Pamela McGee Biography – Wiki
Pamela McGee is a retired American professional basketball player, inducted into the 2012 Basketball Hall of Fame, and the mother of two professional basketball players. She is the first WNBA mother to have a son and daughter drafted into the NBA and WNBA. At 34, she was the second overall pick in the 1997 WNBA Draft. She played in the league for two seasons with the Sacramento Monarchs and the 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 an All-American Scholar and won two consecutive state championships in girls ‘basketball and girls’ track and field. She set the state record for the track and field shot put. She was the MVP of the Parade All American game, which hosted the best players in the nation.
Age
Pamela McGee is 58-years-old.
Career
McGee began his professional career with the Dallas Diamonds in the Women’s American Basketball Association, where he played alongside his sister Paula. She later played in Brazil, Spain, and Italy and was a four-time All-Star in the Italian League. McGee was a first-round pick in the inaugural WNBA season and played there for two seasons.
McGee was selected to be a member of the team representing the United States at the 1983 Pan American Games held in Caracas, Venezuela. The team won all five games to win the event’s gold medal. McGee averaged 3.4 points per game.
McGee played for the US national team at the 1983 World Championship, held in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The team won six games but lost two against the Soviet Union. In a first-round game, Team USA had a nine-point lead at halftime, but the Soviets again took the lead, and a final shot from the USA did not fall, leaving the team at halftime. the USSR with a victory by one point 85–84. Team USA won their next four games, setting up the gold medal game against the USSR. This game was also close and was tied at 82 points each with six seconds left in the game. Soviets Elena Chausova received the entry pass and hit the game-winning shot in the closing seconds, giving the USSR team the gold medal with a score of 84-82. The United States team won the silver medal. McGee averaged 4.2 points per game.
In 1984, the USA sent its national team to the 1984 William Jones Cup competition in Taipei, Taiwan, for pre-Olympic practices. The team easily beat each of the eight teams that played, winning by an average of just under 50 points per game. McGee averaged 6.5 points per game.
She went on with the national team to represent the United States in the 1984 Olympics. The team won all six games to claim the gold medal. McGee averaged 6.2 points per game.
Spouse & Children
McGee has a daughter, current WNBL player Imani McGee-Stafford, and a son, NBA player and champion JaVale McGee, currently with the Phoenix Suns. McGee is the first WNBA player to have a child’s game in the NBA and the WNBA. In 2012, she was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. She lives in Annandale, Virginia.
Back-to-back NCAA championships followed two Michigan state championships at Flint Northern High School. In addition to playing in France, Italy, and Brazil, she was selected as No. 2 at age 34, in the WNBA. She starred in the Los Angeles Sparks and the Sacramento Monarchs.
JaVale McGee is the first son of a WNBA player to play in the NBA. McGee’s husband, George Montgomery, was drafted to the NBA with the 35th pick in the 1985 NBA Draft, although he never played there. McGee, with a bachelor’s degree in economics, balanced his international basketball career with raising two children, homeschooling, coaching, and teaching at school in the off-season, though the formidable assignments were not without controversy.
Pamela McGee Gold Medal
Pamela McGee, USC Hall of Famer and Trojan legend, and her son JaVale McGee are the first mother and son to win gold medals in Olympic history.
Pamela was a member of the 1984 team that defeated South Korea 85-55 to win gold at the Olympics. Thirty-seven years later, JaVale won a gold medal at the Tokyo Games, beating France 87-82 on Saturday.
Pamela is also the only former WNBA player who has had children who have played in the NBA and the WNBA. JaVale has played in the NBA for more than a decade, while her younger sister Imani McGee-Stafford played in the WNBA from 2016 to 2019. The first mother-son duo in WNBA-NBA history continues to engrave their names on the record books as a legacy. continues for the McGee family.
