For Tresa Spaulding Hamson, legendary BYU hoops career always trailed behind family

PROVO — It’s entirely possible there will never be another women’s basketball player at BYU quite like Tresa Spaulding Hamson, the former three-time All-American and nation’s top scorer in 1987 whose 2,309 career points rank second-most in program history.

At the very least, no one will ever wear her jersey number.

Hamson became the third BYU women’s basketball player to have her jersey retired and hung in the rafters of the Marriott Center during halftime of the Cougars’ game against Arizona State, a honor that was well-deserved and a long-time coming for the former 6-foot-7 center from Meridian, Idaho, who settled in Utah County with her husband, David, and has sent four children on to play for the Cougars.

Hamson’s No. 54 jersey joins Cougar legends Tina Gunn Robison (44) and Jackie Beene McBride (22) as the only BYU women’s basketball players to have their numbers hang in the rafters.

But for Hamson, who also won two gold medals with Team USA at the World University Games in 1983 and 1985, the imperative celebration included each of her children, including youngest daughter Heather who is a junior on the current team.

“It’s very rewarding to me, as an athlete, as a parent and as a mother, to see my jersey in the rafters,” said Hamson, who lives in Lindon. “It’s an amazing opportunity.”

For all of her accomplishments — and there were plenty for the former star who earned Women’s Basketball Yearbook Freshman All-America first-team honors in 1983 and went on to graduate as the school’s all-time leader in field-goal percentage (60.9%), blocked shots (494) and blocks per game (4.62) — Hamson cherishes her role as a wife and mother perhaps even more.

 

It’s also been the harder role she’s had on the basketball court — “by far,” she says with a laugh — to learn to sit on the sidelines and support her children. Not coach them, not pick apart every detail, not argue with the refs (well, maybe a little, she admits). Just support.

“I had a coach tell me years ago that my position has changed,” Hamson said. “I’m not a coach anymore with my girls when they play. I’m a support; my job is to love them, to support them, and to encourage them to do the best that they can. I thought that was really good advice.”

Years after leaving the game behind following two seasons overseas, Hamson returned to basketball when her oldest daughter, Jennifer, decided to pick up her mom’s sport on a whim.

Hamson recalled putting together a recreational team at the last minute, coaching her 6-foot-7 daughter who also excelled in volleyball with a group of friends to “give them a little experience” before joining the high school team at Pleasant Grove.

Jennifer Hamson went on to an All-American career of her own from 2010-14, when she represented BYU in both basketball and volleyball before being drafted in the second round of the 2014 WNBA draft by the Los Angeles Sparks and also spent four years playing overseas.

Hamson’s next daughter, Sara, played for BYU from 2017-22 and finished second all-time in career blocks with 472 — that’s 22 shy of her mother’s record — before her own pro career in Australia and Romania.

One of her sons, the 7-foot-2 Alan, spent a year with the BYU men’s basketball team before retiring from the sport. And then there’s Heather, a BYU junior who scored a career-high 11 points on Jan. 11 against then-No. 12 Kansas State while working on a master’s in athletic training.

Along the way, Hamson has been a quiet support for third-year coach Amber Whiting.

“She’ll come watch practice a lot,” Whiting said. “I got to be on the call when we told her we were retiring her jersey; that’s been a long time coming.

“But she’s also raised some amazing young women. Being able to coach Heather, she’s everything you want in a teammate and anything else. That proves to me who she is on the court, but also off the court in the type of people she’s raising.”

One of Hamson’s favorite memories came when Jen led the BYU women’s volleyball team to the national championship, and then guided basketball to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

“There were fans at Nebraska saying, ‘Does she play any more sports?'” Hamson said of her daughter with a chuckle.

“They weren’t very happy to see another Hamson,” she added.” But those were great memories, great opportunities, and the kinds of things that give moms the warm fuzzies.”

After Heather graduates, there won’t be another Hamson at BYU — not from the current generation, that is. And there will never be another to wear the No. 54 jersey.