Yolanda Griffith Bobble Head Doll

Yolanda Griffith (born March 1, 1970 in Chicago, Illinois) is an award-winning American professional basketball playing. The Sacramento Monarchs selected Griffith as the #2 overall draft pick in the 1999 WNBA Draft.  She is a four-time WNBA All-Star, and won the WNBA's MVP and Defensive Player awards in 1999.

In 2005, the Monarchs won their first WNBA title over the Connecticut Sun, three games to one in a best-of-five playoff series. Griffith was named series MVP.

Yolanda’s journey to the WNBA was more difficult than most.  She attended George Washington Carver High School in the Chicago area. In her senior year (1988-1989), she was named in Parade Magazine's All-American basketball team.

She was offered a scholarship to play for the women's basketball team at the University of Iowa, but had to cancel it after she gave birth to her daughter, Candace.

Afterwards, she attended Palm Beach Junior College in Lake Worth, Florida, where she earned Junior College All-America honors in 1990-91.

In 1997, she joined the American Basketball League (ABL). Griffith was selected by the Long Beach Stingrays as the number one pick overall in the ABL players draft. In their only season, Griffith led the Stingrays to he brink of the ABL title, only to lose to the defending champions, the Columbus Quest. Griffith was named the 1997-1998 ABL Defensive Player of the Year and to the All-ABL first team. She finished second in the ABL's 1998 Most Valuable Player voting to her future 2000 Summer Olympics teammate Natalie Williams.

Griffith has twice been a member of the U.S. National Women's Basketball team.

She won Gold Medals at the Summer Olympics in both 2000 and 2004.