The WBCA established the Wade Trophy, named for Margaret Wade, awarded annually to the NCAA Division I women's basketball player of the year.
On April 30, 1977, the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) established the Wade Trophy, named in honor of Margaret Wade, to be presented annually to the outstanding NCAA Division I women's basketball player of the year.
This honor came in direct recognition of Wade's unparalleled coaching achievements at Delta State University, where she had just completed an unprecedented three consecutive AIAW national championships. Naming the sport's premier individual player award after Wade was a landmark moment, signifying her status as one of the most influential figures in the history of women's basketball.
The Wade Trophy has since become one of the most prestigious individual honors in women's college basketball, awarded each year to the player who best exemplifies excellence both on the court and in academics and citizenship. Recipients over the decades have included some of the greatest names in the sport's history, each carrying forward the legacy that Wade established through her decades of dedication to the game.
The creation of an award bearing her name while she was still living represented a rare and profound honor, as most such tributes are established posthumously. It reflected the immediate and widely recognized impact Wade had on elevating women's collegiate basketball from a marginalized activity to a nationally respected sport, and it ensured that her name and legacy would be permanently woven into the fabric of the sport she helped transform.