A sermon preached in church about the value of every life turned a future Olympian’s mom away from her scheduled abortion.
Pamela McGee was a professional basketball player in both the Women’s American Basketball Association (WABA) and the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), and was a member of Team USA in the 1984 Olympic games where she earned a gold medal. Years later, in 2012, she was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. But in 1987, at age 24, Pamela found herself pregnant, and the baby’s father was no longer in her life.
She had an abortion scheduled, and she didn’t see how she could continue her career in basketball with a newborn.
But a sermon at Faithful Central Bible Church changed everything. There, her pastor preached about how life is a gift — and she canceled her appointment, choosing life instead for her son, JaVale McGee, who followed his mother’s footsteps in becoming a basketball legend.
“He is my greatest accomplishment and my greatest blessing,” Pamela said of JaVale.
She did all she could to set her children up for success, but believes they need to remember the hard work that afforded them opportunities. “Don’t think you just got here. There were sacrifices made for you,” she said.
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Both of Pamela’s children — JaVale in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and daughter Imani Trishawn McGee-Stafford in the WNBA — have excelled in basketball, like their mother. Pamela is the first WNBA player to have a child play in the NBA and WNBA. She and her son became the first mother-and-son duo to both win Olympic gold, with JaVale playing for Team USA in the 2021 Olympic games, where he also won a gold medal.
ESPN shared Pamela’s story back in 2011, and even in recent years, JaVale has been asked about his mother’s influence in his life (warning: mild profanity):
@allthesmokeproductions Pamela McGee is a basketball legend. ⭐️ Her guidance helped her son, JaVale McGee, had such a long and successful basketball career. Watch our @Sacramento Kings special edition of Extra Smoke with JaVale McGee and Kevin Huerter on our YouTube. #nba #basketball #wnba #javalemcgee #pamelamcgee #cherylmiller #allthesmoke #showtimebasketball ♬ original sound – All the Smoke Productions
Though there were times it was hard raising children as a single parent, juggling a basketball career, a college education, and homeschooling two children, she made it. Later, with a degree in economics, she became JaVale’s financial manager, and regrets nothing.
Pamela has continued doing all she can to instill excellence in her children; Imani was a first-round draft pick in the WNBA, still plays internationally, and went to college to get a law degree. JaVale, in addition to his basketball career, is a Grammy-nominated record producer. And none of it would have happened if she had kept that abortion appointment all those years ago.
“What I instilled in both of my children is to max out your capacity. Never be a child that says, ‘coulda, woulda, shoulda,'” she told TODAY in 2021. “I was born to a teenage mother that had twins at 17, and she instilled that spirit of excellence and resiliency. I just hope that I passed that down to them, and they understand that they didn’t just wake up and become Olympians. Somebody sacrificed, somebody paid a price and it’s their obligation to take it the next level.”
Pamela may indeed be “the only Olympian basketball player to birth an Olympian.” And even though she makes this claim with lighthearted humor, the truth behind it is the fact that her choice for life was the first step toward blessings she never imagined.
