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Rhonda Blades

Rhonda Blades Brown (born October 29, 1972) is a former professional basketball player. She was the first pick in the 1998 WNBA expansion draft and was selected by the New York Liberty.[2][3] Blades was a 4-year starting point guard and captain at Vanderbilt University and played 6 years professionally including the WNBA and abroad.

Rhonda Blades Brown
Personal information
Born (1972-10-29) October 29, 1972 (age 52)
Springfield, Missouri
NationalityAmerican
Listed height5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Listed weight137 lb (62 kg)
Career information
High schoolParkview (Springfield, Missouri)
CollegeVanderbilt (1991–1995)
WNBA draft1998: Expansion round, 1st overall pick
Selected by the Detroit Shock
Playing career1997–1998
PositionGuard
Number10
Career history
1997New York Liberty
1998Detroit Shock
Career WNBA[1] statistics
Points146 (2.6 ppg)
Assists71 (1.2 apg)
Steals26 (0.5 spg)
Stats at Basketball Reference

Brown has the distinction of being the very first player in the WNBA to make a 3-Point Shot.[4]

College

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Rhonda Blades played basketball for Vanderbilt. During her four seasons (1992–95), she totaled 1,017 points and was named Honorable Mention All-American during her senior year. Blades completed a master's degree in nursing (MSN) and RN from VUSN in 1996.[5]

Vanderbilt statistics

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Source[6][7][8][9]

Ratios
YEAR Team GP FG% 3P% FT% RBG APG BPG SPG PPG
1991-92 Vanderbilt 31 48.0% 35.3% 81.6% 1.55 1.48 0.06 0.94 3.03
1992-93 Vanderbilt 33 42.3% 32.3% 76.6% 3.12 4.73 0.03 1.94 7.52
1993-94 Vanderbilt 33 44.7% 40.1% 80.4% 3.97 4.73 0.06 1.88 11.73
1994-95 Vanderbilt 35 40.0% 35.1% 61.7% 3.60 4.20 0.00 1.80 8.23
Career 132 42.9% 36.3% 75.9% 3.09 3.83 0.04 1.65 7.70
Totals
YEAR Team GP FG FGA 3P 3PA FT FTA REB A BK ST PTS
1991-92 Vanderbilt 31 24 50 6 17 40 49 48 46 2 29 94
1992-93 Vanderbilt 33 66 156 31 96 85 111 103 156 1 64 248
1993-94 Vanderbilt 33 115 257 67 167 90 112 131 156 2 62 387
1994-95 Vanderbilt 35 92 230 67 191 37 60 126 147 0 63 288
Career 132 297 693 171 471 252 332 408 505 5 218 1017

WNBA

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Brown entered the WNBA in 1997 during its inaugural season and was a member of the New York Liberty. Her debut game was played on June 21, 1997, in a 67 - 57 victory over the Los Angeles Sparks. In that game, Brown became the very first player in the WNBA to score a 3-point shot. Coincidentally, that 3-pointer was Brown's only field goal attempt of the game and she finished the game with 3 points, 1 assist and 1 steal.[10] She would play a reserve role for the Liberty and helped the team finish with a record of 17 - 11 while averaging 2.9 points and 1.1 assists in 10.4 minutes per game. The Liberty would reach the inaugural WNBA Finals on August 30, 1997, but would lose to the Houston Comets 51 - 65 with Brown playing for 13 minutes and recording 2 assists, 2 turnovers and 1 foul.[11]

On February 18, 1998, Rhonda Blades Brown was selected with the first overall pick of the WNBA Expansion Draft by the Detroit Shock.[12] During her time with the Shock, all of her averages would remain around the same as her time with the Liberty (2.3 points, 1.4 assists in 11.7 minutes per game). She was able to start the first 2 games of the Shock's season but she immediately lost her starting spot to teammate Sandy Brondello for the rest of the season. The Shock would have a rough start to the 1998 season, losing their first 4 games, then winning 6 in a row, and then losing another 4 games to start off 6 - 8. The team resiliently finished the season with a 17 - 13 record but would miss the playoffs.

Before the 1999 WNBA season began, Brown would be waived by the Shock on April 23, 1999. She signed a contract with the Washington Mystics on May 8, but was waived a month later on June 9 (1 day before the Mystics played their first game of the season).[13] After being waived by the Mystics, Brown would miss the 1999 season entirely and also would miss the next season (2000).

Brown would also play professionally overseas in Israel and Turkey, winning the Israeli cup in 2000–2001.

After missing two entire seasons, Brown would sign a contract with the Cleveland Rockers on April 30, 2001. However, she would be waived soon after on May 11.[14] Thus, Brown ended up missing the 2001 season as well and decided to move on from the WNBA after missing three straight seasons. Her final WNBA game was the last regular season game of the Detroit Shock's 1998 season. That game was played on August 19, 1998, and the Shock toppled the Liberty 82 - 68 with Brown recording only recording 1 missed field goal and no other stats in four minutes of playing time.[15]

WNBA per game stats

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Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game  RPG  Rebounds per game
 APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game
 TO  Turnovers per game  FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 Bold  Career best ° League leader

Regular season

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
1997 New York 28 0 10.4 .357 .315 .650 0.8 1.1 0.5 0.0 1.4 2.9
1998 Detroit 29 2 11.7 .256 .240 .483 1.1 1.4 0.4 0.0 1.4 2.3
Career 2 years, 2 teams 57 2 11.1 .304 .279 .551 0.9 1.2 0.5 0.0 1.4 2.6

Playoffs

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
1997 New York 1 0 13.0 — — — 0.0 2.0 0.0 0.0 2.0 0.0

[16]

Life after Professional Basketball

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After basketball, Blades became the head varsity girls' basketball coach at Brentwood Academy, in Brentwood, Tennessee.[17] She has coached a winning program for 17 seasons (361–162 record), including 5 state championships and 4 more state championship appearances. She also teaches Anatomy and Health at Brentwood Academy, for which additional sessions were added to meet demand. Brown is married to Parke Brown (22 years), with two children, Blades (son, age 16) and Millie (daughter, age 20).

References

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  1. ^ "SHOCK: Rhonda Blades". www.wnba.com.
  2. ^ "Lodi News-Sentinel - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
  3. ^ "Toledo Blade - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
  4. ^ "Like WNBA mom, like son: Blades Brown, 16, makes history at U.S. Amateur". NBC Sports. 2023-08-16. Retrieved 2024-02-21.
  5. ^ "Rhonda Blades Brown | VUMC Through Time". Archived from the original on 2016-06-11. Retrieved 2016-05-31.
  6. ^ "FINAL 1992 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL STATISTICS REPORT" (PDF). ncaa.org. Retrieved 2021-07-21.
  7. ^ "FINAL 1993 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL STATISTICS REPORT" (PDF). ncaa.org. Retrieved 2021-07-21.
  8. ^ "FINAL 1994 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL STATISTICS REPORT" (PDF). ncaa.org. Retrieved 2021-07-21.
  9. ^ "FINAL 1995 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL STATISTICS REPORT" (PDF). ncaa.org. Retrieved 2021-07-21.
  10. ^ "New York Liberty at Los Angeles Sparks, June 21, 1997". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2024-02-21.
  11. ^ "New York Liberty at Houston Comets, August 30, 1997". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2024-02-21.
  12. ^ "W.N.B.A.: EXPANSION DRAFT; Liberty Loses Blades To New Detroit Team". The New York Times. 1998-02-19. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-02-21.
  13. ^ "SHOCK: Rhonda Blades". www.wnba.com. Retrieved 2024-02-21.
  14. ^ "2001 Cleveland Rockers Transactions". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2024-02-21.
  15. ^ "New York Liberty at Detroit Shock, August 19, 1998". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2024-02-21.
  16. ^ "Rhonda Blades WNBA Stats". Basketball-Reference.com.
  17. ^ "Vanderbilt Commodores | Official Athletic Site". Vanderbilt University Athletics - Official Athletics Website.
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