Nebraska, 1993
• 1991 Academic All-America® First Team
• 1992 Academic All-America® First Team
• 1992 Academic All-America® of the Year - Women's Basketball
• 1993 Academic All-America® First Team
• 1993 Academic All-America® of the Year - Women's Basketball
Karen Jennings was inducted into the CoSIDA Academic All-America® Hall of Fame in 2008.
Persia, Iowa native Karen Jennings was a standout All-American on the basketball court and in the classroom at the University of Nebraska. As a starter from 1989 until 1993, Jennings had the best women’s basketball career in Cornhusker history. She owned the career scoring record with 2,405 points and tallied 1,000 rebounds in four years. Jennings junior season will go down in history as the best individual season in Cornhusker history. She averaged 25.3 points per game and 10 rebounds per game while leading Nebraska to a 21-victory season. As a senior, she led the Cornhuskers to the second round of the NCAA tournament, helping post the first tournament win in school history.
A three-time Academic All-American (1991, 1992, 1993) and two-time Academic All-America of the Year (1992, 1993), Jennings also won the 1993 Wade Trophy, awarded to college basketball’s national player of the year. She received the Big Eight Player of the Year Award in both 1992 and 1993 and was a three-time first-team All-Big Eight selection. Jennings was also recognized for her academic achievements, receiving an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship in 1993 and a Rawlings Postgraduate Scholarship. She was also a finalist for the NCAA Woman of the Year.
Jennings earned her bachelor’s degree in exercise physiology from Nebraska in 1993 and then played professional basketball in France for a year. She returned to Nebraska and received her master’s degree in physical therapy from the university in 1998. Jennings served as a physical therapist at Methodist Hospital in Omaha, NE and kinesiology professor at University College of Healing Arts from 1998-2002. She worked as a realtor and is involved in community service for AIDS and arthritis research.
Jennings was the second Cornhusker student-athlete to be inducted into the CoSIDA Academic All-American Hall of Fame, joining football star Dave Rimington. She was the first ever Cornhusker women’s basketball player to have her jersey (No. 51) retired and in 2000 was named the captain of Nebraska’s All-Century Team.