Athletes

Anucha Browne Sanders was Northwestern University's (NU) first All-American women's basketball player and set 24 school records. She was inducted into the Northwestern Wildcats Hall of Fame in 1993. She was named NU women's basketball player of the decade in 1992 when the school and Big Ten Conference celebrated the 10th anniversary of women's intercollegiate athletics. Browne Sanders opened her senior season (1984-85) by becoming the first woman in NCAA history to tally six straight 30-plus-point performances. That same season saw her lead the nation in scoring (30.5 points per game) and was selected to the Kodak, Street & Smith's and Women's Sports Foundation's All-American teams. She also captured Big Ten Player of the Year honors for the second consecutive year and became the conference's all-time leading scorer at that time with 2,307 points. As a junior at Northwestern (1983-84), Browne Sanders became the first woman and the fourth person in Big Ten history to lead the conference in scoring and rebounding in the same season. She was also named a finalist for the Wade Trophy, which honors the best women's collegiate player in Division I. Overall, she was a two-time Wade Trophy and one-time Naismith (top women's collegiate basketball player in the nation) Player of the Year finalist. Browne Sanders was named to the Sports Business Journal's "Forty Under Forty" list in 2003, honoring the top 40 professionals in the sports field under 40 years old. She was also honored in 2002 by the Empire State Games as one of its top athletes of the first 25 years the competition has been in existence. Browne Sanders spent 11 years with IBM Corporation, serving in a number of roles, most recently as a program manager in IBM's Worldwide Sports office. She also worked in the NBA from 2000-06 and was one of the highest-ranking female executives in the organization. She was honored with the 2004 Miracle Award by The Miracle Makers, a not-for-profit family and children's services group in New York. Her philanthropic efforts have also taken her to southern Asia to assist the victims of the tsunami with their recovery and rebuilding efforts as part of a trip organized by Phillips Exeter Academy. Browne Sanders holds a bachelor of science degree in communications from NU and a masters degree in marketing communications from Florida State University. She currently works at the University at Buffalo as the senior associate athletic director for marketing. She is responsible for the marketing of revenue sports while overseeing the ticket operations, promotions and corporate sales efforts for the division of athletics. In her role, she is also the university's senior woman administrator responsible for oversight of gender equity issues within athletics. (11/07)