Susan Joy Wicks (born November 26, 1966) is a former

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player in the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. The league comprises 13 teams (scheduled to expand to 15 in 2026). The WNBA is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. The WNBA w ...

(WNBA). She played with the New York Liberty from 1997 to 2002. Wicks was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013.

Early years

Born in Center Moriches, New York, Wicks played for

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

from 1984 to 1988. While at Rutgers, she was named a Kodak All-American in 1986, 1987 and 1988, and in 1988 she won the Naismith, U.S. Basketball Writers Association, Women's Basketball News Service and Street & Smith's National Player of the Year awards. She was Player of the Year in the Atlantic 10 Conference in 1986, 1987 and 1988, winning the Atlantic 10 Tournament MVP award in 1986 and 1988, and sharing it in 1987. She also was named to All-Regional Teams in the NCAA tournament in 1986 and 1987. She holds the Rutgers records for points scored (2,655), rebounds (1,357), scoring average (21.2 ppg), rebounding average (10.9 rpg), field goals made (1,091) and attempted (2,099), free throws made (473) and attempted (641), and blocked shots (293). The scoring and rebounding totals are records for a male or female player at Rutgers. She was a gold medalist in the 1987 Pan-American Games. Following her college career, she played professionally in Italy, Japan, Spain and Israel before the WNBA was founded. In 1997, she was signed for the inaugural WNBA season by the New York Liberty, to fill the role of back-up center. The Liberty played at the WNBA championship game, losing to the Houston Comets, 65–51.

Career statistics

WNBA

Regular season

, - , align="left" ,

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 ...

, align="left" , New York , 28, , 0, , 11.9, , 35.5, , 28.6, , 66.7, , 3.4, , 1.0, , 0.6, , 0.6, , 1.6, , 3.6 , - , align="left" ,

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 ...

, align="left" , New York , 30, , 0, , 14.8, , 43.0, , 0.0, , 80.0, , 2.8, , 1.2, , 0.5, , 0.3, , 1.6, , 4.3 , - , align="left" ,

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 ...

, align="left" , New York , 32, , 30, , 29.3, , 40.3, , 13.3, , 61.5, , 7.0, , 1.4, , 1.3, , 1.3, , 2.0, , 6.8 , - , align="left" ,

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 ...

, align="left" , New York , 32, , 12, , 21.3, , 38.5, , 20.0, , 72.6, , 4.7, , 0.7, , 0.8, , 1.2, , 1.6, , 4.9 , - , align="left" ,

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, align="left" , New York , 30, , 3, , 20.1, , 46.9, , 0.0, , 67.3, , 4.6, , 1.2, , 1.2, , 1.0, , 1.4, , 5.2 , - , align="left" , 2002 , align="left" , New York , 30, , 0, , 14.3, , 34.3, , 0.0, , 66.7, , 3.4, , 0.5, , 0.7, , 0.5, , 1.0, , 2.2 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , 6 years, 1 team , 182, , 45, , 18.8, , 40.2, , 13.2, , 69.4, , 4.3, , 1.0, , 0.9, , 0.9, , 1.5, , 4.5

Playoffs

, - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , New York , 2, , 0, , 5.5, , 33.3, , 0.0, , 0.0, , 2.0, , 0.5, , 0.5, , 0.5, , 1.5, , 2.0 , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , New York , 6, , 6, , 29.0, , 37.0, , 40.0, , 66.7, , 6.8, , 1.7, , 1.0, , 1.0, , 0.7, , 7.0 , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , New York , 7, , 0, , 18.7, , 34.6, , 100.0, , 100.0, , 3.9, , 0.4, , 1.0, , 1.3, , 0.7, , 3.3 , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , New York , 6, , 0, , 19.7, , 44.4, , 0.0, , 80.0, , 3.3, , 0.8, , 0.3, , 1.0, , 1.3, , 4.7 , - , align="left" , 2002 , align="left" , New York , 8, , 0, , 12.0, , 50.0, , 100.0, , 85.7, , 1.5, , 0.3, , 0.1, , 0.5, , 0.8, , 2.6 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , 5 years, 1 team , 29, , 6, , 18.3, , 39.5, , 57.1, , 80.0, , 3.6, , 0.7, , 0.6, , 0.9, , 0.9, , 4.1

College

Source

WNBA career

On April 28, 1997, Wicks was drafted with the 6th overall pick of the

1997 WNBA Draft The 1997 WNBA draft was the 1st draft held by the WNBA through which teams could select new players from a talent pool of college and professional women's basketball players. Unlike later drafts, this draft was unique because there were three d ...

to the New York Liberty. She would go on to play 6 seasons in the WNBA, all 6 of them being a member of the Liberty. Her debut game was played on June 21, 1997, in a 67–57 victory over the Los Angeles Sparks where she recorded 2 points, 1 rebound, 1 steal and 1 block. Wicks mostly came off the bench for the Liberty but did start 45 of 182 regular season games, including 30 starts (out of 32 games played) in 1999. Wicks starting in 1999 was due in part to her defensive skills. She developed into a fan favorite and was voted by the fans as a starter in the 2000 WNBA all-star game. In 2000, she received the WNBA's top award for sportsmanship, the Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award. In 1997, 1999 and 2000, Wicks and the Liberty reached the WNBA Finals, only to be beaten by the Houston Comets every time. In 2002, Wicks and the Liberty returned to the Finals again, but this time, they lost to

Lisa Leslie Lisa Deshaun Leslie (born July 7, 1972) is an American former professional basketball player. She is formerly the head coach for Triplets (basketball), Triplets in the BIG3 professional basketball league, as well as a studio analyst for Orlando ...

and the Los Angeles Sparks. After being defeated in the 2002 Finals, Wicks would not play in the WNBA again, as she announced her retirement on April 29, 2003. Her final WNBA game was Game 2 of the 2002 Finals on August 31, 2002. The Liberty lost the championship game to the Sparks 66 - 69 with Wicks recording 2 points, 4 rebounds and 1 steal. In 182 WNBA games played, Wicks scored 823 points, for a total of 4.5 points per game, had 182 assists for one assist per game, recovered 788 rebounds, for a total of 4.3 per game, and had 158 blocks, for a total of 0.90 blocks per game. She finished her WNBA career as the number eight leader of all times in shots blocked.

Personal life

Wicks was one of the few players willing to discuss sexual orientation in the WNBA during her career. She said, "I can't say how many players are gay ... but it would be easier to count the straight ones." She also said she found it "annoying" that the league almost exclusively promoted those who were mothers. "I like it when they give insight into athletes, and I think it's great when they say, 'Here's a player and her husband and baby.' But I'd love to see a couple of women profiled, too, especially if they had a great, solid relationship, just to show that in a positive light." In 2002, she came out as gay, making her the first openly gay person playing in the WNBA.

Coaching career

Since retiring from professional basketball, Wicks formed an all-girls basketball camp in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. In 2004, she completed her bachelor's degree at Rutgers and was hired as the Coordinator of Operations for the Rutgers women's basketball team. In 2005, she was named an assistant coach of the team. Wicks was inducted into the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame on Long Island in the Basketball Category with the Class of 1991. She was inducted into the Rutgers Basketball Hall of Fame in 1994 and was inducted into the university's Hall of Distinguished Alumni in 2005. She is one of only two Rutgers women's basketball players to have her jersey retired. In July 2006, she became the Assistant Coach for the women's basketball team at Saint Francis College in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. After leaving her assistant coaching position at Saint Francis College, Wicks said that she felt that being an out lesbian was an overwhelming liability in getting a job as a women's basketball coach.

Hall of Fame

Wicks was inducted in the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in June 2013. She did not have a prepared speech, but spoke extemporaneously, thanking Pat Summitt for her leadership in the formation of the Hall of Fame. Her credentials included selection as a Kodak All-American three times, and the record-holder of career points and rebounds at Rutgers, records which had not been surpassed by any male or female players at Rutgers at the time of the induction. She also played professionally in the WNBA and was on the gold medal-winning

USA Basketball USA Basketball (USAB) is a non-profit organization and the governing body for basketball in the United States. The organization represents the United States in FIBA, and the men's and women's national basketball teams in the United States ...

Pan-American Games team in 1987.

References

External links

Official Site

WNBA Player File page for Sue Wicks

St. Francis Hires Sue Wicks
* https://www.newsday.com/amp/sports/basketball/liberty/sue-wicks-pride-month-jts0up5v * https://northforker.com/2022/10/this-oyster-farmers-got-game-basketball-legend-sue-wicks-follows-her-familys-ties-to-the-long-island-waterfront/ * https://www.outsports.com/platform/amp/2019/6/14/18667309/stonewall-50-pride-athlete-sue-wicks-lgbtq-wnba * https://www.curvemag.com/blog/sports/top-influential-lesbian-athletes/
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wicks, Sue 1966 births Living people All-American college women's basketball players American women's basketball coaches American women's basketball players Medalists at the 1987 Pan American Games Basketball players at the 1987 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in basketball Centers (basketball) LGBTQ basketball players LGBTQ people from New York (state) American lesbian sportswomen New York Liberty draft picks New York Liberty players People from Center Moriches, New York Sportspeople from Brookhaven, New York Basketball players from Suffolk County, New York Rutgers Scarlet Knights women's basketball coaches Rutgers Scarlet Knights women's basketball players WNBA All-Stars United States women's national basketball team players 20th-century American sportswomen