Pamela McGee, American basketball player and coach
Pamela Denise McGee (born December 1, 1962) is an American former professional women's basketball player, 2012 Women's Basketball Hall of Famer, and mother of two professional basketball players. She is the first WNBA mom to have a son and daughter drafted in the NBA and the WNBA. She is the only Olympic Gold Medalist to give birth to an Olympian in basketball. Her son JaVale received a gold medal in the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo. This was 37 years after his mother won hers in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles California. This would be the first of many first in her illustrious Basketball career. A pioneer in Women’s Basketball is featured in a HBO documentary,”Women of Troy”.
Pamela McGee was the second overall pick in the 1997 WNBA Draft. She played in the league for two seasons with the Sacramento Monarchs and Los Angeles Sparks.
McGee grew up in Flint, Michigan, where she attended Flint Southwestern Academy before graduating from Flint Northern High School. At Northern Highschool she was both an Academic All American and won two back to back state championships in Women's Basketball and Women's Track. She set the state record in the Shot putt in track and field. She was the MVP of the Parade All American game which hosted the top players in the nation.
McGee won back-to-back NCAA Championships as an All-American at the University of Southern California, where she was a teammate of twin sister Paula, Cynthia Cooper and Cheryl Miller. In 1984, she won Olympic gold in Los Angeles before embarking on a professional career that included stints in Brazil, France, Italy and Spain. She was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012.
She has been noted as one of the few women basketball players who has won on every level. Two State Championships in Michigan with a still standing record of 75-0 wins; She then won two National Championships at the University of Southern California in the eighties. That same year she graduated as student-athlete in 4 years with a BA in Economics and Social Science with an emphasis on Finance. That same year she was the first to win a Gold-Medal at the LA Olympics in Women's Basketball. She then won World Championships in Barcelona Spain, Brazilian World Championships, and the European Ronchetti Cup with 4-time WNBA MVP Cynthia Cooper.