Natalie Williams

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This article is about the basketball player. For other meanings see Natalie Williams (disambiguation)
Image:NatalieWilliams2005.jpg
Natalie Williams on the Indiana Fever

Natalie Williams (born on November 30, 1970 in Long Beach, California) was a professional basketball player in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).

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[edit] Early years

Williams is the daughter of Nate Williams, a former basketball player who played for the Cincinnati Royals, Kansas City-Omaha Kings, New Orleans Jazz and the Golden State Warriors in the National Basketball Association during an eight-year career.

Although she was born in Southern California, she went to high school at Taylorsville High School in Utah.

[edit] College years

She went to the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), and graduated there in 1994. She was a four-year letter-winner in both basketball and volleyball, and is the first woman to earn All-America honors in both basketball and volleyball in the same year. She also led UCLA to NCAA volleyball titles in 1990 and 1991.

[edit] ABL career

Natalie Williams played three seasons for the Portland Power in the American Basketball League (ABL). She was traded to the Long Beach StingRays in April of 1998, but when the team folded, she was reassigned to the Portland Power. She was a two-time All-ABL first team selection, the 1998 ABL M.V.P., finished her first season as the league's top rebounder, averaging 12.5 rebounds per game, and on January 9, 1999, she grabbed a league record 22 rebounds.

[edit] WNBA career

After the ABL folded, she was selected by her hometown team, the Utah Starzz in the first round (third pick overall) of the 1999 WNBA Draft on May 4, 1999.

She played with the Starzz from 1999 to 2002. However, just a few weeks prior to the start of the 2003 season, she was traded to the Indiana Fever in a multi-player deal on May 1, 2003.

Prior to the start of the 2005 season, Williams announced that she would retire after the season ended, saying that she and would concentrate on raising her adopted twins, as well as serving as an assistant coach for a girls' high school basketball team in Salt Lake City, Utah, and launching a new career in the real estate business. She is remembered by fans as one of the best rebounding power forward in the early history of the WNBA.

[edit] Trivia

Williams won an Olympic Gold Medal as a member of the U.S. women's basketball team during the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.

In 2002, she opened a restaurant called Natalie's in Salt Lake City, Utah.

That same year, just prior to the 2002 Winter Olympics, she carried the Olympic Torch in the Salt Lake City area.

She also was named to the United States' 2002 World Championship Games team.

She considers Cheryl Miller as her basketball role model.

Williams named her son Turasi, after fellow women's basketball player Diana Taurasi. [1]

[edit] Vital statistics

[edit] External links

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