{{Short description|American basketball player}} {{Infobox basketball biography | name = Wanda Ford | image = | caption = | college = [[Drake Bulldogs|Drake]] (1982–1986) | position = | career_start = | height_ft = | height_in = | weight_lb = | nationality = American | birth_date = c. 1964 | birth_place = | high school = | highlights = * [[Women's Basketball Coaches Association|Kodak]] All-American (1986) * 2x [[Missouri Valley Conference|MVC]] Player of the Year (1985, 1986) * 4x First-team All-MVC (1983–1986) * No. 33 retired by Drake Bulldogs }}
'''Wanda Ford''' (born c. 1964) is an American former [[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.
Ford played in 117 games at Drake from 1983 to 1986 and finished her career with 1,887 rebounds and 2,636 points.<ref>NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Records, p. 9.</ref> She set several NCAA rebounding records, including: (1) 15.5 rebounds per game from 1983 to 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).<ref name=NCAA>{{cite web|title=NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Records through 2010-11|publisher=NCAA|year=2011|url=http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/w_basketball_RB/2012/DI.pdf|pages=2, 5, 10, 11}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Ford sees coveted NCAA record fall|newspaper=Des Moines Register|date=February 11, 2009|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/desmoinesregister/access/1688877071.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Feb+11%2C+2009&author=Johnson+Dan&pub=Des+Moines+Register&desc=Ford+sees+coveted+NCAA+record+fall&pqatl=google|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120718103637/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/desmoinesregister/access/1688877071.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Feb+11,+2009&author=Johnson+Dan&pub=Des+Moines+Register&desc=Ford+sees+coveted+NCAA+record+fall&pqatl=google|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 18, 2012}}</ref> Her average of 17.8 rebounds per game in 1985 still ranks as the second highest single season average of all time.<ref>NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Records, p. 6.</ref>
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).<ref>NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Records, p. 4.</ref> Her average of 30.6 points per game in 1986 was the second highest at that time (now fifth all time).<ref>NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Records, p. 5.</ref> 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).<ref>NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Records, p. 3.</ref>
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.<ref name=DM/><ref>{{cite news|title=Drake star Ford enjoyed European basketball|newspaper=The Daily Reporter, Spencer, Iowa|page=7|date=July 8, 1987|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=UGMrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=y9gEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3161,863549&dq=wanda-ford+basketball&hl=en}}</ref> She later returned to Cleveland where she worked with children with behavioral problems.<ref name=DM/>
In 2003, Ford was inducted into the Des Moines Sunday Register's Iowa Sports Hall of Fame.<ref name=DM>{{cite news|title=Wanda Ford, Drake University, 2003|newspaper=Des Moines Register|date=June 26, 2005|url=http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20030803/SPORTS11/50626016/Wanda-Ford-Drake-University-2003}}</ref>
==Drake statistics== Source<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://godrakebulldogs.com/sports/2016/3/31/drake-womens-basketball-media-guides.aspx|title=Drake Media Guide|website=|access-date=2017-09-27}}</ref> {{NBA player statistics legend}} {| class="wikitable"; style="text-align:center"; !Year !Team !GP !Points !FG% !FT% !PPG |- |1982–83 |[[Drake Bulldogs women's basketball|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''' |- |colspan=2; align=center|Career |117 |2,636 |.556 |.681 |22.5 |}
==See also== *[[List of NCAA Division I women's basketball career rebounding leaders]] *[[List of NCAA Division I women's basketball season scoring leaders]] *List of NCAA Division I women's basketball players with 2,500 points and 1,000 rebounds
==References== {{Reflist}}{{Missouri Valley Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Year navbox|state=collapsed}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Wanda}} [[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:All-American college women's basketball players]] [[Category:American expatriate basketball people in Brazil]] [[Category:American expatriate basketball people in France]] [[Category:American expatriate basketball people in Israel]] [[Category:American expatriate basketball people in Italy]] [[Category:American expatriate basketball people in Sweden]] [[Category:American women's basketball players]] [[Category:Basketball players from Ohio]] [[Category:Drake Bulldogs women's basketball players]]