Tammi Reiss (born April 2, 1970) is an American actress and former professional basketball player. She is currently the coach for the

University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of the state of Rhode Isla ...

. Reiss is a native of

New York state New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

. Reiss graduated from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

in 1992 with a major in sports management. As a professional, she was chosen in the first round of the first-ever WNBA draft, and she played for two years with the

Utah Starzz Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

Biography

Reiss was born in New York, and she attended Eldred Central School, a high-school in the area. Reiss began playing in her high-school's team as an eighth-grader. She led Eldred Central to a state championship in 1988, and finished her high school basketball career with 2,871 points scored. That total places her, as of 2014, in fifth place among New York state's all-time high school girls' scoring leaders. At Eldred Central, Reiss was coached by Ken Bjorn and Frank Kean, with boys' team coach Paul Tylawsky, a former basketball player with a Boston Celtics affiliate, also training her three times a week. Reiss became a fan of Magic Johnson, and her dad built her a home basketball court during this period, so that she could hone her skills in a safe environment. At Eldred, Reiss established a single-game New York state girls' basketball record by scoring 51 points in one contest. Reiss was also an accomplished runner during this period, her achievements in Track and Field including winning the state's Class D cross-country championship in 1983.

University of Virginia

Reiss received an athletic scholarship to the

and played from 1989 to 1992. There, she teamed up with Dawn Staley and twins

Heidi ''Heidi'' (; ) is a work of children's fiction published in 1881 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri, originally published in two parts as ''Heidi: Her Years of Wandering and Learning'' (german: Heidis Lehr- und Wanderjahre) and ''Heidi: How She Use ...

and

Heather Burge Heather Marie Quella ( née Burge; November 11, 1971) is a former professional basketball player and is the twin sister of Heidi (Burge) Horton. Early life Prior to starting high school, the Burge family moved to Palos Verdes Estates, California ...

. She was coached by Debbie Ryan. At the University of Virginia, Reiss became a three-time all American. During her stellar college career, she was a four time all league honoree, leading her team to the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Final Four three straight times while being named to the ACC women's championship all tournament squad twice, scoring 1,842 points and making 437 free throws (in both cases, placing in second place all time among women in the school's history) and scoring 139 three-point shots while making 41% of her shots from the three-point line, both of the latter all time school records for women's basketball. Reiss got interested in acting during her stint at the University of Virginia, and she took a Drama 101 class there.

After college and the WNBA

Frustrated at the lack of a women's professional basketball league in the United States, Reiss returned to her college as an assistant coach. After two years, however, the WNBA had formed and on April 28, 1997, Reiss was drafted with the 5th overall pick by the

. Reiss had been scouted by the Starzz after she received a telephone call from WNBA president

Val Ackerman Valerie B. Ackerman (born November 7, 1959) is an American sports executive, former lawyer, and former basketball player. She is the current commissioner of the Big East Conference. She is best known for being the first president of the Women's Na ...

, who invited her to attend a veteran tryout camp where WNBA teams would observe prospect players. The Starzz were impressed by her play. Reiss' debut WNBA game was played on June 21, 1997 in a 61 - 73 loss to the

Sacramento Monarchs The Sacramento Monarchs were a basketball team based in Sacramento, California. They played in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) from 1997 until folding on November 20, 2009. They played their home games at ARCO Arena. The Mona ...

where she recorded 16 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists (also having the most playing time of all of the players from both teams with 38 minutes and 56 seconds). She would sustain an sprained ankle injury on July 6, 1998, and although she recovered quickly, would get reinjured on July 11 and played on the Starzz' injured reserve list and miss 5 games. She would then be waived by the Starzz on June 9, 1999 as part of the final roster cuts before the 1999 season. Reiss played 50 games in her WNBA career, all 50 of them for the Starzz and had career averages of 7.2 points, 2.7 assists and 2.3 rebounds per game. Her final WNBA game was played on August 17, 1998 (only 14 months after her debut game) in a 64 - 75 loss to the Phoenix Mercury. Reiss recorded 1 point and 1 rebound in 15 minutes of playing time in her final game.

Coaching career

Reiss became assistant coach of the Starzz in 2001 and remained with the team through 2003 (staying with the team when it relocated to

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

as the San Antonio Silver Stars). In 2002, Reiss was selected to the ACC's 50th anniversary women's basketball team. In 2011, Reiss joined

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

as assistant coach of the Lady Aztecs basketball team. She helped direct the team to a sweep of the Mountain West regular season and championship, as well as a spot in the NCAA championship tournament. In 2013, Reiss joined the Cal State-Fullerton as one of their women's basketball team's assistant coaches. In 2015, Reiss joined the Syracuse staff as one of their women's basketball assistant coaches. On April 18, 2019, she was named the 9th head coach in

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...

women's basketball history.

Acting career

Reiss debuted as an actress in a 1999 episode of the television comedy, '' Sister Sister'' (''The Road Less Travelled''). In 2002, she played one of the main characters, Vicki Sanchez, in the feature comedy film, '' Juwanna Mann''. That same year, she played a coach in the made-for-television film '' Double Teamed''. She also appeared in '' Love and Basketball''.

Outside basketball

Reiss is an avid public speaker in the

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

area, where she became based after she was signed by the Starzz. In the 1998 off-season, Reiss joined the

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference, Northwest Division (NBA), ...

television broadcasting team. She also has a basketball camp and owns a business named Hoop Dreams, Inc, and one named T & R Management. Reiss has also worked as a personal trainer at

Gold's Gym Gold's Gym International, Inc. is an American chain of international co-ed fitness centers (commonly referred to as gyms) originally started by Joe Gold in Venice Beach, California. Each gym offers a variety of cardio and strength training equi ...

and as operations manager for ProTech.

WNBA statistics

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1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

, style="text-align:left;",

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

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1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

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, 22 , , 17 , , 21.7 , , .403 , , .296 , , .655 , , 1.8 , , 2.2 , , 0.5 , , 0.0 , , 1.1 , , 6.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", 2 years, 1 team , 50 , , 43 , , 26.2 , , .345 , , .297 , , .726 , , 2.3 , , 2.7 , , 0.7 , , 0.1 , , 1.7 , , 7.2

Head coaching record

References

External links

Rhode Island Rams bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reiss, Tammi 1970 births Living people Actresses from New York City All-American college women's basketball players American women's basketball coaches American women's basketball players Basketball coaches from New York (state) Basketball players from New York City Virginia Cavaliers women's basketball coaches Rhode Island Rams women's basketball coaches San Diego State Aztecs women's basketball coaches Syracuse Orange women's basketball coaches Utah Starzz draft picks Utah Starzz players Virginia Cavaliers women's basketball players