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User:KSlove521/sandbox

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Early life

Donna was born to Jerry Chait, an engineer, and Sherry Chait, an art broker in Elmont, New York.  Donna attended Elmont High School.  Donna is the oldest of three, and has two sisters. According to Donna, Elmont High School did not have a girls’ tennis team while she was attending so she asked the coach to play for the boys’ team. The coach agreed to let her try-out for the team, and in doing so she beat her opponent and was the first girl to play tennis for the high school, which gained little attention to her surprise (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Slf-D9Xo2w). Donna regularly went to playgrounds and parks to play basketball with other kids in the neighborhood, often challenging boys (TedTalk). 

College Years

Orender turned down an academic scholarship to University of Chicago to instead attend Queens College in New York City, New York to play basketball for Lucille Kyvallos.  Queens College was invited to play Immaculata at Madison Square Garden on February 22, 1975.  The match up was the first ever college women’s basketball game in the arena (https://queensknights.com/news/2019/1/15/coach-lucille-kyvallos-named-finalist-for-2019-class-of-womens-basketball-hall-of-fame.aspx). Orender graduated from Queens College in 1978 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology (https://queensknights.com/sports/2018/12/19/x-sph78.aspx)( https://www.linkedin.com/in/donnaorender/).  In 2012 Orender was inducted into Queens College Atheletics Hall of Fame (https://queensknights.com/sports/2018/12/19/Alumni-hof-Inductees.aspx).

After graduating from Queens College, Orender attended Adelphi University to pursue her Masters in Social Work.  She dropped out of the program after one year to play professional basketball for the Women’s Pro Basketball League (WBL) (Ted Talk). Adelphi University presented Orender with an honorary doctor of law degree in 2007 (https://events.adelphi.edu/au_news/wnba-president-donna-orender/).

Career

Women's Pro Basketball League (WBL)

PGA Tour

Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)

Orender Unlimited, LLC.

Personal life

Donna met her future husband Carnace (MG) Orender while both were working for PGA of America. MG has held several professional roles in the golf community such as President of Hamilton Golf, Inc. and many positions within the PGA America organization including PGA President from 2003 – 2004 (https://www.golfchannel.com/article/pgacom-news-services/orender-elected-president-pga). The two currently live in Jacksonville, Florida.

The two were married in 1994 and have two children together, twin brothers Jacob and Zachary.  Jacob is completing his degree at California University where he is also a walk-on Guard for the Cal U Bears Men’s Basketball team (https://calbears.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=13324). Zachary is completing his Bachelor’s Degree from Tulane University (https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachary-orender-31a092101/).

From the marriage Donna is also mother to two step-children, Morgan and Colleen Orender.  Morgan is an Associate Attorney practicing law in Jacksonville, Flordia (https://www.linkedin.com/in/morgan-orender-9611704a/) and Colleen is a singer based in Nashville, Tennessee (http://colleenorender.com/).

Donna is friends with Ann Meyers Drysdale (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Meyers) whom she met in 1979 while playing in the WBL. The two played together for the New Jersey Gems.

Donna gives back to her community by dedicating her time to serving my different organizations in the community in various roles.

Writing

During an interview in 2011 with Athlon Sports following her announcement that she would be stepping down as President of the WNBA, Donna mentioned writing a book among her professional goals (https://athlonsports.com/columns/athlon-interview/athlon-interview-outgoing-wnba-president-donna-orender). Donna has several writing credits to her name:

  • My Dad and Me by Larry King, contributor
  • WOWsdom! The Girl's Guide to the Positive and the Possible, author
  • Barnstorming America Stories from the Pioneers of Women's Basketball, co-author
  • The Leaderboard: Conversations on Golf and Life, contributor
  • Articles published with Sports Illustrated, Street and Smith's Sports Business Journal, and The Times

Awards and Honors

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