Natalie Jean Williams (born November 30, 1970) is an 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 ...

executive and former player in the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the Natio ...

(WNBA). Williams was inducted into the

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 ...

in 2016. She was also an accomplished volleyball player at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. Since 2022, Williams has served as the General Manager of the WNBA's

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 ...

Early years

Williams is the daughter of

Nate Williams Nathaniel Russell Williams (born May 2, 1950) is a former professional basketball player. A swingman from Utah State University, Williams was selected first in the 1971 NBA Hardship Draft, a supplemental draft for college underclassman. He pla ...

, a former

player who played for the

Cincinnati Royals The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...

Kansas City-Omaha Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...

, New Orleans Jazz and the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...

in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

during an eight-year career. Although she was born in Southern California, she went to

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

Taylorsville High School Taylorsville High School is a public high school established in 1981, located in Taylorsville, Utah, United States. The principal is Mrs. Emily Liddell. The mascot is the Wilbur the Warrior. The current enrollment is around 2,900 students and ...

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 ...

. She also has two half brothers and one half sister. Both of her brothers played basketball but her sister chose to focus her athletic abilities on tennis.

College years

She attended the

University of California Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

(UCLA), and graduated there in 1994. She was a four-year letter-winner in both

and

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

, and is the first woman to earn

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 ...

honors in both

and

in the same year. She also led UCLA to

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 ...

titles in 1990 and 1991. She won the Honda-Broderick Award (now the

Honda Sports Award The Honda Sports Award is an annual award in the United States, given to the best collegiate female athlete in each of twelve sports. There are four nominees for each sport, and the twelve winners of the Honda Sports Award are automatically in th ...

) as the nation's best female collegiate volleyball player in both 1992 and 1993.

UCLA statistics

Source

ABL career

Natalie Williams played three seasons for the Portland Power in the American Basketball League (ABL). She was traded to 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 ...

in April 1998, but when the team folded, she was reassigned to the Power. She was a two-time All-ABL first team selection, the 1998 ABL M.V.P., finished her first season as the league's top rebounder, averaging 12.5 rebounds per game, and on January 9, 1998, she grabbed a league record 22 rebounds.

WNBA career

After the ABL folded, she was selected by her hometown team, 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 we ...

in the first round (third pick overall) of the 1999 WNBA Draft on May 4, 1999. She played with the Starzz from 1999 to 2002. However, just a few weeks prior to the start of the 2003 season, she was traded to 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 a multi-player deal on May 1, 2003. Prior to the start of the 2005 season, Williams announced that she would retire after the season ended, saying that she will concentrate on raising her adopted twins, as well as serving as an assistant coach for Skyline'

Girls basketball team in

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 ...

, and launching a new career in the

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

business. She is remembered by fans as one of the best rebounding power forward in the early history of the WNBA.

USA Basketball

Williams was invited to be a member of the Jones Cup team representing the US in 1996. She helped the team to a 9–0 record, and the gold medal in the event. Williams averaged 9.1 points per game. She also recorded 7.0 rebounds per game, highest on the team. Williams was named to the USA national team in 1998. The national team traveled to

Berlin, Germany Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constituent ...

in July and August 1998 for the FIBA World Championships. The USA team won a close opening game against Japan 95–89, then won their next six games easily. In the semifinal game against Brazil, the USA team was behind as much as ten points in the first half, but the USA went on to win 93–79. The gold medal game was a rematch against Russia. In the first game, the USA team dominated almost from the beginning, but in the rematch, the team from Russia took the early lead and led much of the way. With under two minutes remaining, the USA was down by two points but the USA responded, then held on to win the gold medal 71–65. Williams averaged 12.3 points per game, second highest on the team, and averaged 9.6 rebounds per game, highest on the team. Williams won an Olympic

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 ...

as a member of the U.S. women's basketball team during the

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 ...

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

. In 2002, Williams was named to the national team which competed in the World Championships in

Zhangjiagang Zhangjiagang (), formerly Shazhou County (), is a county-level city under the administration of Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China and one of the many ports along the Yangtze river. With 1,246,762 inhabitants as of the 2010 census, the city is now ...

Changzhou Changzhou ( Changzhounese: ''Zaon Tsei'', ) is a prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province, China. It was previously known as Yanling, Lanling and Jinling. Located on the southern bank of the Yangtze River, Changzhou borders the provin ...

and

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

, China. The team was coached by

Van Chancellor Van Winston Chancellor (born September 27, 1943) is a former college and professional basketball coach. He coached University of Mississippi women's basketball, Louisiana State University women's basketball, and the professional Houston Comet ...

. The USA team won all nine games, including a close title game against Russia, which was a one-point game late in the game. Williams averaged 5.9 points per game.

Outside basketball

In 2002, she opened a restaurant called Natalie's in

. She carried the

Olympic Torch The Olympic flame is a symbol used in the Olympic movement. It is also a symbol of continuity between ancient and modern games. Several months before the Olympic Games, the Olympic flame is lit at Olympia, Greece. This ceremony starts the Olympic ...

in the Salt Lake City area prior to the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

. She also was named to the United States 2002 World Championship Games team. She considers

Cheryl Miller Cheryl D. Miller (born January 3, 1964) is an American former basketball player. She was formerly a sideline reporter for NBA games on TNT Sports and also works for NBA TV as a reporter and analyst, having worked previously as a sportscaster fo ...

as her basketball role model.

Career statistics

Regular season

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

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

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

, 28 , , 26 , , 34.1 , , .519 , , .000 , , .754 , , 9.2 , , 0.9 , , 1.4 , , 0.8 , , 2.4 , , 18.0 , - , style="text-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 ...

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

, 29 , , 29 , , 35.8 , , .490 , , .600 , , .798 , , 11.6 , , 1.8 , , 1.2 , , 0.6 , , 2.7 , , 18.7 , - , style="text-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 ...

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

, 31 , , 31 , , 34.3 , , .490 , , .000 , , .729 , , 9.9 , , 1.8 , , 1.3 , , 0.3 , , 2.3 , , 14.2 , - , style="text-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 ...

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

, 31 , , 31 , , 32.5 , , .435 , , .417 , , .742 , , 8.2 , , 1.2 , , 1.2 , , 0.5 , , 2.3 , , 11.3 , - , style="text-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 ...

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

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 ...

, 34 , , 34 , , 31.0 , , .485 , , .000 , , .709 , , 7.5 , , 1.4 , , 1.3 , , 0.6 , , 2.1 , , 13.4 , - , 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 6 ...

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

, 34 , , 34 , , 28.1 , , .454 , , .000 , , .697 , , 6.9 , , 1.8 , , 1.2 , , 0.7 , , 1.9 , , 10.3 , - , style="text-align:left;",

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 ...

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

, 34 , , 34 , , 23.6 , , .415 , , .000 , , .672 , , 5.5 , , 0.9 , , 1.0 , , 0.4 , , 1.7 , , 7.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", 7 years, 2 teams , 221 , , 219 , , 31.1 , , .474 , , .286 , , .741 , , 8.3 , , 1.4 , , 1.2 , , 0.6 , , 2.1 , , 13.1

Playoffs

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

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

, 2 , , 2 , , 28.5 , , .500 , , , , .833 , , 8.0 , , 0.0 , , 1.5 , , 0.5 , , 2.5 , , 10.5 , - , style="text-align:left;",

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

, 5 , , 5 , , 37.2 , , .532 , , .250 , , .679 , , 9.2 , , 1.4 , , 1.0 , , 1.4 , , 1.6 , , 14.0 , - , style="text-align:left;",

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

, 4 , , 4 , , 33.5 , , .425 , , .000 , , .813 , , 7.5 , , 1.5 , , 1.3 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 11.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", 3 years, 2 teams , 11 , , 11 , , 34.3 , , .485 , , .200 , , .740 , , 8.4 , , 1.2 , , 1.2 , , 0.9 , , 1.3 , , 12.5

References

External links

WNBA Player Profile

September 18, 2005 ''Salt Lake Tribune'' article on her impending retirement

Natalie Williams on Real Champions
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Natalie 1970 births Living people African-American basketball players All-American college women's basketball players American women's basketball coaches American women's basketball players Basketball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Long Beach, California High school basketball coaches in the United States Indiana Fever players Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in basketball Parade High School All-Americans (girls' basketball) Portland Power players Power forwards (basketball) Sportspeople from Long Beach, California UCLA Bruins women's basketball players UCLA Bruins women's volleyball players Utah Starzz draft picks Utah Starzz players Women's National Basketball Association All-Stars Women's National Basketball Association general managers 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