Deacon Sports Xtra: The Place, the People, the Opportunity
12/28/2021 11:14:00 AM | Women's Basketball, Les Johns
Tracy Connor-Riddick Reminisces on how her time at Wake Forest was truly special and how she carries it with her today.
There are just three Wake Forest women's basketball players with more than 40 career double-doubles: Jen Hoover, Dearica Hamby and Tracy Connor-Riddick.
Growing up less than an hour south of Winston-Salem, Connor-Riddick quickly became a Wake Forest fan as her own basketball skills began to materialize, and she yearned to follow in the footsteps of then Demon Deacon star Jenny Mitchell (now Wake Forest coach Jen Hoover).
"Wake Forest was the closest ACC school to my hometown," Connor-Riddick said. "When my parents started to see some basketball potential, they would take me to Wake Forest games every Saturday or Sunday, just whoever they were playing. I would see them every weekend when they had a home game.
"I would go to basketball camp there every summer. I knew Jen Mitchell-Hoover, when I was in high school, because I would come to camps. I wanted to be just like her and Sara White, and some of those other post players who were so good. When it came to decision day, I thought I was supposed to go to Wake Forest, because I was so familiar with the program."
She was essentially offered early in her high school career, but other schools got in the mix as well.
"Coach Joe Sanchez reached out my sophomore year," Connor-Riddick said. "Every time I was on campus, he told me he had a place for me. When some of the bigger players like Stanford, Duke and Virginia stepped, my eyes got real big. It was an honor, but Wake Forest always felt like home."
Other visits were taken, but as it turns out, they didn't have a ton of significance for Connor-Riddick.
"Wake Forest was my worst college visit," she said with a laugh. "It was one of the coldest days of the year. Part of the visit was to go to the football game. One of the grad assistants at the time had a boyfriend on the football team, so even though it was cold and snowing, she refused to leave the game. She wanted to stay until the end. My eyes are so sensitive to cold, so by halftime I was in tears.
"I looked like the biggest baby, but there was nothing I could do because they didn't want to leave this football game. If I had to base my choice based upon the recruiting visit, Wake Forest wouldn't have made the cut. Worst recruit visit ever."
The Deacs got close to .500 during Connor-Riddick's junior season, finishing 13-14 overall, grabbing two wins over a ranked NC State team along the way.
"I wanted to play at a school where I could play pretty quickly and have an immediate impact," Connor-Riddick said. "Freshman year, things went well. I always felt like we were one-or-two prospects away from breaking through and doing what coach Hoover is doing now."
She is third in Wake Forest program history with 42 career double-doubles.
"I had good passers," Connor-Riddick said. "Another added bonus of going to Wake Forest was Gretchen Hollifield and I had been best friends since seventh grade and went to college together. There was lots of upside to going to college with your best friend, but the voice of reason is never there. Nobody was there to tell you that maybe you shouldn't go out on a Thursday night with a game early Friday, so there were plusses and minuses.
"She always passed me the ball and was terrific at feeding the post. You don't know how talented you are until you look back. Thinking about the 42 double-doubles, it was fun. We were just playing ball, and things just happened naturally with all the hard work we put in."
Connor-Riddick is sixth on the career Wake Forest scoring leader list with 1,619 points, first in scoring average with 17.0 points per game, and fourth in career rebounds with 906.
"There were lots of highlights, like scoring 35 points against NC State," she said. "I think about having the opportunity to play against North Carolina the year they won the national championship. But it's really all about the friendships. Tim Duncan, Marc Blucas, Randolph Childress and I are still all really close.
"I'm the little sister to three of the goofiest guys on the planet. That wouldn't have happened without that Wake Forest connection."
It's beyond just basketball that continues to impress Connor-Riddick, both from her time on the court as a player to her time now as an involved alumni member.
"Then globally, just being a part of Wake Forest off the court — I was exposed to incredible professors that got me to think about things that weren't connected to the basketball court," she said. "I'm most proud of Wake Forest for that recent Trailblazer Award. I was part of that planning committee that honored the first Black football players to suit up for the Deacs. It really gave me the sense that Wake Forest really did something right and something special, today during a time of racial and social injustice and back then during a time of segregation.
"Wake Forest really got it right. There's a lot of things of which I'm proud of from my time at Wake Forest, but that Trailblazer Award is at the top of the list."
As a clinical affairs manager for Lungpacer Medical in Denver, Colorado, Connor-Riddick is right in the middle of vital research that could potentially assist in the global fight against COVID-19.
"We're trying to prove to the FDA that our device works in getting patients off a ventilator sooner," she said. "We have a device that helps patients who are on mechanical ventilators, get off them faster.
"This is especially applicable in this COVID crisis. We're trying to finish our study as fast as we can. I'm excited to be part of something so great and so revolutionary. Doctors and hospitals want this technology, because they're struggling with packe ICUs."
And she still keeps tabs with Wake Forest basketball, and hopes that others try to follow in her footsteps as part of Hoover's program.
"We text pretty regularly," Connor-Riddick said. "With the ACC Network, I can see both the men's and women's programs play all the time. I try to keep up with them. Coach Hoover has something really special this year, so I'm trying to watch as much as possible.
"What I accomplished back in my day helped pave the way for some of the players on Jen's team now. Seeing someone work hard and earn accolades hopefully was a spark for some of these young ladies to want to come to Wake Forest. They can be competitive in the ACC. We had a great time. We worked hard and played hard, and the accolades soon followed."
Growing up less than an hour south of Winston-Salem, Connor-Riddick quickly became a Wake Forest fan as her own basketball skills began to materialize, and she yearned to follow in the footsteps of then Demon Deacon star Jenny Mitchell (now Wake Forest coach Jen Hoover).
"Wake Forest was the closest ACC school to my hometown," Connor-Riddick said. "When my parents started to see some basketball potential, they would take me to Wake Forest games every Saturday or Sunday, just whoever they were playing. I would see them every weekend when they had a home game.
"I would go to basketball camp there every summer. I knew Jen Mitchell-Hoover, when I was in high school, because I would come to camps. I wanted to be just like her and Sara White, and some of those other post players who were so good. When it came to decision day, I thought I was supposed to go to Wake Forest, because I was so familiar with the program."
She was essentially offered early in her high school career, but other schools got in the mix as well.
"Coach Joe Sanchez reached out my sophomore year," Connor-Riddick said. "Every time I was on campus, he told me he had a place for me. When some of the bigger players like Stanford, Duke and Virginia stepped, my eyes got real big. It was an honor, but Wake Forest always felt like home."
Other visits were taken, but as it turns out, they didn't have a ton of significance for Connor-Riddick.
"Wake Forest was my worst college visit," she said with a laugh. "It was one of the coldest days of the year. Part of the visit was to go to the football game. One of the grad assistants at the time had a boyfriend on the football team, so even though it was cold and snowing, she refused to leave the game. She wanted to stay until the end. My eyes are so sensitive to cold, so by halftime I was in tears.
"I looked like the biggest baby, but there was nothing I could do because they didn't want to leave this football game. If I had to base my choice based upon the recruiting visit, Wake Forest wouldn't have made the cut. Worst recruit visit ever."
The Deacs got close to .500 during Connor-Riddick's junior season, finishing 13-14 overall, grabbing two wins over a ranked NC State team along the way.
"I wanted to play at a school where I could play pretty quickly and have an immediate impact," Connor-Riddick said. "Freshman year, things went well. I always felt like we were one-or-two prospects away from breaking through and doing what coach Hoover is doing now."
She is third in Wake Forest program history with 42 career double-doubles.
"I had good passers," Connor-Riddick said. "Another added bonus of going to Wake Forest was Gretchen Hollifield and I had been best friends since seventh grade and went to college together. There was lots of upside to going to college with your best friend, but the voice of reason is never there. Nobody was there to tell you that maybe you shouldn't go out on a Thursday night with a game early Friday, so there were plusses and minuses.
"She always passed me the ball and was terrific at feeding the post. You don't know how talented you are until you look back. Thinking about the 42 double-doubles, it was fun. We were just playing ball, and things just happened naturally with all the hard work we put in."
Connor-Riddick is sixth on the career Wake Forest scoring leader list with 1,619 points, first in scoring average with 17.0 points per game, and fourth in career rebounds with 906.
"There were lots of highlights, like scoring 35 points against NC State," she said. "I think about having the opportunity to play against North Carolina the year they won the national championship. But it's really all about the friendships. Tim Duncan, Marc Blucas, Randolph Childress and I are still all really close.
"I'm the little sister to three of the goofiest guys on the planet. That wouldn't have happened without that Wake Forest connection."
It's beyond just basketball that continues to impress Connor-Riddick, both from her time on the court as a player to her time now as an involved alumni member.
"Then globally, just being a part of Wake Forest off the court — I was exposed to incredible professors that got me to think about things that weren't connected to the basketball court," she said. "I'm most proud of Wake Forest for that recent Trailblazer Award. I was part of that planning committee that honored the first Black football players to suit up for the Deacs. It really gave me the sense that Wake Forest really did something right and something special, today during a time of racial and social injustice and back then during a time of segregation.
"Wake Forest really got it right. There's a lot of things of which I'm proud of from my time at Wake Forest, but that Trailblazer Award is at the top of the list."
As a clinical affairs manager for Lungpacer Medical in Denver, Colorado, Connor-Riddick is right in the middle of vital research that could potentially assist in the global fight against COVID-19.
"We're trying to prove to the FDA that our device works in getting patients off a ventilator sooner," she said. "We have a device that helps patients who are on mechanical ventilators, get off them faster.
"This is especially applicable in this COVID crisis. We're trying to finish our study as fast as we can. I'm excited to be part of something so great and so revolutionary. Doctors and hospitals want this technology, because they're struggling with packe ICUs."
And she still keeps tabs with Wake Forest basketball, and hopes that others try to follow in her footsteps as part of Hoover's program.
"We text pretty regularly," Connor-Riddick said. "With the ACC Network, I can see both the men's and women's programs play all the time. I try to keep up with them. Coach Hoover has something really special this year, so I'm trying to watch as much as possible.
"What I accomplished back in my day helped pave the way for some of the players on Jen's team now. Seeing someone work hard and earn accolades hopefully was a spark for some of these young ladies to want to come to Wake Forest. They can be competitive in the ACC. We had a great time. We worked hard and played hard, and the accolades soon followed."
Football Media Availability (10/22/25)
Wednesday, October 22
Football Media Availability (10/21/25)
Tuesday, October 21
Wake Forest Head Coach Jake Dickert Weekly Press Conference (10/20/2025)
Monday, October 20
Wake Forest Postgame Press Conference vs. Virginia Tech (Oct. 4, 2025)
Monday, October 20