Weatherspoon, Teresa (1965–)

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Weatherspoon, Teresa (1965–)

African-American basketball player. Name variations: Spoon; T-Spoon. Born Dec 8, 1965, in Pineland, TX; dau. of Rowena Weatherspoon and James Weatherspoon (minor-league baseball player for Minnesota Twins); Louisiana Tech University, degree in physical education, 1988.

Was a member of 3 gold-medal basketball teams in international competition, the FIBA World championships (1986), Goodwill Games (1986), and World University Games (1987); led college basketball team, Lady Techsters, to NCAA championship (1988); won a team gold medal for US at Seoul Olympics (1988) and a team bronze medal at Barcelona Olympics (1992); played professionally in Italy for 8 years and in Russia for 2; joined the New York Liberty team in the inaugural season of the Women's National Basketball Association (1997); named the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year (1997, 1998); 4-time WNBA All-Star (1999–2002); signed with Los Angeles Sparks (2003). Co-wrote Basketball for Girls.

See also Women in World History.