Michele Van Gorp (born May 10, 1977) is a former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player in the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the Natio ...

(WNBA), most recently with the

Minnesota Lynx The Minnesota Lynx are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team won the WNBA title in 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017. Founded pr ...

Early career

After attending Chippewa Valley High School in

Clinton Township, Michigan Clinton is the name of some places in the U.S. state of Michigan: * Clinton County, Michigan * Clinton Township, Macomb County, Michigan * Clinton, Lenawee County, Michigan, village * Clinton Township, Lenawee County, Michigan * Clinton Township, O ...

, Van Gorp played collegiate basketball at

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

during her freshman and sophomore years, but transferred to

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

alongside Nicole Erickson for her junior and senior years. She was the tallest woman to suit up in a Duke uniform. She led Duke to the school's first NCAA final, which took place in San Jose, and in which the Blue Devils were beaten 62-45 by Purdue. She was inducted to the Duke Athletics Hall of Fame in 2002.

Purdue and Duke statistics

Source

USA Basketball

Van Gorp competed with

USA Basketball USA Basketball (USAB) is a non-profit organization and the governing body for basketball in the United States. The organization represents the United States in FIBA and the men's and women's national basketball teams in the United States Olympi ...

as a member of the 1997 Jones Cup Team that won the silver medal in

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

. Several of the games were close, with the USA team winning four games by six points or fewer, including an overtime game in the semifinal match against Japan. The gold medal game against South Korea was also close, but the USA fell 76–71 to claim the silver medal for the event. Van Gorp was the leading scorer in the game against Thailand, with 19 points and averaged 6.3 points per game over the course of the tournament.

WNBA career

The first Duke student athlete to be selected in the WNBA's draft in 1999, she was selected in the second round, being the 18th overall pick. Van Gorp was traded to Portland after her rookie season, where she improved her personal averages and gained confidence in her game. After only one year with the Portland Fire she was traded to the Minnesota Lynx alongside Lynn Pride. With the Lynx, Van Gorp gained recognition as one of the league's toughest defenders and an effective weapon to help "shut down" Margo Dydek. She missed most of the 2004 season due to a

stress fracture A stress fracture is a fatigue-induced bone fracture caused by repeated stress over time. Instead of resulting from a single severe impact, stress fractures are the result of accumulated injury from repeated submaximal loading, such as running or ...

in her left foot that occurred during a practice session. Surgeons had to insert a screw into the

navicular bone The navicular bone is a small bone found in the feet of most mammals. Human anatomy The navicular bone in humans is one of the tarsal bones, found in the foot. Its name derives from the human bone's resemblance to a small boat, caused by the ...

of her foot. Van Gorp's contract with the Lynx had expired after the 2004 WNBA season ended, but she was still too injured to play for the 2005 seaso

Van Gorp was one of the first WNBA athletes to disclose to the media that she was in a same-sex relationship during her playing career.

WNBA career statistics

Regular season

, - , align="left" , 1999 WNBA season, 1999 , align="left" ,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, 21 , , 0 , , 5.6 , , .333 , , .000 , , .800 , , 0.8 , , 0.3 , , 0.0 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 1.0 , - , align="left" ,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

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Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

, 28 , , 1 , , 7.1 , , .500 , , .000 , , .543 , , 1.5 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 1.1 , , 2.5 , - , align="left" ,

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

, align="left" ,

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, 22 , , 8 , , 11.0 , , .375 , , .000 , , .550 , , 1.5 , , 0.5 , , 0.1 , , 0.3 , , 0.8 , , 1.9 , - , align="left" ,

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, align="left" ,

, 22 , , 13 , , 16.0 , , .456 , , .286 , , .727 , , 2.9 , , 0.6 , , 0.3 , , 0.5 , , 0.9 , , 4.5 , - , align="left" ,

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, align="left" ,

, 31 , , 1 , , 17.0 , , .432 , , .000 , , .673 , , 3.5 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 0.6 , , 1.8 , , 5.6 , - , align="left" ,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, align="left" ,

, 8 , , 0 , , 8.3 , , .474 , , .000 , , .500 , , 1.6 , , 0.1 , , 0.0 , , 0.1 , , 0.9 , , 2.8 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , 6 years, 2 teams , 132 , , 23 , , 11.4 , , .436 , , .200 , , .627 , , 2.1 , , 0.4 , , 0.2 , , 0.3 , , 1.0 , , 3.2

Playoffs

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, 3 , , 0 , , 10.3 , , .286 , , .000 , , .625 , , 0.3 , , 1.0 , , 0.3 , , 1.0 , , 1.3 , , 3.0 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , 1 year, 1 team , 3 , , 0 , , 10.3 , , .286 , , .000 , , .625 , , 0.3 , , 1.0 , , 0.3 , , 1.0 , , 1.3 , , 3.0

International career

Van Gorp also played in Europe for the following teams: *

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

(1999) *

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

(2000) * CJM Bourges (2000) - Euroleague winner *

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (russian: МГО ВФСО «Динамо»), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (russian: Динамо Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first ...

(2003) *

Ros Casares Valencia Ros Casares Godella was a professional women's basketball team based in Godella, Spain. It played in the Liga Femenina de Baloncesto between 1996 and 2012, when it resigned to play in EuroLeague and Spanish League. It continued playing in Primera ...

(2004) * Nantes-Reze (2008)

After WNBA

According to a December 1, 2005, news article from the ''

Minneapolis Star-Tribune Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

'', Van Gorp filed a

medical malpractice Medical malpractice is a legal cause of action that occurs when a medical or health care professional, through a negligent act or omission, deviates from standards in their profession, thereby causing injury or death to a patient. The negligen ...

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

in Hennepin County District Court against a member of the Lynx's medical staff and three other parties. The suit named Dr. Joel Boyd, the team's orthopedic surgeon; Dr. Fernando Pena; Fairview-University Medical Center; and Orthopaedic Center as defendants. Van Gorp was reported to be seeking at least $50,000 for negligence and loss of employment. After leaving the WNBA, Van Gorp was reported to be the assistant coach of

Glens Falls, New York Glens Falls is a city in Warren County, New York, United States and is the central city of the Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 14,700 at the 2010 census. The name was given by Colonel Johannes Glen, the falls refe ...

high school girls basketball team. In June 2007,

Colgate University Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York. The college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York and operated under that name until 1823, when it was renamed Hamilton Theologi ...

in upstate New York announced that Van Gorp had been appointed as an assistant coach of its women's basketball tea

Van Gorp currently works in recruiting with the Duke Women's Basketball program in Durham, NC, and is also taking business school coursework.

References

External links

WNBA.com: Michele Van Gorp Player Info
{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Gorp, Michele 1977 births Living people All-American college women's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Greece American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in Russia American expatriate basketball people in Spain American women's basketball coaches American women's basketball players American lesbian sportswomen Basketball players from Michigan Centers (basketball) Duke Blue Devils women's basketball players LGBT basketball players LGBT people from Michigan Minnesota Lynx players New York Liberty draft picks New York Liberty players Panathinaikos WBC players Parade High School All-Americans (girls' basketball) Sportspeople from Mount Clemens, Michigan Portland Fire players Purdue Boilermakers women's basketball players