Debbie Antonelli, Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer and Alumna, Will Address 2023 Graduates

NC State will celebrate the class of 2023 during its fall commencement ceremony at PNC Arena on Saturday, Dec. 16 at 9 a.m. Debbie Antonelli, a two-time Emmy Award-winning basketball analyst and NC State alumna, will deliver the commencement address.

During the ceremony, Chancellor Randy Woodson will confer honorary degrees on Dr. Amadou A. Sall, a virologist and the CEO of the Institut Pasteur de Dakar, and Jim Owens, a philanthropist, NC State alumnus and former CEO of Caterpillar Inc. The ceremony will also feature remarks from Miracle Holder, who is graduating with a bachelor of science and minors in nutrition, Africana studies and Spanish.

For more than three decades, Antonelli has covered women’s college basketball for ESPN and CBS, as well as the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament. Debbie is a decorated NC State athlete and played for Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Coach Kay Yow in four NCAA Tournaments and two Sweet Sixteens as a shooting guard. In 2021, Debbie was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame and in 2022 was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. She earned dual bachelor’s degrees from NC State in business management and economics. She also holds a master’s degree in sports administration from Ohio University.

In addition to her career in broadcasting, Debbie served as the director of marketing for the University of Kentucky and The Ohio State University. Inspired by her son, a Special Olympics athlete, Debbie founded a fundraiser called “24 Hours Nothing But Net,” a 24-hour free-throw shooting marathon in which she makes 100 free throws every hour. In the last five years, “Team Antonelli” has raised more than $847,000 for the Special Olympics and hopes to cross the $1 million mark in May 2024.