First women in each Hall of Fame

In 2006, Manley became the first woman to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Along with her husband, Abe, Manley owned the Newark Eagles of the Negro League from 1935-46 and on her own following his death. A civil rights activist, Manley also fought for compensation for team owners that ultimately led to the same for players.  

In 1985, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame honored three true pioneers of the game. Before the NCAA started to oversee women's college hoops in 1982, Wade's Delta State Lady Statesmen, from Mississippi, won three straight Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) national titles in the 1970s. Abbott is credited with organizing the first women's game at Smith College in 1893, while Teague won eight Oklahoma girls prep state championships during her 42-year coaching career that began in 1927.

Wade, Abbott and Teague were also part of the 25-member inaugural class of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. That group included the likes of USC star Cheryl Miller; Lusia Harris-Stewart, who played for Wade at Delta State; Nancy Lieberman; and late Tennessee coaching legend Pat Summitt. Also part of the class was Anne Donovan (pictured), the legendary player and coach, who recently died of heart failure at age 56.

A four-time world champion, Coo is considered the most decorated athlete in any sport from the Philippines. Joining Coo in 1993 as the first women inducted into the International Bowling Hall of Fame was Sweden's Hagre Johannesson, who won the Bowling World Cup and World Masters titles, both in 1987. 

It's hard to top this first class of the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame, which also included the French pairs couple Andree Joly and Pierre Brunet. Henie was a three-time Olympic champion (1928, '32 and '63), Albright won Olympic gold in 1956, Heiss won in it 1960 and Fleming (pictured) did the same in '68.

Though no women have been enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Visser was the first female to be recognized by the Hall when she received the 2006 Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award for her coverage of professional football. In addition to reporting on the NFL, Visser has covered the Final Four, NBA Finals, World Series and the Olympics, among others.

Before becoming part of the World Golf Hall of Fame, the LPGA created the Women's Hall of Fame in 1951. That four-women class featured 15-time major winner Patty Berg (pictured), three-time major winner Betty Jameson, two-time U.S. Open winner Louise Suggs and 10-time major champ Babe Didrikson Zaharias.

James and Granato made history in 2010 when they became the first females enshrined into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Considered the "Wayne Gretzky of her Era," James led Canada to three World Championship titles in 1992, '94 and '97. Granato, meanwhile, captained the U.S. women to Olympic gold in 1998 and was part of the team that took silver four years later. She had 186 goals and 157 assists as a national team member.

Considered the "First Lady of Racing," Smith was one of the first women to compete in an elite-level NASCAR event. Legend has it, Smith went to watch her first race at Daytona in the late 1940s and ended up driving her husband's Ford Coupe in the race. Inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1999, Smith won 38 races in four divisions. Following her retirement, she became a race car owner.

The do-it-all Rosenfeld, who also played basketball, hockey and tennis, won gold as a member of Canada's 4x100-meter relay team and silver in the 100 at the 1928 Olympics. Dubbed "Best Canadian Female Athlete of the Half-Century," Rosenfeld followed her successful athletic career by working in the sports department of Toronto's Globe and Mail newspaper, where her work appeared up until 1966.

Wilma Rudolph (pictured), Babe Didrikson Zaharias and Peggy Fleming were all part of the inaugural U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame class. Before Zaharias became one of the world's top golfers, she set a world record in the 80-meter hurdles and an Olympic mark in the javelin at the 1932 Games. Overcoming several illnesses as a child, Rudolph was the first U.S. woman to win three gold medals at one Olympics: the 100, 200 and 4x100 relay in 1960. 

It took a while, but women finally made it into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2017. Wanda Harper Bush and Charmayne James led the way as barrel racers from the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association and were inducted into the Hall. Named the WPRA Pioneer Woman of the Year for 1998, Bush won nine all-around Girls Rodeo Association titles. No woman has won more barrel racing championships than James, who never lost a WPRA title from a 1984-93. She retired in 2003 following her 11th WPRA World Barrel Racing Championship crown.

Captain of the U.S. squad that won the first Women's World Cup in 1991, Heinrichs recorded 35 goals in 46 international appearances. She then coached the American women to a silver medal at the 2000 Olympics and gold in 2004. Heinrichs was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1998.

In 2005, Jenkins became the first woman inducted into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame. A former writer for Sports Illustrated and current columnist at The Washington Post, Jenkins was tabbed the country's best sports columnist in 2001, '03, '10 and '11 by the Associated Press Sports Editors. She's also authored 12 books, four of which were New York Times bestsellers, including two on cyclist Lance Armstrong.

Included among the inaugural class of the International Swimming Hall of Fame were U.S. diver Pat McCormick and American swimmer Gertrude Ederle (pictured). McCormick won gold at the 1952 and '56 Olympics. Ederle was a five-time world-record holder and the first woman to swim across the English Channel in 1926. 

Just shy of her 18th birthday, Sutton won the 1904 U.S. National Women’s singles championship at the event known now as the U.S. Open. One year later, she became the first American to win the Wimbledon singles title. Sutton, who won at Wimbledon again in 1907, was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1956. 

Those Olympic contributions from Zaharias (pictured) and Rudolph also earned them membership into the first class of the National Track & Field Hall of Fame in 1974. When all was said and done, Rudolph won four Olympic medals before retiring to become an educator, coach and civil rights activist. Zaharias won a pair of golds and a silver in the high jump at the 1932 Olympics.

Rousey was one of the most popular figures in mixed martial arts — male or female. An Olympic bronze medalist in judo at the 2008 Games, Rousey went 12-0 to begin her career and successfully defended her bantamweight title a record six straight times from 2013-15 while becoming one of the sport's top pay-per-view draws.

Hyman (pictured) and Ward were part of the third class inducted into the International Volleyball Hall of Fame. A three-time All-American at the University of Houston, Hyman captained the U.S. Olympic team to a silver medal in 1984. The most recognizable women's volleyball player of the 1970s and '80s, Hyman died in 1986 at age 31 as the result of an undetected condition known as Marfan syndrome. Ward was a member of the American Olympic team in 1964 and '68 and won gold with the U.S. at the 1967 Pan Am Games.

Before the advent of WWE, Moolah was the most prominent female wrestler in the country. She won the NWA World Women's title in 1956. When she made her way to the WWE — then known as WWF — in the 1980s, Moolah's popularity increased as she clashed with singer, and Lou Albano sidekick, Cyndi Lauper. Inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 1995, The Fabulous Moolah, in 1999 at 76, became the oldest wrestler to hold a title belt, though she's has been a source of controversy in 2018 after allegations came to light that she sexually and financially exploited other female wrestlers she trained from the 1950s through the 1980s.