7-Foot-2 Ex-WNBA Star Margo Dydek Dead at 37

Former WNBA player Margo Dydek died today after suffering a heart attack a week ago and being placed in a medically induced coma. She was 37. Poland-born Dydek, who was pregnant with her third child, suffered the heart attack on May 19 and collapsed at her home in Brisbane. Dydek was at an early stage in her pregnancy and that her unborn child had also died. She is survived by her husband, David, and two sons, David, 3, and Alex, seven months.

Dydek was born on April 28, 1974 in Warsaw, Poland to a 6-foot-7 father and a 6-foot-3 mother. She was the No. 1 pick in the 1998 WNBA draft by the Utah Starzz. She also played for San Antonio, Connecticut, and Los Angeles. The 7-foot-2 Dydek was once said to be the tallest active professional female basketball player in the world. She held the record for most blocks in a WNBA career, with 877 in 323 games, and led the league in blocks nine times, from 1998 to 2003 and again from 2005 to 2007. (More WNBA stories.)