduate of Western Carolina University in 1970 has been a dynamic leader in the evolution of women's athletics as a coach, administrator and national governing body committee head. She lettered in four sports at WCU (basketball, field hockey, tennis and volleyball) from 1967 thru 1970 which opened the door for a successful career as a head coach at two schools - Wake Forest, Peace College - and as an associate head coach under Kay Yow at North Carolina State University, where she also was the head coach for volleyball and softball. She served as associate athletics director at N.C. State, chaired the NCAA Division I Women's basketball committee for eight years and has been honored by the NCAA for her outstanding contributions to the development of its women's basketball championship tournament. She represented the NCAA on the US Collegiate Sports Council, serving as the president from 1992-96, and even negotiated the first women's basketball tournament TV contract with CBS during her storied career. In 2019, Finch was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. She has also been inducted into the National Women's Athletic Hall of Fame, the Peace College Athletic Hall of Fame, and was enshrined in the WCU Athletics Hall of Fame a second time when she joined her teammates on the 1969 women's basketball team inducted in 2003. In 2025, Finch was enshrined into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.
