Julie Franken (2004) - JMU Athletics Hall of Fame - James Madison University Athletics

Julie Franken

Induction:
2004
Class:
1987

Julie Franken helped lead the JMU women's basketball team to its first-ever Top 20 national ranking, two CAA championships (1986, 1987) and two trips to the NCAA "Sweet 16" (1986, 1987). Franken earned All-America recognition by the American Women's Sports Federation in 1986 and by Blue Ribbon Yearbook in 1987 (preseason), and she played on the silver-medalist East Team at the 1985 U.S. Olympic Festival.

She was a versatile player capable of playing both small and power forward positions and was also used as the second guard on her Olympic Festival team. She finished her career with 1,091 points and a then-school record 825 rebounds. The Columbus, Ohio, native is one of only three players in JMU history to have career totals of more than 1,000 points and 800 rebounds.

At the time of her induction, her rebounding total ranked second on JMU's career list, and she is among JMU's career leaders in game appearances (120), free throws (285), consecutive games started (90), rebounding average (6.9), blocked shots (45) and field goal percentage (47.6%). One of the best passing forwards in JMU history, she handed out 201 career assists.