Chantel Ruth Tremitiere (born October 20, 1969) is an American former professional

women's basketball Women's basketball is the team sport of basketball played by women. It was first played in 1892, one year after men's basketball, at Smith College in Massachusetts. It spread across the United States, in large parts via women's college compet ...

player.

Early life

Tremitiere was born in

Williamsport, Pennsylvania Williamsport is a city in and the county seat of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 27,754. It is the principal city of the Williamsport Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a populati ...

. Her father is Arnold Kelly. She was then adopted into the family of William and Barbara Tremitiere as an infant and grew up in

York, Pennsylvania York is a city in York County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. Located in South Central Pennsylvania, the city's population was 44,800 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in ...

. She has 14 brothers and sisters of differing ethnic backgrounds. She grew up playing basketball with her siblings, stating that they needed another player to make two even teams. She averaged 30 points a game at Hannah Penn Middle School and was a basketball star when she transferred to William Penn High School. She graduated from high school in 1987 and chose to attend

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...

, where she received a full basketball scholarship.

Collegiate career

Tremitiere started every game for the Auburn Tigers women's basketball team in 1991 and averaged 4.1 points and 4.0 assists. In 1990, she was selected to the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

All-Tournament Team. She earned her bachelor's degree in Public Relations from Auburn, then was an assistant basketball coach for Auburn (1991–92); the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

(1992–93), and the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a public land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system and was founded in 1863 as the ...

(1993–96). During this time, Chantel continued her hoop dreams overseas, playing for Lotos Gdynia in Poland, where her play caught the attention of professional scouts.

Professional / WNBA career

In the 1997 draft, Tremitiere was selected as the 18th overall pick by the

Sacramento Monarchs The Sacramento Monarchs were a professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. They played in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) from 1997 until folding on November 20, 2009. They played their home games at ARCO Aren ...

. Her debut game was played on June 21, 1997 in a 73 - 61 win over the

Utah Starzz The Utah Starzz were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Salt Lake City. They began play in the 1997 WNBA season as one of the league's eight original teams. History One of the eight original WNBA teams, the Starzz ...

where she recorded 7 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists. In her rookie season, she had her most successful season in her career, averaging 7.6 points, 4.8 assists. She also led the WNBA with an average of 37.5 minutes per game and started every game she played. Playing for the Monarchs also gave Tremitiere the opportunity to be reunited with

Ruthie Bolton Alice Ruth Bolton (born May 25, 1967), known as Ruthie Bolton, is an American former professional women's basketball player. Born in Lucedale, Mississippi, she played at the collegiate, Olympic and professional levels of women's basketball. Bolt ...

, her teammate at Auburn. After her rookie season, Tremitiere was traded to Utah on May 5, 1998 for Lady Grooms (Grooms would go on to play the remainder of her career (7 more seasons) with the Monarchs). She would play two seasons with Utah in 1998 and 1999. In her sophomore season she averaged 5.5 points and 3.6 assists. On June 21, 1999, a controversial decision to waive Tremitiere would be made by coach

Frank Layden Francis Patrick Layden (born January 5, 1932, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American former basketball coach and executive of the National Basketball Association's Utah Jazz as well as former head coach of the Women's National Basketball Associati ...

. Layden only coached the Starzz for two weeks before resigning for "personal reasons", but some Starzz players have voiced their contempt of Layden's coaching style and said he was "too harsh" on the players. She was resigned by the Starzz on July 6 and finished the 1999 season with them. However, her productivity would drop in her third year with a drastic drop in minutes from the previous year (25.3 minutes per game to 9.6 minutes) along with averaging 1.1 points and 1.1 assists. On December 15, 1999 she was acquired in the 6th round of the

expansion draft An expansion draft, in professional sports, occurs when a sports league decides to create one or more new expansion teams or sports franchising, franchises. This occurs mainly in Sports in North America, North American sports and closed leagues. O ...

and joined the newly formed

Indiana Fever The Indiana Fever are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Fever compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) a member of the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference. The team was founded for ...

. She played one season for the Fever, suffering from an ankle injury most of the year which limited her playing time and effectiveness to 12.7 minutes, 2 points and 2 assists per game. Tremitiere announced her retirement from the WNBA on April 23, 2001 at the age of 31. And thus, the final game of her career was her last game of the 2000 season with the Fever. That game was played on August 9, 2000 in a 67 - 51 win over the

Charlotte Sting The Charlotte Sting were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Charlotte, North Carolina, one of the league's eight original teams. The team disbanded on January 3, 2007. The Sting was originally the sister organization ...

where she recorded 3 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists. Unfortunately, Tremitiere ended her career never reaching the WNBA playoffs and never been on a team with a .500 or more record. For the four seasons she played, her team's record every year was Sacramento 10 - 18, Utah 8 - 22, Utah 15 - 17 and Indiana 9 - 23. In 2002 she played professional basketball briefly again in Turkey and for the WABA team, the York City Noise. Tremitiere also began a non-profit organization called ''Assist One'', which broadcast the stories of children waiting to be adopted in the

Sacramento, California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...

, area.

Post-WNBA activities

Together with KLC, she produced the rap hit "Hoody Hoo" by TRU. When she left basketball, Tremitiere pursued other interests such as acting. She can be seen in the 2002

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

movie '' Double Teamed'' about WNBA players Heather and

Heidi Burge Heidi Ann Horton (née Burge; November 11, 1971) is an American former professional women's basketball player who played overseas from 1993 to 1997 and then played for the Los Angeles Sparks and Washington Mystics of the WNBA from 1997 to 1998. ...

. Chantel has held many charity basketball games, bringing businesses and celebrities together for the benefit of the community in Sacramento and York. She continues her commitment to community service, speaking for youth groups and volunteering to work with at-risk youth. She was also a guest speaker at North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC)'s 2005 annual conference in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

. After returning to Auburn for graduate school, she completed her MBA in 2015 and her PhD in 2017.

Career statistics

College

Source

WNBA

Source

Regular season

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1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

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Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

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1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

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Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

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1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

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2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

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Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tremitiere, Chantel 1969 births Living people American adoptees American expatriate basketball people in Poland American women's basketball players Auburn Tigers women's basketball players Basketball players from Pennsylvania Indiana Fever players Point guards Sacramento Monarchs players Sportspeople from York, Pennsylvania Utah Starzz players Indiana Fever draft picks 20th-century American sportswomen