Małgorzata Teresa Dydek-Twigg, also known as Margo Dydek (28 April 1974 – 27 May 2011), was a Polish professional basketball player. Standing tall, she was famous for being the tallest professional female basketball player in the world. She played center position for multiple teams in the WNBA and was a coach for the Northside Wizards in the

Queensland Basketball League NBL1 North, formerly the Queensland Basketball League (QBL), is a semi-professional basketball league in Queensland and Northern Territory, Australia, comprising both a men's and women's competition. In 2020, Basketball Queensland partnered wit ...

. She was awarded the Polish Gold Cross of Merit (1999). She was inducted into the

FIBA Hall of Fame The FIBA Hall of Fame, or FIBA Basketball Hall of Fame, honors players, coaches, teams, referees, and administrators who have greatly contributed to international competitive basketball. It was established by FIBA in 1991. Originally built in ...

in 2019.

Early life

Margo Dydek was born 28 April 1974 in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, Poland, to a father and a mother. She had two sisters; her elder sister,

Katarzyna Katarzyna is a Polish given name, equivalent to English "Katherine (given name), Catherine". Its diminutive forms include Kasia (disambiguation), Kasia, Katarzynka, Kasieńka, Kasiunia, Kasiulka; augmentative – Kaśka, Kacha, Kachna. Individu ...

() had played for the

Colorado Xplosion The Colorado Xplosion was the first women's professional basketball franchise in Colorado, an American Basketball League (ABL) team based in Denver. Playing from 1996 through 1998, the team produced many memorable moments for Colorado sports fa ...

of the now-defunct ABL. Her younger sister,

Marta Marta may refer to: People * Marta (given name), a feminine given name * Märta, a feminine given name * Marta (surname) * Marta (footballer) (born 1986), Brazilian professional footballer Places * Marta (river), an Italian river that flow ...

(), graduated from the University of Texas–El Paso where she played

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 (appro ...

, and played professionally in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

in the 2000s.

WNBA career

Dydek made her first trip to the United States in May 1998 for WNBA pre-draft camp. Dydek was drafted 1st overall in the

1998 WNBA draft 1998 WNBA draft *On January 27, 1998, a total of 4 players were assigned to two teams in no particular order. *On February 18, 1998, a WNBA expansion draft took place. *On April 28, 1998, the regular WNBA draft took place. *On September 15, 1 ...

by the

Utah Starzz The Utah Starzz were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Salt Lake City. They began play in the 1997 WNBA season as one of the league's eight original teams. History One of the eight original WNBA teams, the Starzz ...

(the franchise was subsequently transferred to San Antonio). On 16 April 2005, during the

2005 WNBA draft The WNBA Draft is an annual draft held by the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) through which WNBA teams can select new players from a talent pool of college and professional women's basketball players. The 2005 edition was the nin ...

, the San Antonio Silver Stars traded Dydek to the

Connecticut Sun The Connecticut Sun are an American professional basketball team based in Uncasville, Connecticut. The Sun compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference. The team i ...

in exchange for the Sun's first-round draft pick,

Katie Feenstra Katharen Ruth Mattera ( Feenstra; born November 17, 1982) is an American college basketball coach and former player for the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Mattera is one of the tallest players in WNBA history. At 6 feet 7.5 inch ...

from

Liberty University Liberty University (LU), known simply as Liberty, is a Private university, private Evangelicalism in the United States, evangelical Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia, United States. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Conservativ ...

. Records held: *All-time leader in blocks (877), in 323 games *Leader in season total blocks nine times (

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 Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

–

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

– 07) *Leader in season blocks per game eight times (

–

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

) *Most defensive rebounds (214) in

2001 The year's most prominent event was 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. The United States led a Participan ...

On 3 June 2008, Dydek signed with the

Los Angeles Sparks The Los Angeles Sparks are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. The team plays its home games at Crypto.co ...

, following time away from basketball due to her pregnancy. She had given birth to her son, David, in April that year.

European career

Dydek played for Olimpia Poznań from 1992 to 1994, before playing for Valenciennes Orchies in France from 1994 to 1996, where she met her future husband, David. She then moved to Spain and played for Pool Getafe from 1996 to 1998, and moved back to Poland to play for Fota Porta Gdynia starting with the 1998–99 season. She continued to play with the club through several sponsorship changes; since then, the club has taken the names Polpharma and Lotos. In 1999–2000 she averaged 18.5 points and 10.7 rebounds for Gdynia in

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French language, French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. FIBA defines the rules of basketball, specifies the Basketball equipment ...

EuroLeague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

play. She was named Most Valuable Player of the Polish League Finals of the 1999–2000 season. In 1999, she was also named the best female basketball player in Europe by the Italian sports magazine ''

La Gazzetta dello Sport (; English: "The Sports Gazette") is an Italian Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper dedicated to coverage of various sports. Founded in 1896, it is the most widely read daily newspaper of any type in Italy (in 2018). History and profile was fou ...

''. Dydek was chosen as Poland's Sports Woman of the Year and was a member of the Poland women's national basketball team until 2007, winning the

EuroBasket Women 1999 The 1999 European Women Basketball Championship, commonly called EuroBasket Women 1999, was the 27th regional championship held by FIBA Europe. The competition was held in Poland and took place from May 28 to June 6, 1999. Host Poland won the go ...

. She helped lead Gdynia to runner-up finishes in the FIBA EuroLeague in 2002 and 2004.

Career statistics

WNBA

Source:

Regular season

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Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

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1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

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, style="background:#D3D3D3", 32° , , 28 , , 22.9 , , .498 , , .350 , , .857 , , 6.4 , , 1.8 , , 0.4 , , style="background:#D3D3D3", 2.4° , , 2.8 , , 12.6 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

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, style="background:#D3D3D3", 32° , , style="background:#D3D3D3", 32° , , 24.2 , , .445 , , .143 , , .796 , , 5.5 , , 1.6 , , 0.6 , , style="background:#D3D3D3", 3.0° , , 2.6 , , 9.2 , - , style="text-align:left;",

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, style="background:#D3D3D3", 32° , , style="background:#D3D3D3", 32° , , 30.3 , , .440 , , .400 , , .798 , , 7.6 , , 2.0 , , 0.8 , , style="background:#D3D3D3", 3.5° , , 2.8 , , 10.9 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

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, 30 , , 27 , , 29.2 , , .436 , , .250 , , .844 , , 8.7 , , 2.4 , , 0.8 , , style="background:#D3D3D3", 3.6° , , 3.2 , , 13.1 , - , style="text-align:left;",

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San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

, style="background:#D3D3D3", 34° , , style="background:#D3D3D3", 34° , , 27.2 , , .451 , , .000 , , .723 , , 7.4 , , 1.7 , , 0.6 , , style="background:#D3D3D3", 2.9° , , 2.4 , , 11.9 , - , style="text-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 60 ...

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, style="background:#D3D3D3", 34° , , 24 , , 20.1 , , .433 , , .500 , , .759 , , 4.9 , , 1.8 , , 0.6 , , 1.4 , , 1.9 , , 6.6 , - , style="text-align:left;",

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Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

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, 32 , , 30 , , 20.1 , , .487 , , .400 , , .789 , , 6.5 , , 1.0 , , 0.4 , , style="background:#D3D3D3", 2.1° , , 1.6 , , 6.7 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

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Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

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Playoffs

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, 8 , , 8 , , 18.3 , , .376 , , 1.000 , , .636 , , 5.3 , , 0.5 , , 0.4 , , 1.6 , , 2.0 , , 4.5 , - , style="text-align:left;",

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Personal life

Dydek was married and had two sons. Dydek spoke five languages and her teammates referred to her as "Large Marge".

Death

On 19 May 2011, Dydek, at the time pregnant with her third child, collapsed at her home in Brisbane due to cardiac arrest. She was taken by ambulance to a hospital and placed in a medically

induced coma An induced comaalso known as a medically induced coma (MIC), barbiturate-induced coma, or drug-induced comais a temporary coma (a deep state of unconsciousness) brought on by a controlled dose of an anesthetic drug, often a barbiturate such as pe ...

. She had been working as a coach for the Northside Wizards in the

. She never regained consciousness and died eight days later on 27 May 2011.

References

External links

*
Margo Dydek
at Interbasket.net
Margo Dydek
at the

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dydek, Margo 1974 births 2011 deaths Basketball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Warsaw Centers (basketball) Connecticut Sun players FIBA Hall of Fame inductees Los Angeles Sparks players Olympic basketball players for Poland Polish expatriate basketball people in the United States Polish expatriate basketball people in France Polish expatriate basketball people in Spain Polish expatriate sportspeople in Australia Polish women's basketball players Recipients of the Cross of Merit (Poland) Recipients of the Order of Polonia Restituta San Antonio Stars players Utah Starzz draft picks Utah Starzz players WNBA All-Stars First overall WNBA draft picks