Where Are They Now: Kate Gordon, Women's Basketball

Recruited out of East Islip High School, Kate Gordon joined the Hofstra women’s basketball team in 1994 and would go on to have one of the most prolific careers in program history. From 1994-98, Gordon would play in 109 games for Hofstra with 102 starts, and she averaged 15.7 points and 9.5 rebounds per game. 

A forward and a center for the Pride, Gordon averaged double-digits in scoring every year of her Hofstra career, including a career-best 17.9 points as a senior. She would average double-digit rebounds her sophomore and junior season, and she shot a career-high 51% from the field during the 1996-97 season. Gordon set a record for points scored by a freshman during the 1995 North Atlantic Conference Tournament with 34 against Maine. In 1997, Gordon scored 38 points against Hartford for the second-most points scored in a single game in Hofstra history at the time. 

Gordon received numerous conference honors during her time with Hofstra. She was a two-time First Team All-America East selection as a junior and senior, while she received All-North Atlantic Conference Second Team honors as a sophomore and North Atlantic Conference All-Rookie Team distinction as a freshman. In addition, she received All-NAC Tournament honors as a freshman and was named to the America East All-Tournament Team her senior season. 

Upon her graduation in 1998, she finished as the program’s all-time leading rebounder with 1,031 rebounds and the second-highest scorer with 1,714 points. She also finished her Hofstra career with 272 steals and 341 free throws, ranking her second and fourth, respectively, in program history at the time of her graduation. Gordon holds the distinction of being the first Hofstra women’s basketball player to record 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in a career. 

Gordon has worked as an English teacher in the Brentwood School District for 19 years. In 2014, Gordon was named the head coach of the St. John the Baptist Diocesan High School varsity girls’ basketball team. She is currently married with six children.

What made you decide to attend Hofstra? 

I was being heavily throughout the East Coast and I wasn’t even sure I wanted to go to college, to be honest. My father said to me ‘why don’t you go to college and play basketball for a year? If you don’t like it, I’ll support you leaving, but give it a try.’ I always struggled academically, and I wasn’t really looking forward to another four years of sitting in another classroom, so I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go. I went on a couple of recruiting trips, and when I met the girls on the team at Hofstra, I have to say they are the reason why I decided to go there. They were such a special, close group. I remember laughing a lot, and it was a lot of fun being around them. 

They also had a great program called PALS Program for kids who struggled academically, so it was a home run for me. I’m also very close to my parents, so staying local was a benefit; I was very close to my grandparents, my siblings and my family, so it was nice that they were able to be a part of my collegiate career. 

What is your favorite memory from playing at Hofstra? 

I have a bunch, but I would say one of the greatest memories for me, basketball-wise, was when we went up to play Maine my freshman year. I remember everyone talking about Cindy Blodgett and how she was the greatest. We went in there and we competed and kept the game close, they were very good. As a freshman, I wasn’t up for Player of the Year or anything, Blodgett was the “freshmen sensation” and the talk of the conference, but I went in there and scored 34 points that game. I made sure to leave my mark that game. The added bonus was the author Stephen King asked me for my autograph. That was an amazing thing, because he was a big Maine basketball fan, and he would go to all their games. 

It was an amazing feeling for an 18-year-old kid, who was just supposed to go in and do her best, it was a great start. It was playoff time, and unfortunately, we lost, but it kick started my success and was a special experience for me. 

How does it feel to be the first women’s basketball player in Hofstra history to score 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds? 

I always thought it was my biggest accomplishment as a player, to be the first to do that. That was something I was so proud of and will always have as an accolade. I’m still proud of this because as a coach I talk about the importance of being a scorer but also being a rebounder, and how together they make the complete game for a player, they make you multi-dimensional and hard to guard. I just think it’s such a cool thing to hold and have because, it made Hofstra’s history. To be able to do that in my college career and be remembered for it, it's something special. 

What were the keys to your success as a point-scorer and a rebounder? 

I always had a knack around the basket. I was a really good rebounder, if I had to pick one of my strengths, and it created opportunities for me scoring-wise, grabbing offensive rebounds, and defensive rebounding helped the team get out in transition, things like that. I really enjoyed rebounding, and then once I developed more of my shooting game throughout college, it all came together, and it made me that much harder to guard. They would have to come out and defend me; I was small for my position. I was a power forward and a center, and I was only 5-11. Rebounding was part of my mantra, my dad always said, ‘if you can put effort and energy on offensive rebounding, the rest of the game will come together,’ and he was right. 

I’ve always prided myself in that, and it helped me become a more prolific scorer. It materialized from my freshman year on. 

In 1997, you scored 38 points against Hartford, the second-most points in a single game in program history. What was it like to score that many points in a game? 

It was my junior year, and we were in Hartford, and I knew I was about 36 points away from my 1,000th point. I knew it was coming up, and my grandmother was dying at the time, and I was so excited that she would be there to see me score my 1,000th point at home the next game. But things happen, and I went out there and played the game of my life. I don’t know what happened; I think I shot a ridiculous number of free throws, 16 or 18? I just kept going to the rim, going at them and getting to the free throw line. It was a close game, going down the stretch, and I remember making a lay-up. We called a timeout after and we go to the huddle, and I hear in the background ‘congratulations to Kate Gordon for scoring her 1,000th point!’ I didn’t even know it happened until after the game when coach told me. 

I literally felt like I was throwing the ball in the ocean that day. My teammates saw me doing well, so they kept feeding me the ball, getting it into the right spots, and I just kept getting to the free throw line. I was never a great free throw shooter early in my career, it was something I had to work on because I think they called me the Shaq of the NAC my freshman year. I wore #32 my first year, I was getting fouled all the time and I shot some horrific percentage from the free throw line. So it was something I had to work on my entire career, and I ended up having a good percentage my senior year, but I was always up there in attempts. 

I felt like I could just score at will that game, and no matter what they threw at us, we found a way to get in my hands and I had a record-breaking game for myself. It was the most I had scored in a game in my entire life, two more than what I scored in high school. It was just a really cool experience for everyone. 

What does it mean to you to still rank so highly in the Hofstra record books for points, rebounds, free throws and steals? 

Over the last couple of years, I’ve been coming back to Hofstra more. I got to be friendly with Shante Evans, who broke most of records, and I was lucky enough to be there when she broke my rebounding record. It was nice to see someone of her caliber be the one to do it, and she is still playing and competing at a high level. When it comes to what I did, I just loved the game of basketball. It’s still a very big part of my life, so for me I can only speak to the fact that I love the game, it has done so much for me and I loved playing when I was at Hofstra. 

It was a long, daunting season, with injuries and all that, but I loved being out there competing, travelling, and just playing the game. The friendships that were created while playing made us an instant family, and it’s a huge part of my every day for the rest of my life.

In 2011, you were inducted into the Hofstra Athletic Hall of Fame. What did it mean for you to receive that honor? 

I was actually shocked, because I had been out of the game for so long. My first set of twins were just born, so basketball wasn’t in my head at that time because I was “being a mom.” When I got the phone call, I was like ‘oh, really? What an awesome honor.’ Then when I got there, everything flooded back to me; when I walked out on to the floor, the memories and the adrenaline overwhelmed me, in a good way, and I appreciated my time at Hofstra so much in that moment. I was just so honored to be there and to have the opportunity to celebrate with my family the accomplishments they sacrificed for. It is always an honor to be recognized for what I did, while playing the game I love so many years ago. 

What made you want to become a teacher? 

I had a nagging ankle injury my while career after my freshman year, and I wanted to play after college. It was very different then compared to what it is now, you didn’t need an agent or anything. I started playing in a few combines and I got hurt again while I was training, and I thought this wasn’t for me anymore. My body had broken down and I needed a break; I had beaten myself up for four years, so I just stopped altogether. I waitressed a little after that before going back to school to become a teacher. I had English teachers in my life all throughout my life; my high school coach and these two women who I’m still close with to this day were all English teachers. And they helped me so much, in my academic and basketball life, that I just migrated in that direction and followed in their footsteps. Teaching is so much like coaching, find what works and push kids to do their best every day, and that is what I try to do a each day in the classroom. I’ve been in Brentwood for the last 19 years. 

I teach seventh grade English and I absolutely love what I do. I still have those people in my life who mentored me in this direction. I’m very thankful for them because they were so supportive of me in my basketball career and my academics. It’s nice to have that guidance and mentorship when I was a young kid. 

You’re the head coach of the girls' varsity basketball team at St. John the Baptist. How did that come about? 

About nine years ago, I got divorced, and I wasn’t doing anything basketball related. During the divorce, I said to my mom I didn’t know what to do, to get back on my feet, and she suggested tutoring. I didn’t have time to tutor, and then my mom tells me ‘go back to what made you, you: BASKETBALL’ and it turned out to be the best advice, and I not only got back to the game I love, I got my life back. I got into the AAU circuit, I started coaching and training athletes because I couldn’t to get back into playing, it was the next best thing. My son and daughter were still young, but they were starting to play a little bit, so I had them in the gym with me, I started coaching both boys and girl's youth basketball, and it just grew from there. A year after I got back into basketball, I met my now wife, who was a basketball coach at Miller Place at the time, and she told me she needed an assistant. It was a little below my pay grade, but I agreed to do it to get back into high school basketball, because I thought it was a great avenue and I want to become a college coach someday. 

Three years go by, my kids are getting older, and my life is pretty much being a mom, teaching and coaching basketball. The job at St. John the Baptist opened and I spoke with their Athletic Director, and she pretty much hired me on the spot. It was the right fit for both parties. My daughter plays there now, and we won a championship in the Mack Sports Complex two years ago. It’s been such a whirlwind but it’s come full circle; my daughter got to play at Hofstra, as I coached, and she help us win a championship. It was an awesome experience for me across the board. 

How did your time as a student-athlete at Hofstra prepare you for life after college? 

Being a student-athlete taught me personal responsibility; you can’t miss practice, can’t miss games, can’t miss school. I preach to my athletes all the time that basketball is an amazing thing because you must rely on everyone and they rely on you. If you let one person down, you let the whole team down. That’s how teaching is; you can’t let your students down, or your colleagues down, and you have to show up and do your job. 

Coaching is the same way; you want dedication and determination to trickle down to your players. You want to get into that mindset of not missing practice or games, being responsible for getting yourself in a position for success. And that’s all-college athletics is, the “3 e’s” energy, effort and enthusiasm, putting in the time and dedication to your team, coaches and academics. I learned all of that at Hofstra. 

What does it mean to you to be a part of the Hofstra family? 

I would have to say it means everything. Thank God for social media – whether you like it or hate it – because I get to speak to my college friends all the time. It allows us to virtually come together and be with each other for good times and bad. Coming back for alumni days and stuff is an awesome component of why you did this in the first place and how you get treated so well. The idea that you’re there for each other and we have each other’s backs is so important. 

It’s being able to look back and say ‘wow, I remember doing that.’ Sometimes you forget, but you get that reminder when you get to see someone from school or you run into someone who’s local, and my son or daughter ask about it and I get to tell them a story. 

When my team had last played at Hofstra, the Hofstra basketball coaches had come down. I saw [Hofstra Athletic Director] Rick Cole Jr., who I’ve known for forever, and I met coach Santos. She messaged me after the game, which I thought was so nice. Recently, my other grandmother passed away, and the Hofstra women’s basketball team sent me flowers. That’s the Hofstra family! 

What is one piece of advice you would give to current Hofstra student-athletes? 

It would be what I tell my kids and my players, and that is to never settle. You can always do better, and you can always get better. Never settle for being mediocre or average, go out there and do more. And not just in basketball or athletics, anything you pursue in life.