Georgeann Wells facts for kids

Georgeann Wells is a famous American basketball player. She played for West Virginia University (WVU) from 1982 to 1986. Georgeann is best known for being the first American woman to dunk a basketball in an official college game. This amazing moment happened on December 21, 1984. She used a regular-sized basketball, which is the same size men use.

Growing Up: Georgeann's Early Life

Georgeann Wells grew up in Columbus, Ohio. She was one of nine children in her family. From a young age, Georgeann loved basketball. She played on her middle school team. Later, she played for Columbus Northland High School. Her talent helped Northland win the state basketball championship. Because of her skills, West Virginia University offered her two scholarships.

College Basketball Career Highlights

Playing for West Virginia University

In her first year at West Virginia University, Georgeann scored about 11.9 points per game. She was a great scorer. Georgeann also worked hard to improve her dunking. She wanted to dunk during a real game. Because she was very tall, her coaches helped her practice. After each team practice, Georgeann would stay an extra 10 to 15 minutes. She would dunk many times to get her form just right.

The Historic Dunk: Making History

In the 1984–85 season, Georgeann almost made her first dunk. But an opponent fouled her sister, Marva, right as Georgeann tried to dunk. The dunk didn't count.

Soon after, on December 21, 1984, Georgeann made history. She was playing against the University of Charleston (WV). With 11 minutes and 18 seconds left in the game, Georgeann got a pass from her teammate Lisa Ribble. She then made the first official dunk in a women's college basketball game! WVU won the game 110–82.

National Attention for the Dunk

News of Georgeann's dunk spread quickly. Major newspapers like New York Times, Sports Illustrated, and USA Today wrote about it. The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame even created an exhibit about her achievement. Georgeann was also honored at a special NCAA event in New York.

Finding the Lost Video

For almost 25 years, people thought there was no video of Georgeann's dunk. But in 2009, a sports reporter named Reed Albergotti started looking for it. He was writing an article to celebrate the dunk's 25th anniversary. Albergotti contacted Ford Francis, whose father, Bud Francis, was the University of Charleston coach in 1984.

Bud Francis had expected Georgeann might try to dunk. So, he had a team staffer record the game. After his father passed away, Ford Francis found a tape labeled "W.V.U.-84 Elkins." When he watched it, he and Albergotti realized it was the historic footage! Even though WVU didn't record it, the University of Charleston had.

More College Achievements

After Georgeann's dunk, no other woman dunked in an official game until 1994. That's when Charlotte Smith from North Carolina made the second recorded dunk.

Besides her famous dunk, Georgeann had a great career at WVU. She played all four years. She scored 1,484 points and grabbed 1,075 rebounds. Her 436 blocked shots are still the all-time record for women at WVU.

After College: Georgeann's Career

After college, Georgeann Wells toured with the famous Harlem Globetrotters. She also became a coach. She coached professional basketball in Japan from 1986 to 1992. Then she coached in Spain, Italy, and France from 1992 to 2003. More recently, Georgeann has worked as a physical education teacher in her hometown of Columbus, Ohio.

Awards and Recognitions

As a center for WVU, Georgeann Wells received many awards:

• Third Team, All-American (1985)
• Freshman All-American (1983)
• First Team, All-Atlantic 10 (1985, 1986)
• Second Team, All-Atlantic 10 (1984)

In April 2015, Georgeann and other African-American student athletes were honored at WVU. This event celebrated the anniversary of the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education. It also recognized the achievements of pioneering African-American student athletes.

See also

• A Brief History of Women’s Basketball at West Virginia University
• Steelhammer, R. (2013). Duchess of Dunk - 1984. In It Happened in West Virginia : Remarkable Events That Shaped History (pp. 132–134). Guilford, CT: Morris Publishing
• Ford, L. (1999). Lady Hoopsters: A History of Women's Basketball in America. Kearney, NE: Morris Publishing.