BATON ROUGE — LSU women's basketball player Sylvia Fowles will become the second female athlete in school history to have a statue on campus, the university announced Wednesday. 

Fowles will join four other former players—Bob Pettit, Shaquille O’Neil, Pete Maravich and Seimone Augustus—outside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. 

“Thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Fowles said in a prepared statement. “It is such a privilege and an honor, and I don't take this recognition from LSU lightly. It says a lot to be recognized for all my hard work, and I wouldn’t appreciate it the way that I do if I didn't accomplish it on LSU’s campus. Thank you to everyone who made this happen.”

In 2017, she became the 12th LSU athlete to have their jersey retired. She was inducted into the LSU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2025, was a two-time All-America center at LSU, and she led the Tigers to four consecutive Final Four appearances from 2005 through 2008. She was the 2008 National Defensive Player of the Year and the SEC Player of the Year, and she earned All-SEC honors in each of her final three seasons. 

Fowles is also a three-time Olympic gold medalist, helping lead Team USA to titles in 2008 at Beijing, in 2012 at London, in 2016 at Rio and in 2020 at Tokyo. 

“Sylvia Fowles is one of the greatest players, not only at LSU, but in the history of our game,” LSU coach Kim Mulkey said in a news release. “This honor is something that is extremely well-earned. She is one of the most significant ambassadors that this university has and what she did for this program and LSU deserves to be recognized permanently. I am proud that we can honor Sylvia with a statue on campus, giving our fans a lasting symbol that celebrates her remarkable legacy.”

Fowles graduated in 2009 and established school career records for rebounds (1,570), blocked shots (321), free throws made (494) and free throws attempted. She was the first-round draft choice of the WNBA’s Chicago Sky in 2008.