Jennifer "Grandmama" Gillom (born June 13, 1964) is an American former Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) basketball player who played for the Phoenix Mercury from 1997 to 2002, before finishing her playing career with the Los Angeles Sparks in 2003. Gillom is also a former Sparks head coach, also coached the Minnesota Lynx, and was, until 2015, an assistant coach of the Connecticut Sun.
Born in Abbeville, Mississippi, Gillom played college basketball at the University of Mississippi and helped the United States Basketball Team to a gold medal in women's basketball in the 1988 Summer Olympics.[1] Gillom signed with the Mercury in 1997 where she was All-WNBA in 1999 and won the Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award in her final season.
Gillom became the head coach of the Xavier College Preparatory High School basketball team in Phoenix, Arizona in 2004. Starting in the 2008 season, Gillom served as an assistant coach for the Minnesota Lynx. In June 2009, she was named head coach of the Lynx and stayed as the head coach until the end of 2009 when she was succeeded by Cheryl Reeve (who still coaches the team as of 2023).
In March 2024, Gillom led her high school team, the Xavier College Preparatory Gators to win their first-ever WBB championship against defending champs the Desert Vista Thunder.
In 2009, Gillom was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Knoxville, Tennessee.[2]
- ^ "Games of the XXIVth Olympiad -- 1988". USA Basketball. Archived from the original on 2012-09-14. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
- ^ "WBHOF Inductees". WBHOF. Archived from the original on 2017-12-06. Retrieved 2009-08-01.