- Margo Dydek is the tallest WNBA player in history, standing at 7 feet 2 inches (2.18 m).
- Dydek is the all-time leader in blocks in WNBA history, with 877 career blocks.
- She was a successful player in both Europe and the WNBA, winning championships and awards.
- Margo Dydek was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2019 for her contributions to the game.
Polish basketball center Margo Dydek (of Poznań and Brisbane fame) was born and tragically passed away in Poznań. As a member of the Polish squad, she helped them win the European Championship. She was one of the 1995 WNBA Finals players with the Connecticut Sun, the team for whom she was selected first in the 1998 WNBA draft. In terms of block statistics, she is the top player in the history of the league, both in terms of total and average per game. With the Spanish team Pool Getafe in 1998, the Polish club Gdynia in 2002 and 2004, and the Spanish club Ros Casares Valencia in 2007, she appeared in four Euroleague finals throughout Europe.
Her 7 feet 2 inches (2.18 m) of height made her an invaluable asset to whatever squad she joined. Also known as “Malgorzata Dydek“, she is still the tallest WNBA player in history.
Who Was Margo Dydek?
Her Life
Jan and Maria Dydek were the parents of Margo Dydek. Her mother worked as a seamstress, and her father ran a restaurant. Her father is known to be 6 feet 7 inches (2.01 m) tall, but her grandfather was allegedly 7 feet (2.13 m) tall; therefore, she inherited their height. However, her mother also shared her height, coming in at 6 feet 4 inches (1.92 m) tall. Three daughters were born to this couple: Katarzyna (the oldest, at 6 ft 7 in or 2.01 m), a former American Basketball League player and Polish national team member; Margo; and Marta (the youngest, at 6 feet 5 inches or 1.95 m).
The latter was a Polish youth national team player in Spain’s Liga Femenina 2 for Adecco Estudiantes Madrid and Ros Casares Valencia. She followed her sister to Australia in 2009, where she spent a season playing basketball with the Logan Thunder of Australia’s Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL). She even shared the court with her sister for the first time in her professional life.
Margo Dydek’s shoe size was allegedly US men’s 18 or 52 EU, which means a foot length of 13.6 in or 34.5 cm. Margo Dydek’s husband, David, was a Brit. They had their first child, David, in 2008 and their second, Alex, in 2010. Margo Dydek was just four months along when she had a fatal heart attack. She died on May 27, 2011.
Her Accomplishments
Dydek won several championships because of her impressive abilities. In the 1999–2000 Polish season, she was voted the league’s most valuable player. Dydek also had two WNBA All-Star appearances under her belt in 2003 and 2006. As one of the most influential players in European, Polish, American, and WNBA basketball history, she was elected to the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2019.
In the Queensland Basketball League, Dydek coached the Northside Wizards. In 1999, she was honored with the Polish Gold Cross of Merit. In the same year, the Italian sports publication La Gazzetta dello Sport hailed her as Europe’s top female basketball player. Dydek died unexpectedly on May 27, 2011, at her home in Brisbane, Australia, after a heart attack. Margo Dydek is still the all-time leader in blocks in WNBA history.
Why Margo Dydek Was So Tall
Margo Dydek was the product of a fertile union between a tall father (6’7″; 2.01 m) and a shorter but still tall mother (6’4″; 1.92 m). Katarzyna (6’7″; 2.01 m), the taller of her two sisters, used to play basketball with the Colorado Xplosion of the American Basketball League (ABL). Marta, her younger sister, is 6 feet tall (1.98 m) and played professional basketball in Spain in the 2000s. Thus, it seems that Margo Dydek’s height was inherited since several members of her family are exceptionally tall. Hence, even her grandfather was allegedly a 7-foot (2.13 m) gentleman.
Margo Dydek is also one of the tallest women in history, after ones like Zeng Jinlian, Sandy Allen, and Trijntje Keever.
The Tallest WNBA Player Ever
At 7 feet 2 inches, Margo Dydek is the tallest WNBA player ever to play the game. The five tallest WNBA players ever are as follows:
- Margo Dydek -> 7 ft 2 in (2.18 m)
- Bernadett Hatar and Han Xu -> 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)
- Liz Cambage and Brittney Griner -> 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
- Zheng Haixia, Maria Stepanova, Katie Mattera, and Lindsay Taylor -> 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
- Teaira McCowan -> 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Margo Dydek’s Basketball Career
Her Early Career
Margo Dydek’s older sister, Katarzyna, also played for TS Olimpia Poznań, the Polish club where Margo Dydek made her professional debut. She later made an international appearance in a European tournament in the Ronchetti Cup final, where she lost to the Lavezzini Basket Parma of Italy by a combined score of 91-62 (in Italy) and 71-70 (in Poland).
Averaging 10.8 points and 6.3 rebounds in 26 minutes per game, Margo Dydek appeared in six games. She also won the Polish championship for the first time, a feat she repeated the following year. In her second year with the team, they made it all the way to the Euroleague semi-finals before losing to eventual champions Italian side Como. She averaged 15.2 points per game, which was enough for tenth place. With 8.1 rebounds per game, she was sixth in the league.
After that, she joined the newly-crowned Union Sportive Valenciennes Olympic of the French league. Returning to the Euroleague, Margo Dydek helped her team reach the Final Four before losing to eventual champions and reigning champions Como. The French regular season concluded with USVO in fifth place.
USVO was in its second year of competing in the Ronchetti Cup in France. Dydek finished with 17.0 points, 11.0 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 31 minutes. As a defensive rebounder, she ranked first, and fourth for overall rebounds. Valenciennes made it all the way to the finals of the French championship before succumbing in a heartbreaking three-set loss to Bourges.
A New Start in Spain
Margo Dydek then relocated to Spain and joined Pool Getafe. She spent two years in Spain and won the national title both years. She also played in the Euroleague, where she was eliminated by BTV 1846 Wuppertal of Germany in the quarterfinals during the 1996–1997 season. After beating Como in the semi-finals of the 1997–1998 Euroleague Final Four, Getafe went on to play Bourges of France in the championship game. While her opponent, the Slovak Anna Kotocová, scored 15 points, grabbed 9 rebounds, gave out 2 assists, and made 2 steals in a 76-64 French victory, Dydek managed only 8 points and 1 rebound in 28 minutes.
Dydek joined her sister Katarzyna at VBW Clima Gdynia after returning to Poland. The Polish team had gone two years without reaching the quarterfinals of the Euroleague before losing to Brno in the 2000–2001 season. She grabbed 10.7 rebounds per game, again leading the league as she did last year. With a perfect score of 3.0, she also led the block rankings. Dydek scored 18.5 points in addition, placing her sixth in the league.
The Polish team won the Liévin Final Four the next year after beating Como in the quarterfinals and ASD Basket Parma, another Italian club, in the semis. After picking up three fouls early in the championship game, she was forced to leave her teammates with just three minutes remaining. Dydek had 10 points and 8 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough to stop her old team, USVO, from capturing their first European championship. She had the highest blocks (1.9) once again. She scored 13.5 points and had 9.3 rebounds, good for fourth place among players in both categories.
Leading the League
The next year, Russian club UMMC Ekaterinburg knocked off Gdynia in three sets to prevent them from reaching the Final Four. Once again, Margo Dydek was the league leader in blocks (2.5) and rebounds (10.4). Her score of 15.7 placed her in tenth place. Gdynia and Valenciennes of France met in the final of the 2003–2004 season, just as they did in the 2002–2003 season. Even though Dydek scored 17 points, pulled down 7 rebounds, and scored 1 block, the opponent team prevailed by a comfortable 93-69, the largest margin of victory in a championship game. She had the highest shot-blocking average (2.5) for the fourth year in a row. She ranked eighth in rebounds with 8.2 rebounds and scored a total of 13.4 points.
Dydek topped the Euroleague blocks for the last five years in a row. She averaged 3.0 blocks per contest. She grabbed an average of 12 rebounds per game, good enough for second in the league, and again led the league in defensive rebounds. Her offensive output stood out since she scored 16.5 points and was ranked sixth in Europe. The 62-52 defeat against Brno in the quarterfinals was the end of Gdynia’s season.
Seven straight Polish championships were won by her during her time spent competing in Poland.
Margo started attending UMMC Yekaterinburg, a Russian club. After losing in three sets against Pécs in the Euroleague, she did not advance to the round of 16. Dydek was only allowed to play for 11.5 minutes, during which time she managed to score 3.5 points, pull down 3 rebounds, and make 0.5 steals.
She eventually joined Ros Casares Valencia of Spain. She started all 16 games she appeared in during the Euroleague season, averaging 7.9 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 22 minutes per game. In the finals, she and Valencia lost to Dynamo Region Moscow by a score of 76–62. She had 2 points, 5 rebounds, and a block in the game.
A Pro Basketballer in the WNBA
Despite her success in Europe, Margo Dydek participated in a training camp for the 1998 WNBA draft and was almost unknown in the United States. Dydek’s height made her a draft day magnet, but it was her play in training that ultimately led to the Utah Starzz selecting her first overall. She was a first-year starter who appeared in all 30 games during the regular season. Her final WNBA stats were 12.9 points, 7.6 rebounds (good for fourth in the league), 3.6 assists, and 28 minutes per game.
She had the highest season total (114) and percentage (3.8) in the league for blocks. In terms of a single season, this was the highest ever until Brittney Griner surpassed it in 2014. She lost out to Suzie McConnell for WNBA Rookie of the Year. Dydek also finished in the Top 10 of the league, but in a negative category, placing third in the number of ball losses allowed (118).
For the following five years in a row, Dydek led all players in both average and total block statistics.
For the following five years in a row, Dydek led all players in both average and total block statistics. She finished first in defensive rebounding in 2001 and was a top-10 performer in each of the other four seasons. She was tenth in 2003 with 7.4 rebounds per game, eighth in 2002 with 8.7, and third in 2001 with 7.6.
Her first appearance in the postseason didn’t come until the 2001 season. The Starzz finished the season with a 19–13 record but were ousted by the Sacramento Monarchs in two sets. She scored 14 points, grabbed seven rebounds, and dished out three assists in 34:05 of action during that series, becoming the second player in league history to accomplish a triple-double (12 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists). She also established a new WNBA record for most blocks in a game with 10.
Her Greatest Season
The next year was her second time playing in the postseason. The Starz recorded their first-ever postseason victory with a 2-1 victory against the Houston Comets. In the next round, the eventual champion Los Angeles Sparks swept them in straight sets to finish their season. In these five games, Margo Dydek played a total of 34 minutes and had the following stats: 12 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 3.4 assists. Her career highs in points (13.1), rebounds (8.7), and assists (0.8) all came in 2002, her greatest season statistically.
After the Starzz relocated to Texas, she played for them for two seasons with the San Antonio Silver Stars. With a combined 12 wins and 22 defeats over the two years, the team finished in sixth place in the conference and seventh place in the West. When her team needed to refresh its roster, they sent her packing in exchange for Katie Feenstra, the eighth overall choice in the draft conducted only days before, and a first-round pick in the next year’s draft. Her new team, the Connecticut Sun, won the regular season and playoff titles.
They swept the Detroit Shock and the Indiana Fever in the first two rounds. The Sun fell to the Sacramento Monarchs by a score of 3–1 in the championship game despite playing at home. Dydek was once again the best female blocker, ranking first in the league with 71, equal with Lisa Leslie, but second in the league in average, behind Leslie’s 2.3 average. She now had a career block total of 700, more than anybody else in the league. With 2,500 points, she surpassed yet another threshold. As an individual, she was commended for being placed in the second defensive five.
The next year, Dydek once again led the league in both average blocks per game and total blocks.
The next year, when Dydek once again led the league in both average blocks per game (2.5) and total blocks (85), she was honored with the same trophy. When it came to defensive rebounds, she finished in the top 10 and received another nomination. With 800 assists, she set a new record. With a postseason stat line of 11.0 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 2.8 assists, she was back in action. The Sun were eliminated from postseason contention by the eventual champion Detroit Shock. And now she had two WNBA All-Star Game nods to her name.
Margo Dydek led the WNBA league in blocks for the seventh time in her 10 years there, and her average of 8.2 per game was good for first place. She had 172 defensive rebounds, enough for third place in the league. Her team was eliminated by the Indiana Fever in the first round of the playoffs.
Now a Mother
She had her first child in 2008 and joined the Los Angeles Sparks that same year. She got into two games with the new squad, averaging 2.0 points and 1.5 rebounds in 7.0 total minutes.
Dydek participated in 323 regular-season games throughout her WNBA career and finished with 3,220 points, 2,143 rebounds, 525 assists, and 877 blocks. That was good for 10 points, 6.6 rebounds (5.5 of which are defensive), 1.6 assists, and 2.7 blocks a game on average. She has more blocks than the previous record holder, Lisa Leslie, who had 822, which makes Margo Dydek the all-time leader in blocks in WNBA history.
Margo Dydek is the all-time leader in blocks in WNBA history.
Lauren Jackson of Australia was in third place with a score of 568. Her 2.72 average blocks per game were more than double those of Leslie’s nearest competitor. She finished her career with the four greatest single-season block totals ever: 114 in 1998, 113 in 2001, 107 in 2002, and 100 in 2003. Brittney Griner became the new block-leader in 2014 with 129 blocks in a season.
One of the Best in the Country
At the 1993 European Championship in Italy, Margo Dydek competed in her first major final with her national team. She scored an average of 14.4 points, enough for fifth place. Poland did not advance to either of the next two European Championship tournaments’ championship rounds. To qualify for both tournaments, Dydek scored 22 points and grabbed 6.7 rebounds. In the second round, she scored 12.4 points and grabbed 8.1 rebounds.
The next European Championship was held in Poland. Both Lithuania and the Czech Republic were first-round losers. Poland advanced to the semi-finals after beating Croatia 66-61 and Russia 66-61. Margo Dydek had 19 and 9 points and 16 and 11 rebound performances in the two games, respectively. The Polish squad met the French team in the championship game. With 19 points and 10 rebounds, the home team won the European Championship 59-56. Her final line for the game was 19.3 points, 9.4 rebounds, and around 33 minutes played. She ended with a double-double five times out of the eight times.
The victory earned Poland a berth at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. They completed the first phase of play with a 3–2 record. This allowed them to go to the quarterfinals and play Australia. The Australians came up on top, 76–48. After losing to Slovakia 64-57, Poland ended up in eighth place. Margo Dydek outscored her opponents by a wide margin, averaging 20.4 points, 12.1 rebounds, and 1.4 assists. On five separate occasions, she scored 20 or more points, with a high of 32. Her competition-high rebound total was 18.
Poland’s goal at the 2001 European Championship in France was to defend the title they won two years earlier. While Margo Dydek led the team in scoring with 24.4 points and rebounding with 10.9 rebounds, Poland nonetheless finished sixth in the tournament after losing to Lithuania in the quarterfinals. Dydek was also the top player in the league in terms of blocks, averaging 2 per game. She scored over 30 points twice: in the quarterfinals, when she scored 31 and collected 15 rebounds, and in the sixth-place game, where she scored 38 and grabbed 11 rebounds.
Poland fell in the first round of the 2003 European Championship in Greece to the Czech Republic and France, only two years later. They advanced to the semi-finals by defeating Slovakia, but ultimately fell to the Czech Republic once more, this time by a score of 74-66. In the third-place game, Poland fell to Spain by a score of 87-81. Margo Dydek continued to dominate the rebounds, averaging 12.9 per game to lead the league in both categories (defensive and offensive). She also had the most blocks of any player in the tournament, with 3.6 per game. She finished with 14.4 points and 1.4 assists, enough for seventh place in the tournament.
References
- WNBA News for Teams, Players, Games & More | WNBA
- Former No. 1 pick Margo Dydek suffers heart attack, placed in medically induced coma – ESPN
- Margo Dydek WNBA Stats | Basketball-Reference.com
- The Story of the WNBA – Google Books
