Ronda Jo Miller (born 21 April 1978) is a retired American professional deaf female basketball and volleyball player.[1][2] She is one of the few deaf women basketball players to have tried out for WNBA.[3][4] However, she did not make the team.

Ronda Jo Miller
Personal information
NationalityAmerican
Born (1978-04-21) April 21, 1978 (age 46)
Little Falls, Minnesota, United States
Sport
Country United States
Medal record
Representing  United States
Deaflympics
Women's Basketball
Gold medal – first place Copenhagen 1997 team
Women's Volleyball
Silver medal – second place Rome 2001 team
Bronze medal – third place Melbourne 2005 team

Biography

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Ronda Jo Miller was born profoundly deaf in Little Falls, Minnesota. As a child she played basketball with her brother, Robert using a hoop nailed to a shed next to their barn. She attended and graduated from the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf. She graduated at Gallaudet University in 2001.[5]

Career

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She made her Deaflympic debut at the 1997 Summer Deaflympics as part of the US deaf basketball team that claimed the gold medal.[6] She then became the member of the US deaf volleyball team and clinched silver and bronze medals at the 2001 Summer Deaflympics and 2005 Summer Deaflympics respectively.[7][8]

Apart from her Deaflympic career, she had a historic stint with Gallaudet University women's basketball team, scoring over 1000 points for Bison.[9]

In 1997, she was nominated for the ICSD Deaf Sportswoman of the Year award for her performance in the basketball event at the 1997 Summer Deaflympics.[10] She was inducted into the Gallaudet Athletics Hall of Fame in 2008. She retired from international basketball competitions in 2014.

References

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  1. ^ "Ronda Jo Miller | Deaflympics". www.deaflympics.com. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  2. ^ "ESPN.com - Page2 - Winning sounds like this". www.espn.com. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  3. ^ "GVC 06-18". winners.virtualclassroom.org. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  4. ^ "A STAR IN SILENCE Despite deafness, Gallaudet's Miller looks to WNBA career". NY Daily News. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  5. ^ "Ronda Jo Miller Bio". Gallaudet. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  6. ^ "Women's basketball | 1997 Summer Deaflympics". www.deaflympics.com. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  7. ^ "Women's volleyball | 2001 Summer Deaflympics". www.deaflympics.com. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  8. ^ "Women's volleyball | 2005 Summer Deaflympics". www.deaflympics.com. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  9. ^ "Embracing the silence". NCAA.org - The Official Site of the NCAA. April 30, 2014. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  10. ^ "1997 ICSD Deaf Sportswoman of the Year nominees | Deaflympics". www.deaflympics.com. Retrieved January 7, 2018.