Ronda Jo Miller (born 21 April 1978) is a retired American professional deaf female basketball and volleyball player. She is one of the few deaf women basketball players to have tried out for WNBA. Miller is the first deaf woman to make an attempt to play in the WNBA league in 2005. However, she did not make the team.

Biography

Ronda Jo Miller was born profoundly deaf in

Little Falls, Minnesota Little Falls is a city in Morrison County, Minnesota, United States, near the geographic center of the state. Established in 1848, Little Falls is one of the oldest European-American cities in Minnesota. It is the county seat of Morrison County. ...

. As a child she played basketball with her brother, Robert using a hoop nailed to a shed next to their barn. She attended the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf and at the Metro Deaf School. She graduated at

Gallaudet University Gallaudet University ( ) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing. It was founded in 1864 as a grammar school for both deaf and blind children. It was the first sc ...

in 2001.

Career

She made her Deaflympic debut at the

1997 Summer Deaflympics The 1997 Summer Deaflympics ( da, 1997 Sommer Deaflympics), officially known as the 18th Summer Deaflympics ( da, 18. Sommer Deaflympics), was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from 13 July to 26 July 1997 in Copenhagen, Den ...

as part of the US deaf basketball team that claimed the gold medal. She then became the member of the US deaf volleyball team and clinched silver and bronze medals at the

2001 Summer Deaflympics The 2001 Summer Deaflympics ( it, Olimpiadi estive 2001 per non udenti), officially known as the 19th Summer Deaflympics ( it, 19° Olimpiadi estive per sordi), is an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from July 16 to August 1, 20 ...

and

2005 Summer Deaflympics The 2005 Summer Deaflympics, officially known as the 20th Summer Deaflympics, is an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from 5 January to 16 January 2005 in Melbourne, Australia. Bidding process A bid for the games was held on 9 ...

respectively. Apart from her Deaflympic career, she had a historic stint with

women's basketball team, scoring over 1000 points for Bison. In 1997, she was nominated for the ICSD Deaf Sportswoman of the Year award for her performance in the basketball event at the 1997 Summer Deaflympics. She was inducted into the Gallaudet Athletics Hall of Fame in 2008. She retired from international basketball competitions in 2014.

References

1978 births Living people American women's basketball players American women's volleyball players Deaf basketball players American deaf people Gallaudet University alumni People from Little Falls, Minnesota Deaf volleyball players 21st-century American women {{US-volleyball-bio-stub