Wanda Ford is a basketball standout. She is the first woman in NCAA history to amass 1500 basketball rebounds and she set the NCAA career record with 1,887 rebounds. She had 102 career double-doubles. Wanda 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). Her average of 30.6 points per game in 1986 was the second highest at that time (now fifth all time). 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).
In this episode Wanda tells stories of her basketball in the early days of girls sports, what drew her to Drake University, her education there, traveling and living all over the place through basketball, and her late-night (until 2am!) basketball program.
Wanda was a Women’s Sports Foundation Player of the Year, a Kodak All-American, a three time Women’s Basketball Yearbook All-America team selection, a two time MVP player of the year, a four-time first-team all-conference choice, ten times a league player of the week, a two time finalist for the Wade Trophy, and was named Coach of the Year in youth basketball by the City of Parma, where she is now a Phys Ed teacher.
After graduating from Drake in 1986, Wanda played professional basketball for 16 years in Italy, Brazil, Sweden and Israel. She was part of seven league championship teams, and won such personal awards as Most Valuable Player and Newcomer of the Year, both in Israel.
Wanda’s number has been retired at both East Tech High School and Drake University. She was inducted into the Sports Legends of Cleveland Public Schools Senate League in 2022 for her high school career at East Tech High School. And in 2025 Wanda was inducted into the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame, which is how I learned about her outstanding career.
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Find all episodes http://www.hearhersports.com/Check out Wanda’s Wikipedia page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanda_Ford
