Trailblazing star Molly Tuter of Soldotna left a lasting legacy on Alaska basketball

On the basketball court, there was almost nothing Molly Tuter couldn’t accomplish. And by the time her career ended, there was almost nothing Tuter hadn’t accomplished.

Tuter, a Soldotna High standout who was the first Alaskan to play in the WNBA, died on Sept. 6 at age 49. She was remembered as a trailblazer in Alaska girls basketball, a fierce and talented competitor with a work ethic that matched her desire to win.

Craig Jung had a front-row seat for many of Tuter’s heroics during the early part of her career as an all-state player at Soldotna High.

Jung, the longtime Kenai girls basketball coach, was on the opposing bench for some of Tuter’s most memorable matchups.

“She was a complete player,” Jung said. “She could defend. She was obviously a scorer, a rebounder. She was hard to defend in that she was a good ball handler, she could play on the perimeter. She had the size, she could go inside and play. So she was a matchup problem all over the floor.”

Tuter won a pair of Gatorade Player of the Year awards in 1992 and 1993 and led the Stars to their only state title in ‘93.

The early ‘90s represented a dynamic era for both Kenai Peninsula basketball and for smaller-school girls basketball in the Northern Lights Conference as schools outside Anchorage were regular contenders in the top division. Kenai won the 4A title in 1991, and two years later, Soldotna won its only title, knocking off the Kardinals in the title game.

“Back in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, that’s Kenai/Soldotna rivalry was very true and very real,” said Stacia Rustad, who competed against Tuter on the Kenai team. “The fact Soldotna got that title at a large-school state tournament, that’s a super big deal.”

Tuter played collegiately at Arizona State, a school in the highly competitive Pac-10. In that conference she played against Kenai’s Mendy Benson, who played at Oregon.

“Those two had just great, you know, great games against each other through the years,” Jung said. “Molly went to Arizona State, had a wonderful career. Mendy played in Oregon. So then they were playing against each other more years in the Pac-10. That was just a great era of basketball and Molly was at the top of that list of kids that made it so great.”

Tuter had a fabulous career at Arizona State that ran from 1994 to 1997. When she graduated, Tuter was third on ASU’s all-time scoring list with 1,374 career points. She was also second in career 3-point field goals (116) and steals (221) and fourth in field goals (504). She earned All-Pac-10 Honorable Mention recognition in 1996 and 1997, and was inducted into the ASU Hall of Fame in 2011.

“When I got to ASU, I could not have asked for a better leader and competitor than Molly Tuter to help transition the program back to a championship level. Our skilled and savvy southpaw was a Hall of Fame player and a Hall of Fame person,” former Sun Devil head coach Charli Turner Thorne said in a remembrance released by the school. “Taken too young, she will always be our wise soul who has left a legacy of dedication, integrity, and love.”

Following her career with ASU, Tuter signed a free agent contract with the Phoenix Mercury and played in the WNBA’s inaugural season in 1997. With the signing, she became the state’s first player to play in the fledgling league.

“That’s pioneer-worthy,” Rustad said. “We’re such a young state and only had a handful of girls go out and play college basketball (at that time). Just looking at what that meant for the state of Alaska, it set that pinnacle for girls in the state. She did it.”

Although her career in the WNBA was brief before she transitioned to coaching, Tuter helped open doors and preserve dreams for the next generation of Alaska athletes.

“That was a big thing for Alaska basketball,” Jung said. “A lot of young kids looked up to that and like, ’Hey, look at this. One of our Alaska girls is playing at the top level of basketball.’ ”

“One of the things that made that possible for Molly was not only her physical skills, but she was just competitive,” Jung said. “I mean, she was hard-nosed. She worked her tail off. She did whatever it took to get to that level. And you get that combination of physical tools and determination, that’s part of what made it possible.”

Both Jung and Rustad said they had last seen Tuter at the funeral for her former high school coach, Dan Gensel, who died in May 2023.

“When I saw her at Dan’s service last year, we got a chance to reconnect and visit a little bit,” Jung said.

Although no public cause of death has been disclosed, a GoFundMe set up for Tuter in August detailed that she had been flown to a Las Vegas hospital on Aug. 6 and was in the ICU in “guarded condition.” A fundraiser for Tuter at the Sand Bar and Grill in Bullhead City, Arizona, described her as an owner of the establishment. Tuter’s social media also said Bullhead City was her place of residence.