Valeria Olivia Whiting (born April 9, 1972) (also known as Val Whiting-Raymond) is an American former collegiate and professional

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. She played center for the

Stanford Cardinal women's basketball The Stanford Cardinal women's basketball team represents Stanford University, located in Stanford, California. The school's team currently competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Cardinal are led by head coach Kate Paye, who previously s ...

during her four years of pre-med study at

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

. Among other collegiate honors, she was named Pac-10 Women's Basketball Player of the Year two years in a row. She also played for several USA National teams as well as professional women's basketball teams.

Early life

Whiting grew up in

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

. For high school, she attended Ursuline Academy where, according to the

Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame The Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame was founded in 1976. Al Cartwright, who helped found it, was its first president and was inducted to its hall of fame in 1980. The current museum building was constructed in 1993. The Delaware Sports ...

, she "led her team to four Delaware scholastic basketball titles and was a multi-year All-State performer." Whiting was a pre-med student at Stanford, where she earned a BS in Biological Sciences. She deferred her acceptance to

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...

School of Medicine in order to play basketball in Brazil and Italy.

Basketball career

College years (Stanford 1989-1993)

Whiting played for the

team all four years of her time at Stanford. In 1990, at the end of her rookie (freshman) season, she was named Freshman of the Year both by the

Pac-10 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

and by the Women's Basketball News Service. Also in 1990, Whiting was on the USA team for the U.S. Olympic Festival, an amateur

multi-sport event A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports among organized teams of athletes from (mostly) nation-states. The first major, modern, multi-sport event of intern ...

that used to be held in the years between

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

by the

United States Olympic Committee The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee (NOC) and the National Paralympic Committee (NPC) for the United States. It was founded in 1895 and is headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado ...

, which took place in Minneapolis that year. Whiting won two NCAA championships and went to the Final Four three years. Stanford also won four Pac-10 championships. She graduated as the school's all-time leading scorer and all-time leader in rebounds and blocks. She also left as the all-time leading scorer and rebounder in Pac-10 history. Including high school, Val has won 10 championships in total.

Post-college basketball

After graduating from Stanford, Whiting postponed going to medical school in order to play more basketball. She spent a year playing in Italy, followed by two years in Brazil. Whiting was one of twelve players on the USA National team that trained at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs for the

1995 Pan American Games The 1995 Pan American Games, officially known as the XII Pan American Games () and commonly known as Mar del Plata 1995, were held in Mar del Plata, Argentina, from 12 to 26 March 1995. After 44 years, this was the Pan American Games' first retur ...

. Because only four international women's teams registered for the event, however, the women's basketball event was cancelled. Whiting was an alternate for the 1995-1996 US Olympic women's basketball team. In 1996, the US team won the gold medal at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

American Basketball League

In 1996, the American Basketball League (ABL) was the first independent professional basketball league for women in the United States. They recruited both Whiting and her Stanford teammate

Jennifer Azzi Jennifer Lynn Azzi ( ; born August 31, 1968), is an American business development officer and former basketball player and coach. Since 2021, she has been the chief business development officer for the Las Vegas Aces. Azzi played collegiate bask ...

for the

San Jose Lasers The San Jose Lasers were a women's professional basketball team in San Jose, California. It was a member of the American Basketball League. Their home games were primarily held at the San Jose State Event Center with an occasional game being ...

. Whiting was also chosen for to play on the "West" All-Star team in the December, 1996 ABL All-Star Game. After one season with the Lasers, during which she was their leading rebounder, Whiting was traded to the

Seattle Reign Seattle Reign FC is an American professional soccer team based in Seattle, Washington, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2012, it is one of eight inaugural members of the NWSL. Since June 2024, the Reign ar ...

in 1997. In order to get Whiting, the Reign traded to the Lasers another player plus $20,000 and a third-round draft pick. At the end of the 1997–1998 season, Whiting was the Reign's second in scoring (15.4) and in rebounding (7.2) She played with the Seattle Reign from 1997 until, in 1998, the ABL folded.

Women's National Basketball League

Whiting was drafted to 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 ...

in 1998. She played the 1999 season for the

Detroit Shock The Detroit Shock were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. They were the 2003, 2006, and 2008 WNBA champions. Debuting in 1998, the Shock were one of the league's first expansion franchises. Th ...

. After taking a year away from basketball, she played for two years (2001-2002) for the Minnesota Lynx.

Career statistics

WNBA

Regular season

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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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Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, 31, , 20, , 24.6, , .380, , 0.0, , .455, , 6.7, , 1.6, , 1.3, , 1.0, , 1.5, , 6.5 , - , 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 ...

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Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, 26 , , 15 , , 17.8 , , .267 , , .000 , , .741 , , 3.2 , , 0.6 , , 0.6 , , 0.5 , , 1.3 , , 3.4 , - , align="left" ,

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, align="left" ,

, 6 , , 3 , , 8.7 , , .308 , , .000 , , .417 , , 1.5 , , 0.8 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 0.7 , , 2.2 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , 3 years, 2 teams , 63 , , 38 , , 20.3 , , .343 , , .000 , , .540 , , 4.7 , , 1.1 , , 0.9 , , 0.7 , , 1.3 , , 4.8

Playoffs

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, 1 , , 1 , , 27.0 , , .286 , , .000 , , .600 , , 6.0 , , 1.0 , , 2.0 , , 1.0 , , 2.0 , , 7.0 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , 1 year, 1 team , 1 , , 1 , , 27.0 , , .286 , , .000 , , .600 , , 6.0 , , 1.0 , , 2.0 , , 1.0 , , 2.0 , , 7.0

College

, - , style="text-align:left;" , 1989–90 , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 32, , -, , -, , 54.7, , 33.3, , 71.4, , 7.4, , 1.3, , 1.2, , 1.8, , -, , 12.4 , - , style="text-align:left;" , 1990–91 , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 32, , -, , -, , 45.9, , 0.0, , 71.1, , 9.7, , 2.0, , 1.3, , 1.5, , -, , 14.7 , - , style="text-align:left;" , 1991–92 , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 33, , -, , -, , 51.3, , 0.0, , 75.3, , 9.1, , 2.0, , 1.6, , 1.4, , -, , 18.5 , - , style="text-align:left;" , 1992–93 , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 32, , -, , -, , 51.3, , 38.5, , 70.4, , 8.9, , 1.5, , 1.8, , 1.5, , -, , 18.7 , - , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2 , Career , 129, , -, , -, , 50.7, , 26.1, , 72.2, , 8.8, , 1.7, , 1.5, , 1.6, , -, , 16.1 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="14", Statistics retrieved from

Sports-Reference Sports Reference, LLC is an American sports statistics company that operates databases of several sports. They include Pro Football Reference for American football, Baseball Reference for baseball, Basketball Reference for basketball, Hockey Ref ...

Awards and honors

College

*Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame (inducted in 2000) *ESPY Award Finalist *Naismith Award Finalist *In 2010,

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

named her one of the Top 25 NCAA Players of the Past 25 years. *2x All-American (1992, 1993) Both Kodak and U.S. Basketball Writers Association each time *2x Pac-10 Player of the Year (1992, 1993) *1990 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year *1990 National Freshman of the Year *2x All-Pac-10 First Team (1992, 1993) *Pac-10 All-Freshman Team (1990) *1992 All-Final Four Team *1991 West Region MVP *2x All-West Region Team (1991, 1992) · 2,077 career points o Currently 6th all-time at Stanford and 16th in the Pac-12 o Both Stanford and conference leader at the time she graduated · 16.1 career PPG o Currently 7th all-time at Stanford and was 2nd when she graduated · 481 career FT made o Currently 4th all-time at Stanford and was 1st when she graduated · 1,134 career rebounds o Currently 6th all-time at Stanford and 14th in the Pac-12 o Both Stanford and conference leader at the time she graduated · 8.8 career RPG o Currently 3rd all-time at Stanford and 15th in the Pac-12 o Both Stanford and conference leader at the time she graduated · 201 career blocks o Currently 3rd all-time at Stanford and 10th in the Pac-12 o Stanford's leader and second in conference history at the time she graduated.

Professional

*ABL All-Star Team 1996 *WNBA Community Assist Award

Hall of Fames

*Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame *Ursuline Academy Athletic Hall of Fame *The

Hall of Fame of Delaware Women The Hall of Fame of Delaware Women was established in 1981 by the Delaware Commission for Women, a division of the Secretary of State of Delaware. The hall of fame recognizes the achievements and contributions of Delaware women in a variety of fiel ...

(inducted 2007) *The Delaware Basketball Hall of Fame *Delaware Afro-American Sports Hall of Fame *

Delaware Sports Hall of Fame The Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame was founded in 1976. Al Cartwright, who helped found it, was its first president and was inducted to its hall of fame in 1980. The current museum building was constructed in 1993. The Delaware Sports M ...

(inducted 2007)

USA Basketball

*US Olympic Festival 1990 *R. William Jones Cup Team 1991 *Was named to USA Basketball Pan-American Games Team in 1995 *Alternate to the 1995 US National team that went on to win the gold medal at the 1996 Olympics

References

External links

1992 ''Sports Illustrated'' profileYouTube 2020 podcast interview ''The Dan Wilkins Show''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whiting, Val 1972 births Living people All-American college women's basketball players American women's basketball players Basketball players from Delaware Centers (basketball) Detroit Shock players Minnesota Lynx players Parade High School All-Americans (girls' basketball) Power forwards San Jose Lasers players Seattle Reign (basketball) players Stanford Cardinal women's basketball players