Tamera "Ty" Young (born October 30, 1986) is a former American

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 who is currently a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. After playing collegiately for

James Madison University James Madison University (JMU, Madison, or James Madison) is a public research university in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Founded in 1908 as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Harrisonburg, the institution was renamed Madison Coll ...

, Young was drafted by the

Atlanta Dream The Atlanta Dream are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded for the 2008 WNBA season. The team is owned by real ...

with the 8th overall pick of the

2008 WNBA Draft The WNBA draft is the league's annual process for determining which Women's National Basketball Association teams receive the rights to negotiate with players entering the league. The 2008 draft was held on April 9. A lottery was held on October ...

. She was traded to the

Chicago Sky The Chicago Sky are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Sky compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Eastern Conference. The franchise was founded prior to the 20 ...

, and led them to the

WNBA Finals The WNBA Finals are the championship series of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the conclusion of the league's postseason each fall. The series was named the WNBA Championship until 2002. Starting 2016 Verizon is the officia ...

in 2015, then came back to Atlanta, and was traded to the Aces in 2018.

Personal

Born in

Wilmington, North Carolina Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States. With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is the ...

, Tamera Young is the daughter of the late Greg Young and Lynda Nichols-Brown and John Brown. She has an older brother, A.J., and an older sister, Nikia. Her cousin, Willie Williams, was a cornerback for the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

and a 13-year NFL veteran (Steelers 1993–96, 2005;

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

1997–2003). Tamera is the all-time leading scorer at

Emsley A. Laney High School Emsley A. Laney High School is a public high school in Wilmington, North Carolina, United States. The school was named after Emsley Armfield Laney, a business and community leader for several decades in Wilmington. It is a part of New Hanover ...

, the same high school that produced

Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. His biography on the official NBA website states: "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the g ...

, where her number 11 jersey is retired. During her senior year she led the "Buccaneers to the 2004 Conference Championship. During her off-seasons she spends her time with her fiancée,

Mimi Faust Oluremi Fela Faust (née James), known professionally as Mimi Faust, is an American reality television personality who stars on the VH1 program '' Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta''. She first appeared as the long-time girlfriend of producer Stevie J. ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

raising awareness about

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

to which she lost her father on April 6, 2015.

College career

Tamera played collegiately at

in the

Colonial Athletic Association The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I whose full members are located in East Coast states from Massachusetts to South Carolina. Most of its members are public universi ...

. She set numerous records while in college, including the conference's all-time scoring record. As a senior, she led JMU to the third round of the 2008 WNIT, before ultimately losing to the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

James Madison statistics

Source

WNBA career

Young was drafted in the first round with the eighth overall pick in the

2008 WNBA draft The WNBA draft is the league's annual process for determining which Women's National Basketball Association teams receive the rights to negotiate with players entering the league. The 2008 draft was held on April 9. A lottery was held on October ...

by the expansion team

. In her first season with the Dream Tamera became the first player from

to play in the WNBA and wore the number 23 on her jersey. In her second season she switched to the number 11, which she wore in college. While playing for the Atlanta Dream, Young's per game averages included 8.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.2 steals, and 27.4 minutes a game. On August 12, 2009, Young was traded to the

in exchange for

Armintie Price Armintie Ada (Price) Herrington (born April 3, 1985) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Washington Mystics of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Price, who played collegiately at the Universit ...

. As a player, she averaged 40.5% in field goal accuracy, 27% in three-point accuracy, and averaged 6.8 PPG. On February 1, 2018, Young signed a contract with the

Las Vegas Aces The Las Vegas Aces are an American professional basketball team based in the Las Vegas Valley, Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Aces compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conferenc ...

Overseas career

During the 2008–2009 off-season, following her rookie year in the WNBA, Young went to Latvia and played for Cesis. For the 2009–2010 off-Season Young went to Turkey and played for Pankup. In 2010, she signed with Basket Landes in France for the 2010–2011 off-Season. Young signed to play for Istanbul University in Turkey for the 2011–2012 off-season. After the winter holidays she would sign with Maccabi Ashdod in Israel and go on to win the 2012 Israeli Cup and be named the MVP. In the 2014 off-season, Young joined the Brazilian championship, being teammate to various

players in América de Recife.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Tamera 1986 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Brazil American expatriate basketball people in China American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Israel American expatriate basketball people in Latvia American expatriate basketball people in Turkey American women's basketball players Atlanta Dream draft picks Atlanta Dream players Basketball players from North Carolina Chicago Sky players James Madison Dukes women's basketball players Las Vegas Aces players Shanxi Flame players Small forwards Sportspeople from Wilmington, North Carolina