Val Whiting

Val Whiting
Valeria Olivia Whiting (born April 9, 1972) (also known as Val Whiting-Raymond) is a former collegiate and professional basketball player. She played center for the Stanford Cardinal women's basketball during her four years of pre-med study at Stanford. 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. For high school, she attended Ursuline Academy where, according to the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame, 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 School of Medicine in order to play basketball in Brazil and Italy.
Basketball career
College years (Stanford 1989-1993)
Whiting played for the Stanford Cardinal women's basketball 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 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 that used to be held in the years between Olympic Games by the United States Olympic Committee, 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. 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 in Atlanta.
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 for the San Jose Lasers. 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 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 in 1998. She played the 1999 season for the Detroit Shock. After taking a year away from basketball, she played for two years (2001-2002) for the Minnesota Lynx.
WNBA career statistics
Regular season
|-
| align="left" | 1999
| align="left" | Detroit
1.3 || 1.0 || 1.5 || 6.5|-
| align="left" | 2001
| align="left" | Minnesota
| 26 || 15 || 17.8 || .267 || .000 || .741 || 3.2 || 0.6 || 0.6 || 0.5 || 1.3 || 3.4
|-
| align="left" | 2002
| align="left" | Minnesota
| 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
|-
| align="left" | 1999
| align="left" | Detroit
| 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
Awards and honors
College
Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame (inducted in 2000)
ESPY Award Finalist
Naismith Award Finalist
In 2010, ESPN 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 pointso 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 PPGo Currently 7th all-time at Stanford and was 2nd when she graduated
· 481 career FT madeo Currently 4th all-time at Stanford and was 1st when she graduated
· 1,134 career reboundso 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 RPGo 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
The Hall of Fame of Delaware Women
The Delaware Basketball Hall of Fame
Delaware Afro-American Sports Hall of Fame
Delaware Sports Hall of Fame.
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 profile
2000 Stanford Hall of Fame profile
YouTube 2020 podcast interview The Dan Wilkins Show
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 (basketball)
San Jose Lasers players
Seattle Reign (basketball) players
Stanford Cardinal women's basketball players