Sandy Brondello OLY
Hall of Fame Class: 2010 Role: Player
Sandy Brondello has one of the most decorated mantelpieces in all of Australian basketball. A star on three continents, Sandy played 302 games for her country, which remains the third highest total in Opals history behind Hall of Famers Robyn Maher and Karen Dalton. Sandy played for 10 seasons in the WNBL, reaching the playoffs on three occasions. Most notably, she was named the WNBL’s Most Valuable Player in 1995 as a member of a Brisbane Blazers team that finished just out of reach of the playoffs.
Her decade-long stint with German powerhouse BTV Wuppertal resulted in 10 German national titles, four trips to the Euroleague Final Four and in 1996 a Euroleague title alongside a Final Four MVP trophy. In 1998, she joined the WNBA’s Detroit Shock as a fourth-round draft pick (alongside Hall of Famer Rachael Sporn) and spent six years with the Shock, Miami and lastly Seattle.
Brondello was a member of four Olympic and four World Championship teams, including the Opals of 1996, who claimed Australia’s first medal in Olympic basketball with a famous victory over Ukraine in the Bronze medal playoff. She won two Olympic silver medals as well as a World Championship bronze medal. In February 2010, Sandy was appointed head coach of the WNBA’s San Antonio Silver Stars.
Sandy Brondello was a member of a generation of players who took Australian women’s basketball to unparalleled heights of excellence. She is more than worthy of her place in the Australian Basketball Hall of Fame.
