Wanda Ford

Wanda Ford (born c. 1964) is a former American basketball player for the Drake Bulldogs. She was the first woman in NCAA history to collect 1,500 rebounds and set the NCAA career record with 1,887 rebounds. She also played 16 years of professional basketball in Brazil, Italy, Spain, France, Sweden and Israel.

Wanda Ford
CollegeDrake
SportBasketball
NationalityUSA
Bornc. 1964

Ford played in 117 games at Drake from 1983 to 1986 and finished her career with 1,887 rebounds and 2,636 points.[1] She set several NCAA rebounding records, including: (1) 15.5 rebounds per game from 1983-1986 (still the NCAA record), (2) 1,887 career rebounds (broken by Courtney Paris in 2009), and (3) 534 rebounds in 1985 (broken by Courtney Paris in 2009).[2][3] Her average of 17.8 rebounds per game in 1985 still ranks as the second highest single season average of all time.[4]

Ford was also one of the leading scorers in the game. She set the NCAA single-season scoring record with 919 points in 1986 (now eighth all time).[5] Her average of 30.6 points per game in 1986 was the second highest at that time (now fifth all time).[6] She also scored 54 points in a February 22, 1986 game against Missouri State, which was the second highest single-game scoring total up to that time (now tied for seventh all time).[7]

Ford grew up in a housing project in Cleveland, Ohio. After graduating from Drake, she played 16 years of professional basketball in Brazil, Italy, Spain (Font Vella Manresa), France, Sweden and Israel.[8][9] She later returned to Cleveland where she worked with children with behavioral problems.[8]

In 2003, Ford was inducted into the Des Moines Sunday Register's Iowa Sports Hall of Fame.[8]

Drake statistics

Source[10]

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
Year Team GP Points FG% FT% PPG
1982–83 Drake 28 450 .606 .611 16.1
1983–84 Drake 29 540 .622 .744 18.6
1984–85 Drake 30 727 .514 .562 24.2
1985–86 Drake 30 919 .537 .732 30.6
Career 117 2,636 .556 .681 22.5

See also

References
  1. NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Records, p. 9.
  2. "NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Records through 2010-11" (PDF). NCAA. 2011. pp. 2, 5, 10, 11.
  3. "Ford sees coveted NCAA record fall". Des Moines Register. February 11, 2009.
  4. NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Records, p. 6.
  5. NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Records, p. 4.
  6. NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Records, p. 5.
  7. NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Records, p. 3.
  8. "Wanda Ford, Drake University, 2003". Des Moines Register. June 26, 2005.
  9. "Drake star Ford enjoyed European basketball". The Daily Reporter, Spencer, Iowa. July 8, 1987. p. 7.
  10. "Drake Media Guide". Retrieved 2017-09-27.
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