Yolanda Evette Griffith (born March 1, 1970) is an American 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 ...

hall of fame player who played in both the ABL and WNBA. A former

WNBA MVP The Women's National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player (MVP) is an annual Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) award given since the league's inaugural season -- 1997. MVP voting takes place immediately following the regular s ...

, she is considered one of the greatest rebounders and defensive players in the history of

Women's Basketball Women's basketball is the team sport of basketball played by women. It began being played in 1892, one year after men's basketball, at Smith College in Massachusetts. It spread across the United States, in large part via women's college compet ...

. She last played in the WNBA as a member of the

Indiana Fever The Indiana Fever are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded before the 2000 season began. The team is owned ...

. In 2011, she was voted in by fans as one of the top 15 players in WNBA history. She is sometimes called by her nicknames: "Yo" and "Yo-Yo". Since retiring from the professional ranks, Griffith was as assistant coach at the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

. She is currently an assistant coach with the Boston College Eagles. Griffith was inducted into the 2014

Women's Basketball Hall of Fame The Women's Basketball Hall of Fame honors those who have contributed to the sport of women's basketball. The Hall of Fame opened in 1999 in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. It is the only facility of its kind dedicated to all levels of women's bask ...

's class on her first year of eligibility.

High school and college

Born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Illinois, she attended George Washington Carver High School in the Chicago area. In her senior year (1988–1989), she was named in ''

Parade Magazine ''Parade'' was an American nationwide Sunday newspaper magazine, distributed in more than 700 newspapers in the United States until 2022. The most widely read magazine in the U.S., ''Parade'' had a circulation of 32 million and a readership of 5 ...

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n basketball team, as well as first team All-America in softball. She was offered a

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarsh ...

to play for the women's basketball team at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

, but had to cancel it after she gave birth to her daughter, Candace. Afterward, she attended Palm Beach Junior College in

Lake Worth, Florida Lake Worth Beach, previously named Lake Worth, is a city in east-central Palm Beach County, Florida, United States, located about north of Miami. The city's name is derived from the body of water along its eastern border known as the Lake Worth ...

, where she earned Junior College All-America honors in 1990-91. She later transferred to

Florida Atlantic University Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, and satellite campuses in Dania Beach, Florida, Dania Beach, Davie, Florida, Davie, Fort Lauderd ...

, which was then a Division II school, where she graduated in 1993, earning Kodak Division II Player of the Year honors. While in school, she supported herself and her daughter by working for a car repossession company.

American Basketball League

In 1997, she joined the American Basketball League (ABL) after playing pro basketball in Germany. Griffith was selected by the

Long Beach Stingrays The Long Beach Stingrays was a women's professional basketball team. It existed for only the 1997–98 season, and was a member of the American Basketball League (ABL). The Stingrays played most of their home games at the Walter Pyramid on the ...

as the number one pick overall in the ABL players draft. In their only season, Griffith led the Stingrays to the brink of the ABL title, only to lose to the defending champions, the

Columbus Quest The Columbus Quest was a professional women's basketball franchise located in Columbus, Ohio in the now-defunct American Basketball League (ABL). They were one of the league's original eight teams that started play in 1996. In the league's b ...

. Griffith was named the 1997–1998 ABL Defensive Player of the Year and to the All-ABL first team. She finished second in the ABL's 1998 Most Valuable Player voting to her future

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

teammate

Natalie Williams Natalie Jean Williams (born November 30, 1970) is an American basketball executive and former player in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Williams was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016. She was also an acc ...

. When the Long Beach franchise folded after the end of the 1997–98 season, she was dealt to the expansion

Chicago Condors The Chicago Condors were a very short-lived member of the American Basketball League (ABL). Their hometown was much larger than usual for the ABL, which mainly targeted mid-market cities, and initial team merchandising was successful. The team a ...

, in her hometown. She played there only briefly, however, as the league folded on December 22, 1998. Prior to that, Griffith ranked fifth among league leaders in scoring (17.2 ppg), first in rebounding (12.3 rpg), 19th in assists (2.6 apg), second in steals (3.3 spg), and second in blocked shots (1.3 bpg).

WNBA career

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 ...

selected Griffith as the no. 2 overall draft pick in the 1999 WNBA Draft. She is a seven-time WNBA All-Star, and won the WNBA's

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

, Newcomer of the Year and Defensive Player awards in 1999. In 2001, Griffith set the WNBA single-season record for most offensive rebounds with 162. In 2005, the Monarchs won their first WNBA title over the

Connecticut Sun The Connecticut Sun are an American professional basketball team based in Uncasville, Connecticut that competes in the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was established ...

, three games to one in a best-of-five series. Griffith was named Finals MVP. On April 8, 2008, after nine seasons with the

, Griffith signed with the

Seattle Storm The Seattle Storm are an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The Storm competes in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was founded by Ginger Ackerl ...

. On February 20, 2009, Griffith signed with the

, after a one-year stint with the Storm. On June 9, 2009, Griffith tore her

achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcaneus (h ...

in a game against the

, her former team. She was out for the season, and since she retired at the end of the season, it ended her career. In 2011, she was voted in by fans as one of the top 15 players in the fifteen-year history of the WNBA. In 2016, Griffith was once again honoured by the WNBA in the

WNBA Top 20@20 WNBA Top 20@20 are the Women's National Basketball Association's Top 20 Players of All Time, chosen in 2016 on the occasion of the twentieth season of the WNBA from amongst 60 nominees compiled by the league. The group was to comprise the 20 best a ...

in celebration of the league's 20th season.

WNBA career statistics

Regular season

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, 29 , , 29 , , 33.8 , , .451 , , .000 , , .617 , , style="background:#D3D3D3", 11.3° , , 1.6 , , style="background:#D3D3D3", 2.5° , , 1.9 , , 2.28 , , 18.8 , - , 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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, 32 , , 32 , , 32.1 , , .535 , , .000 , , .706 , , 10.3 , , 1.5 , , 2.6 , , 1.9 , , 2.56 , , 16.3 , - , 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 ...

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, 32 , , 31 , , 33.7 , , .522 , , .000 , , .720 , , style="background:#D3D3D3", 11.2° , , 1.7 , , 2.0 , , 1.2 , , 2.34 , , 16.2 , - , 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 ...

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, 17 , , 17 , , 33.9 , , .520 , , .000 , , .803 , , 8.7 , , 1.1 , , 0.9 , , 0.8 , , 2.65 , , 16.9 , - , 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 ...

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, 34 , , 34 , , 29.9 , , .485 , , .000 , , .774 , , 7.3 , , 1.4 , , 1.7 , , 1.1 , , 2.21 , , 13.8 , - , 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" ,

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, 34 , , 34 , , 30.3 , , .519 , , .000 , , .853 , , 7.2 , , 1.2 , , style="background:#D3D3D3", 2.2° , , 1.2 , , 1.74 , , 14.5 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;",

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

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, 34 , , 33 , , 28.3 , , .485 , , .000 , , .707 , , 6.6 , , 1.5 , , 1.2 , , 0.9 , , 2.00 , , 13.8 , - , align="left" ,

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

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, 34 , , 34 , , 25.1 , , .457 , , .000 , , .751 , , 6.4 , , 1.6 , , 1.3 , , 0.5 , , 1.94 , , 12.0 , - , align="left" ,

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, align="left" ,

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, 32 , , 32 , , 23.1 , , .502 , , .000 , , .658 , , 4.6 , , 1.5 , , 1.0 , , 0.4 , , 2.03 , , 9.0 , - , align="left" ,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

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Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, 30 , , 30 , , 21.9 , , .462 , , .000 , , .648 , , 6.3 , , 1.5 , , 1.4 , , 0.6 , , 1.70 , , 7.2 , - , align="left" ,

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

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Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, 3 , , 0 , , 13.7 , , .500 , , .000 , , .778 , , 2.3 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.7 , , 1.00 , , 6.3 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , 11 years, 3 teams , 311 , , 306 , , 28.8 , , .506 , , .000 , , .713 , , 7.9 , , 1.5 , , 1.7 , , 1.0 , , 2.11 , , 13.6

Postseason

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, align="left" ,

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, 5 , , 5 , , 36.2 , , .478 , , .000 , , .764 , , 8.8 , , 1.4 , , 1.6 , , 1.2 , , 2.20 , , 21.2 , - , align="left" ,

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, 9 , , 9 , , 26.3 , , .485 , , .000 , , .765 , , 7.1 , , 1.8 , , 1.1 , , 0.6 , , 1.11 , , 14.8 , - , align="left" ,

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, 3 , , 3 , , 23.7 , , .409 , , .000 , , .889 , , 6.0 , , 0.3 , , 0.7 , , 0.3 , , 2.33 , , 8.7 , - , align="left" ,

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, 3 , , 3 , , 29.0 , , .214 , , .000 , , .875 , , 6.3 , , 1.7 , , 3.0 , , 1.3 , , 1.67 , , 4.3 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , 8 years, 2 teams , 42 , , 42 , , 31.1 , , .484 , , .000 , , .786 , , 8.0 , , 1.4 , , 1.4 , , 0.8 , , 1.69 , , 15.0

Playing overseas

Shortly after graduating from college, Griffith began her professional basketball playing career in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, where she played from 1993 to 1997. In 1997, she finished as the top scorer and rebounder in the Euroleague Women, averaging 24.7 points and 16.0 rebounds per game. During the WNBA offseason, Griffith has played extensively overseas, usually on teams and leagues that feature other WNBA players. In 2003 and 2004, she played for a

UMMC Ekaterinburg BC Ekaterinburg (russian: БК «УГМК») is a Russian women's basketball team based in Yekaterinburg competing in the Russian Premier League, and until February 2022 in FIBA Europe's EuroLeague Women. In reaction to the 2022 Russian inv ...

Europe

* 1993–97: DJK Wildcats Aschaffenburg * 2000–02: Lavezzini Basket Parma * 2003–04, 2005-06: UMMC Ekaterinburg

Olympics

Griffith has twice been a member of the U.S. National Women's Basketball team. She won

Gold Medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

s at the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

in both

and

. Griffith will serve as a member of the USA Basketball Women's Development National Team Committee from 2013-2016. The Women's Developmental National Team committees will select coaches and athletes for USA Basketball teams competing in the 2013 and 2015 FIBA Americas U16 Championships; and the 2014 and 2016 FIBA U17 World Championships. The Men's Developmental National Team Committee also selects staff and players for the annual Nike Hoop Summit.

Coaching career

In 2011, Griffith accepted an assistant coach position with

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...

university, Dartmouth, located in

Hanover, NH Hanover is a town located along the Connecticut River in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 11,870. The town is home to the Ivy League university Dartmouth College, the U.S. Army Corps of En ...

. In her first season with the Big Green the Dartmouth post players made great strides. Griffith was instrumental in the development of Arianne Hunter and Tia Dawson. Dawson, who was the Big Green's top rebounder and the top shot blocker in the

, was twice named

Rookie of the Week. In 2013, Griffith was named the First Assistant Coach for

Lafayette College Lafayette College is a private liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter and other citizens in Easton, the college first held classes in 1832. The founders voted to name the college after General Laf ...

a member of the

Patriot League The Patriot League is a collegiate athletic conference comprising private institutions of higher education and two United States service academies based in the Northeastern United States. Outside the Ivy League, it is among the most selective gr ...

. She was an assistant coach for Joanna Bernabei-MacNamee at the University of Albany. When Bernabei-MacNamee was named as the new head coach at Boston College in 2018, she brought Griffith along as her assistant. Griffith has been instrumental in the development of post players at BC.

Notes

References

External links

*
USA Basketball Player Profile

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20080412022315/http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/storm/2004333965_storm08.html Griffith signs with the Storm {{DEFAULTSORT:Griffith, Yolanda 1970 births Living people African-American basketball players American expatriate basketball people in China American expatriate basketball people in Germany American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in Russia American women's basketball coaches American women's basketball players Basketball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Chicago Centers (basketball) Chicago Condors players Florida Atlantic Owls women's basketball players Henan Phoenix players Indiana Fever players Junior college women's basketball players in the United States Long Beach Stingrays players Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in basketball Palm Beach State College alumni Parade High School All-Americans (girls' basketball) Sacramento Monarchs players Seattle Storm players Women's National Basketball Association All-Stars 21st-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American women United States women's national basketball team players