Bio
Gwen Austin, a stand out basketball player at Wallace-Rose Hill High School was a dominating 6’2” center.
In her freshman year she was All Conference, HM All East; sophomore year she was All Conference, All East (2nd Team); junior year..All Conference, All Section (1st team), All East (1st team) and in her senior year she was All Conference, All Section (1st team), All East (1st team), All State (1st team) and Player of the Year. She was also HM Converse All American and Who’s Who Among Woman Basketball Players in Nation.
From 1977 to 81 she participated in two District II Championships, Two East Central Conference Championships and Two East Central Conference Tournament Championships.
Gwen Austin went on to play collegiately at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. She graduated in 1985, with career records in 16 different categories, including points (2,056), rebounds (1,290) and blocks (222). She’s remembered as a sleek center who shot 52 percent from the field and averaged a double-double with 18.9 points and 11.8 rebounds per game over her 109 game career. She is all-time leading scorer for the UNC-Wilmington women’s basketball. She was first-team All-ECAC and ECAD South Player of the Year. In her four years with UNCW her teams went 69-40, including a 22-6 mark for the 1983-84 season. In 1981-82 she was named team MVP.
In 2009 Austin was named to the Coastal Athletic Conference Basketball Legends team and in 2010 she was inducted into the UNCW Sports Hall of Fame.
On February 23, 2014 Austin’s #23 jersey was retired….the first for a women’s player in UNCW history.
Since graduation, Austin has lived a relatively quiet life. She played one year of pro ball with Roquebrune-Cap Martin in France.
Gwen has worked as a driver for UPS for the past 22 years.