How Caitlin Clark battled through culture wars en route to historic 2024

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The popularity of women's basketball, and women's sports in general, skyrocketed in 2024, and it is without a doubt that Caitlin Clark can be thanked for that.

Not only was Clark the most popular female athlete over the last 12 months, Time named her their Athlete of the Year, a title held by worldwide stars like Lionel Messi, LeBron James, Simone Biles, Serena Williams and Tiger Woods in recent years.

Clark began the year at the back end of her record-breaking college ball career. As a senior at Iowa, she was several months removed from losing the national championship to Angel Reese and the LSU Tigers, where Reese's "You Can't See Me" taunt was the unofficial start of a rivalry both on and off the court (although Clark, herself, will tell you there's no such thing between them).

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Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever talks to the media during an introductory press conference on April 17, 2024, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. (Ron Hoskins/NBAE via Getty Images)

In any case, the gesture prompted plenty of discussion, which turned into further culture wars this summer with Clark as a WNBA player. That, though, did not come before she set the NCAA record (both men and women) for most points scored in a college career and another national championship appearance.

In April, she was the No. 1 overall pick and practically just as she stepped on a WNBA court, the conversation began about whether her popularity was due to her race. In fact, it was a claim that WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson had made, saying Clark being White was a "huge thing" when it came to Clark's popularity.

Throughout the