Real basketball fans know who Dawn Staley is.
NCAA Champion (2017).
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer (2013).
Three-time Olympic Gold Medalist (1996, 2000, 2004).
Five-time WNBA All Star (2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006).
WNBA All-Decade Team.
Two-time Naismith Trophy winner (1991, 1992).
National High School Player of the Year (1988).
And the scary thing is that those awards are just a few of the accolades Staley has received during her illustrious basketball career. To include them all would be an entire article unto itself.
Dawn Staley’s story has been well told, and rightfully so. A child of Philadelphia, born and raised in the projects in North Philly. She learned the game using a wooden backboard and a crate, honing the skills that earned her a basketball scholarship to the University of Virginia. She dominated on the college level during her career with the Cavaliers (1989 – 1992) before taking her talents internationally. After winning three Gold medals with Team USA, she eventually moved to the WNBA, playing for the Charlotte Sting (1999-05) and Houston Comets (2005,06).
As a player, she was a winner, champion and leader.
As a coach, she has done the same.
But now Dawn Staley has emerged as a voice for those lacking one in sports and in life. And it’s a role she has indirectly prepared for her entire life.
Success on the Sidelines
A point guard is meant to lead. Direct the offense, control the ball and dictate the flow of the game. Staley did that at the highest level, developing the talents and experience necessary to lead young women on the court and to help those off of it.
She began coaching at Temple University in 2000. She had great success there, leading the Owls to a 172-80 record during her tenure back in Philadelphia. Even more impressive was the fact that she was a head coach while also playing in the WNBA. Having that degree of talent is extremely attractive to those needing leaders who drive success. South Carolina recognized Staley’s abilities and brought her in as the head coach of the women’s basketball team in 2008.
While success did not crystalize immediately, her presence did.
In three years, she built a program that catapulted the Gamecocks into the national conversation annually. Through the 2019-2020 season, Staley led South Carolina to a record of 305-98. But two events occurred during this time that stand out, and not just for basketball reasons, either.
In the 2016-17 season, Staley’s team went 33-4 and won both the SEC tournament and the NCAA championship. This was the pinnacle of Staley’s coaching career. But what the title meant in the context of the state of South Carolina is more significant.
Two years earlier, in June of 2015, white supremacist Dylann Roof murdered nine Black parishioners at the AME Emanuel Church in Charleston, S.C. A few weeks later, social activist Bree Newsome scaled the flagpole at the South Carolina statehouse and removed the confederate flag. Less than two weeks after Newsome’s heroic action, then-South Carolina governor Nikki Haley signed a bill that completely removed the confederate flag from the state grounds.
Staley’s NCAA championship was an exclamation mark on the state’s recent heartbreak and evidence of social change. It was a moment that benefitted Columbia, the state’s capital. That’s where innocent Black lives were taken by a domestic white terrorist and where change was facilitated through one woman’s brave actions. And it was another collegiate title for the state where Clemson was establishing itself as a national football powerhouse.
It’s ironic, but maybe no coincidence, that the state her mother once fled is the same one that Staley moved to and found success in. The very state whose racism scared her grandmother into sending her mother up North to escape became the one that embraced the highly successful, championship-winning Northerner.
That’s a testament to who she is and what she can do.
In 2020 Staley added a new title to her life’s resume- social activist. But in all reality, it’s a position she’s filled for decades.
In the 2019-2020 season, she led the Gamecocks to a 32-1 record and visions of another NCAA title. But after winning the SEC tournament, Covid dashed their title hopes by canceling all sports for all teams and leagues. Yet for some, her record paled in comparison to the impact of her Tweet on May 27th regarding the murder of George Floyd.
Represent, Represent!
Standing up isn’t new for Staley. She’s stood up her whole life. Whether it was as a young Black girl playing basketball with the boys or calling for more Black women in coaching, Staley fights for what she believes in. She’s conscious of her position and the responsibility it holds.
“I’m very aware of what my success represents. I’m also very aware of what my failure would represent.” wrote Staley in her story for The Player’s Tribune.
Staley and her team participated in the kneeling movement that spread across sports. She fearlessly supported her players who would be vilified for their participation. She unapologetically shuts down digital thugs who dare to troll her on Twitter. Most recently, she joined the chorus of supporters of women’s sports who are furiously challenging the equity-blinded NCAA.
“I cannot be quiet.” began Staley in her Tweet.
Staley meticulously dissected the NCAA’s inferior approach and attitude towards women’s sports in every paragraph.
“We cannot as leaders of young women allow Mark Emmert and his team to use us and our student-athletes as their convenience.” stated the infuriated coach.
This is the same strong, fearless voice that Staley has always had.
She channeled it through her game during her playing career. She channels it through her coaching. And now she harnesses it and unleashes it on those who disrespect and underappreciate what she values. Whether it’s racists on Twitter, those who try to limit and/or destroy Black lives, or organizations which mistreat women, Staley will have none of it.
“I feel like I have to do something to save the next person.” wrote Staley in a first-person story about social injustice.
Dawn Staley is someone I have admired and respected since high school. I watched what she did on the court and became a fan. But it’s what she’s done as a leader both on and off the court that really elevated my respect for her.
She has a personable quality that instantly draws you to her. When you combine that with her record of success, you cannot deny her impact as a player, coach, Black woman, and human being. There’s a reason why she was selected to hold the flag for the United States in the opening ceremony of the 2004 Olympic Games.
These are also the reasons why I relentlessly pursued an interview with her for almost two years while I was at a different company. It’s why, while at that company, I hounded her team for another year to honor her with a leadership award that we presented annually to trailblazing men and women of color in sports.
Dawn Staley is a fearless leader who donned the cape as a fighter for justice and equality. And while she recognizes the significance and weight of this responsibility, it’s one she unabashedly wields.
That’s what real leaders do. They bravely lead from the front, like being in the first line of a phalanx.
This season, Staley’s team has a record of 25-4 and a number one seeding in the NCAA Tournament. After destroying the Longhorns in their Elite Eight matchup, her team is poised for a second title. Ironically, her opponent is the Arizona Wildcats and their head coach Adia Barnes. Like Staley, Barnes is a Black woman and a former star collegiate and WNBA player. Their match-up holds historical significance as it marks the first time in NCAA Tournament history that two Black women coaches are in the Final Four.
Staley called for this three years ago in her article and now history is made.
So now Staley heads to another Final Four, with her opponent being a mirror image. Only this time she’s doing it as both a head coach and a leader at the forefront of the fight for equality in women’s sports.
And that’s where Dawn Staley has been her entire life.
