Palmer, Stuebner Among 2022 Class of Legends of Ivy League Basketball
2/16/2022 12:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball, Athletics
Each Ivy institution is represented by one male and one female honoree
PRINCETON, N.J. — The Ivy League announced its 2022 Class of Legends of Ivy League Basketball today, and Dartmouth alumni Walter Palmer '90 and Sue Stuebner '93 were honored with their inclusion. This year's class was scheduled to be recognized in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the country. Each Ivy League institution is represented by one male and one female honoree, as selected by their athletics department.
One of the tallest players in Dartmouth history at 7-foot-1, Palmer averaged 10.4 points and 5.3 rebounds over 87 games for the Big Green thanks to a soft shooting touch, hitting 55 percent from the floor and 77 percent at the foul line. But his biggest contribution came on defense as a rim protector, blocking 225 shots in his career, which still ranks third in Ivy League history 30 years later. Palmer also swatted 12 shots as a sophomore against Harvard in the new Leede Arena's dedication game, setting another Ancient Eight record that still stands today. After earning All-Ivy League Second Team honors as a junior, he produced 16.6 points and 6.5 rebounds a night to go with 85 blocks as a senior captain and was selected First Team All-Ivy for the 1989-90 season.
Palmer parlayed his successful Big Green career into a professional one that lasted over a decade in the NBA and overseas. The 33rd overall pick in the 1990 NBA Draft, he played for a season each with the Utah Jazz and the Dallas Mavericks before spending 11 years in far-reaching places such as Italy, Spain, Argentina, France and Germany.
After concluding his professional playing career in 2003, Palmer remained in Europe to found three organizations focused on athletes' rights: SP.IN, a players association for the professional league in Germany; the European Elite Athletes Association, a federation of European athlete associations representing 34 organizations and over 25,000 top athletes; and the World Players Association, a global platform of player associations and unions with affiliates representing approximately 100,000 elite athletes from over 60 countries worldwide. In December of 2014, he joined the NBA Players Association as Deputy Executive Director of International Development and Marketing. In August 2018, Palmer returned to Hanover as the Director of Dartmouth for Life, designing, building, and implementing career, family, and wellness programming for alumni and their families. Since July 2021, he has served on the Board of Directors of the Centre for Sport and Human Rights based in Geneva, Switzerland.
Dartmouth has become quite the family affair for Palmer as his wife, Sandy Kopanon Palmer '91, all three of his children, two brothers, father, grandfather, two uncles and three cousins all graduated from or currently attend the institution. Both of his brothers also served as captains of the Big Green basketball team.
Stuebner has made quite a name for herself since serving as the starting center for the Big Green teams in the early 1990s. Currently in her sixth year as the president and professor of social sciences and education at Colby-Sawyer College in New London, New Hampshire, she has spent more than 25 years in higher education.
Stuebner began her career as an assistant women's basketball coach at Carleton College in her home state of Minnesota shortly after graduating from Dartmouth in 1993 with a degree in psychology. The following year, she was named the head coach at Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania, while working as an admissions counselor as well. From there, she earned master's and doctoral degrees from the Harvard Graduate School of Education while serving as a graduate assistant coach on the Crimson team that knocked off top-seeded Stanford as a 16-seed in the NCAA Tournament. Stuebner then built her career at small, private, tuition-dependent schools, such as Lycoming College for a decade in a variety of senior-level administrative positions. Prior to Colby-Sawyer, she was the executive vice president and chief operating officer at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania.
On the court at Dartmouth, Stuebner averaged over 20 minutes, 6.7 points and 5.7 rebounds in 96 career games, captaining the team as a junior and nearly averaging a double-double in Ivy play for the Big Green as a senior. She also helped Dartmouth win the Ivy League title by four games in the standings as a freshman and remains among the top dozen shot blockers in Big Green history.
Stuebner lives in New London with her spouse, Amanda, two children (Tyler and Gabrielle) and three dogs.
Each legend will be formally honored at the 2022 Ivy League Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments March 11-13 at Lavietes Pavilion in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A variety of ticket offerings are on sale now via IvyMadness.com.
One of the tallest players in Dartmouth history at 7-foot-1, Palmer averaged 10.4 points and 5.3 rebounds over 87 games for the Big Green thanks to a soft shooting touch, hitting 55 percent from the floor and 77 percent at the foul line. But his biggest contribution came on defense as a rim protector, blocking 225 shots in his career, which still ranks third in Ivy League history 30 years later. Palmer also swatted 12 shots as a sophomore against Harvard in the new Leede Arena's dedication game, setting another Ancient Eight record that still stands today. After earning All-Ivy League Second Team honors as a junior, he produced 16.6 points and 6.5 rebounds a night to go with 85 blocks as a senior captain and was selected First Team All-Ivy for the 1989-90 season.
Palmer parlayed his successful Big Green career into a professional one that lasted over a decade in the NBA and overseas. The 33rd overall pick in the 1990 NBA Draft, he played for a season each with the Utah Jazz and the Dallas Mavericks before spending 11 years in far-reaching places such as Italy, Spain, Argentina, France and Germany.
After concluding his professional playing career in 2003, Palmer remained in Europe to found three organizations focused on athletes' rights: SP.IN, a players association for the professional league in Germany; the European Elite Athletes Association, a federation of European athlete associations representing 34 organizations and over 25,000 top athletes; and the World Players Association, a global platform of player associations and unions with affiliates representing approximately 100,000 elite athletes from over 60 countries worldwide. In December of 2014, he joined the NBA Players Association as Deputy Executive Director of International Development and Marketing. In August 2018, Palmer returned to Hanover as the Director of Dartmouth for Life, designing, building, and implementing career, family, and wellness programming for alumni and their families. Since July 2021, he has served on the Board of Directors of the Centre for Sport and Human Rights based in Geneva, Switzerland.
Dartmouth has become quite the family affair for Palmer as his wife, Sandy Kopanon Palmer '91, all three of his children, two brothers, father, grandfather, two uncles and three cousins all graduated from or currently attend the institution. Both of his brothers also served as captains of the Big Green basketball team.
Stuebner has made quite a name for herself since serving as the starting center for the Big Green teams in the early 1990s. Currently in her sixth year as the president and professor of social sciences and education at Colby-Sawyer College in New London, New Hampshire, she has spent more than 25 years in higher education.
Stuebner began her career as an assistant women's basketball coach at Carleton College in her home state of Minnesota shortly after graduating from Dartmouth in 1993 with a degree in psychology. The following year, she was named the head coach at Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania, while working as an admissions counselor as well. From there, she earned master's and doctoral degrees from the Harvard Graduate School of Education while serving as a graduate assistant coach on the Crimson team that knocked off top-seeded Stanford as a 16-seed in the NCAA Tournament. Stuebner then built her career at small, private, tuition-dependent schools, such as Lycoming College for a decade in a variety of senior-level administrative positions. Prior to Colby-Sawyer, she was the executive vice president and chief operating officer at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania.
On the court at Dartmouth, Stuebner averaged over 20 minutes, 6.7 points and 5.7 rebounds in 96 career games, captaining the team as a junior and nearly averaging a double-double in Ivy play for the Big Green as a senior. She also helped Dartmouth win the Ivy League title by four games in the standings as a freshman and remains among the top dozen shot blockers in Big Green history.
Stuebner lives in New London with her spouse, Amanda, two children (Tyler and Gabrielle) and three dogs.
Each legend will be formally honored at the 2022 Ivy League Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments March 11-13 at Lavietes Pavilion in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A variety of ticket offerings are on sale now via IvyMadness.com.
Dartmouth AAPI Heritage Month Featuring Dartmouth Women's Rugby
Tuesday, May 26
Baseball Postgame vs. Manhattan - 5.3.2026
Sunday, May 03
Baseball Postgame vs. Manhattan - 5.2.26
Saturday, May 02
Baseball Postgame vs. Merrimack - 4.29.26
Wednesday, April 29
