Wendy Gebauer Palladino

North Carolina Soccer Hall of Fame

Class of 2024

Wendy Gebauer Palladino

Wendy grew up in Reston, VA, and played club soccer in WAGS.  As young as eighth grade her dream was to play for Anson and the Tarheels.  She graduated from UNC in 1989 as a three-time undefeated National Champion, a three-time All-American, a member of the Dean’s List, and a member of the highest honorary society at UNC, The Honor of the Golden Fleece.  

At the end of her sophomore year, she was selected to the US women’s national team and was a member of the 1991 US women’s World Championship team.  Against Japan, she scored her first and only World Cup goal.  

Wendy was the “voice of women’s soccer” for ESPN/ABC from 1994 when she called the first televised game for the US women through the 1999 and 2003 World Cups.  She and her broadcast partner, J.P. Dellacamera were the lead broadcast team for the inaugural season of the WUSA and were the co-hosts of the first weekly studio show, Inside the WUSA, filmed in the TNT studios in Atlanta.  Wendy was also the lead analyst for collegiate women’s soccer in the 1990s and well into the 2000s.  

From 1998-2000, Wendy co-captained the two-time undefeated national championship Raleigh Wings.  Additionally, she made history in 1999 as the first woman ever to play in a men’s professional game when she suited up for the Capital Express. 

Wendy gave back to UNC by serving seven years on the GAA Board of Directors.  She also served on the steering committee for the fundraising efforts for the McCaskill Soccer Center.  Additionally, she served on the Board of Visitors for the NC Children’s Hospital Children’s Promise.  One of her favorite projects of all time was working with her husband, Bill, to mentor their son, Zac, and the Bandz Boyz, an unbelievably generous and inspirational group of five young kids who raised and donated $80,000 to projects that supported kids their same age at the hospital as they underwent treatments.  This project was supported by the NC Girls’ Soccer Camp for five summers from 2013 to 2018 as the Bandz Boyz sold handmade survival bracelets and marketed and sold them to the campers each summer.  

Wendy & Bill gave back to youth soccer as volunteer coaches from 2010-2020 as they coached their son Zac and his teammates.

Currently, Wendy is a CFP and First Vice President in the Private Client Group of Wells Fargo Advisors.  She started her financial advisory business in 1996 while she was still the lead analyst for women’s soccer but decided to retire from broadcasting when her son Zac was born in 2005.  

Aside from winning the first World Cup and managing not to die when playing for the Capital Express, her greatest accomplishment has been raising her son with her husband Bill.