Katie Douglas
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Kathryn Elizabeth "Katie" Douglas (born on May 7, 1979 in Indianapolis, Indiana) is a professional basketball player for the Connecticut Sun in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Her primary position is shooting guard. Sometimes she plays small forward.
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[edit] Basketball career
After attending Perry Meridian High School in Indianapolis, Douglas attended Purdue University and graduated in 2001 as a communications major. She helped lead Purdue to a NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship in 1999 and was a two-time Kodak All-America in 2000 and 2001, as well as being named to the 1999 and 2001 NCAA Women's Final Four All-Tournament Team. In 2001, she received a number of awards including the Big Ten Conference "Player of the Year" and the Silver Basketball from the Chicago Tribune. Douglas also received the 2001 Big Ten Conference Suzy Favor Award, which is given to the conference's female athlete of the year across all sports.
Douglas was selected the 10th overall pick by the Orlando Miracle in the 2001 WNBA Draft. She remained with the franchise even when the Miracle relocated to Uncasville, Connecticut, and was renamed the Connecticut Sun prior to the 2003 season. Following the 2005 WNBA season, Douglas was named to the WNBA All-Defensive First Team. In 2006, she was named Most Valuable Player of the 2006 WNBA All-Star Game.
[edit] Personal information
Douglas lost both her parents to cancer – father in 1997 and her mother less than three years later in 2000. She was awarded the first-ever Jim V Foundation Comeback of the Year Award in 2001 for her perseverance after a string of tragic, personal losses. [1]
One week after the 2005 WNBA Finals loss to the Sacramento Monarchs, Douglas married Vasilis Giapalakis in Athens, Greece. Giapalakis is a sports agent who represents male and female basketball players. Douglas, who played for a Lithuanian basketball team in the WNBA offseason, met Giapalakis when she was playing for a Greek club.
Recently Douglas has applied to obtain Lithuanian citizenship in order to be able to represent Lithuanian national women basketball team in the coming tournaments. Firstly, she was rejected but after some recent and favourable changes in the legislature, Katie Douglas tried again. However, this time Valdas Adamkus, the current Lithuanian president declined her application again motivating that granting her a citizenship would be anticonstitutional due to strict requirements.
[edit] Vital statistics
- Position: Guard/Forward
- Height: 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
- College: Purdue University
- Team(s): Connecticut Sun
