Simone Edwards, 49, a former star player for the Iowa women’s basketball team, passed away following a two-year fight with cancer.
The 6-foot-4 Edwards was a track star in her home Jamaica before moving to Iowa for a junior college basketball career from 1994 to 1997. There, she was a member of the Hawkeyes’ 1996 Sweet 16 and Big Ten Regular Season Champions as well as their 1997 Big Ten Tournament winning squad.
In all, Edwards participated in 74 Iowa wins.
“I spoke with her over the phone in June of last year. coached against her,” Lisa Bluder, the Iowa coach, claimed on Friday. Obviously, a life that is far too brief. It’s a tragic situation.”
Former Iowa women’s basketball player Simone Edwards passed away following a two-year fight with cancer. She is pictured here in 2000 while she was a player for the Seattle Storm of the WNBA.
Although Edwards was a member of the New York Liberty team during the WNBA’s debut season in 1997, she did not participate in the league until 2000, when she joined the Seattle Storm, an expansion team.
Known as the “Jamaican Hurricane,” she averaged 5.3 points and 3.5 rebounds per game throughout her six seasons with the Storm. During her Storm career, Edwards started 48 games. In 2004, Seattle had its first of four championship teams with Edwards on it. Before the 2006 season began, she announced her retirement from the WNBA.
