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Dawn Staley is a South Carolina Gamecocks head coach who is a member of the American Basketball Hall of Fame.

She is on record to have won three Olympic gold medals as a player for Team USA and later served as head coach of another gold-medal-winning US team.

Dawn Stanley Parents

Clarence and Estelle Staley who are the parents of Dawn Stanley moved to North Philadelphia from South Carolina when they were teenagers in the 1950s.

They married young and moved into a three-bedroom, single-bath row house in 1967, where they raised five children: three boys, Lawrence, Anthony, and Eric, and two girls, Tracey and Dawn.

She now runs the Dawn Staley Foundation, which helps middle-school children by sponsoring an after-school program at the Hank Gathers Recreation Center.

The Center emphasizes academics and athletics, and it hosts basketball leagues and other fund-raising events.

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Champ, her Havanese dog, has his own Twitter account and frequently visits practices.

Dawn Stanley Career

During her senior year at Murrell Dobbins Tech High School in Philadelphia, Staley was named national high school player of the year.

Staley received her bachelor’s degree in Rhetoric and Communication Studies from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia.

She led her college team to four NCAA Tournaments, three Final Fours, and one National Championship game in four seasons.

In 1991 and 1992, she was named ACC female athlete of the year and national player of the year. Staley finished her college career with 2,135 points and 454 steals, which set an NCAA record.

Staley was named to USA Basketball’s Women’s Junior National Team. The team competed in the second Junior World Championship in Bilbao, Spain, in July 1989.

Team USA lost their first game in overtime to South Korea before falling to Australia by two points. After defeating Bulgaria, Team USA fell to Czechoslovakia in another close game, this time by three points.

Following that defeat, the team defeated Zaire before falling to Spain by three points in the final game.

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Staley finished the tournament second on the team with 10.8 points per game and 14 steals. The Americans came in seventh place in the tournament.

Dawn Staley worked as an assistant coach for the United States National Team in 2006, when the team was in transition.

Lisa Leslie, who had led the team in scoring in the 2004 Olympics, 2002 World Championships, 2000 Olympics, 1998 World Championships, and 1996 Olympics, was no longer a member of the squad.

Staley was transitioning from player to coach, and Sheryl Swoopes was available but hampered by injuries. Sue Bird, Candace Parker, and Diana Taurasi, newcomers, picked up the slack, but it was a team in transition.

As an added challenge, some squad members were unable to join the team for practices due to WNBA obligations.

Dawn Stanley Awards and Honors

Throughout her playing and coaching career, Dawn Stanley has won several awards. These awards include both national and international awards. These awards include;

1991 Winner of the Honda Sports Award for basketball
1991 WBCA Player of the Year
1991 Naismith College Player of the Year
1991 USBWA Women’s National Player of the Year
1991 The Honda-Broderick Cup winner for all sports
1992 Winner of the Honda Sports Award for basketball
1992 WBCA Player of the Year
1992 Naismith College Player of the Year
1992 USBWA Women’s National Player of the Year
2008 Virginia Sports Hall of Fame
2012 Inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.
2013 Order of the Palmetto
2014 SEC Coach of the Year
2015 SEC Co-Coach of the Year
2015 USA Basketball Co-National Coach of the Year[29]
2016 SEC Coach of the Year
2017 Omicron Delta Kappa faculty/staff initiate at the University of South Carolina
2020 SEC Coach of the Year
2020 Naismith College Coach of the Year
2020 USBWA National Coach of the Year

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