When I was 11 years old my Mom took me to my first live women's basketball game. The school: Rutgers University. A nice 45 minute drive from my home in Mercer County, NJ. My Mom and I didn't know much about the program but we went anyway. Man, were we thrilled. There was a duo there known as Wicks and Sticks (Sue Wicks and Regina Howard). I was amazed at how quickly they moved and how effortlessly they played the game. That was when I was hooked on Rutgers basketball. I watched the team do well in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
At the same time, more and more games were being shown on TV. At that time, the women's NCAA Championship game was broadcast on CBS (I can still picture Ann Meyer's outfit as she broadcast the 1990 final between Stanford and Auburn). In the early 90s a coach and a team captured my attention. University of Iowa and C. Vivian Stringer. Perhaps I was a bit partial to Iowa because they had an excellent field hockey program (another sport I love). I just loved how Coach Stringer empowered her team to play well and how she approached and respected the game. I started to learn about Coach Stringer and I read about her accomplishments at Cheyney State (small school playing big time hoops) and her move to Iowa and what she had done there. Did you know that Coach Stringer's Iowa Hawkeye's team became the first team ever, in the history of women's basketball, to have an advance game sell out? Coach Stringer took the Iowa Hawkeyes to 10 NCAA tournaments, 9 straight from 1984-1993. Final Four berth in 1993 (her second one), not bad if you ask me.
In July 1995 Rutgers, my team, announced that this great coach would replace Theresa Grentz. Could it be true? That someone of her caliber would come to a program that was mediocre? Oh, the possibilities of a Final Four berth, Tournament Championships, All-Americans danced through my head. Needless to say, I was thrilled.
I made sure that my Mom and I were there for her first game against Penn State on November 25, 1995 (I still have the program). It was a thriller with RU beating then unflappable Rene Portland's Penn State team by 2 points. I clearly remember the last few seconds of the game as RU had fouls to give before PSU would shoot free throws so Stringer would foul them as soon as the ball would be thrown into play. It worked flawlessly. I was more thrilled with the strategy and the hope that RU would become the "Jewel of the East".
Sure enough, RU made the final four in 2000 (and the National title game in 2007). Coach Stringer became the first coach in NCAA history to take 3 different teams to the Final Four. From there the top High School players started knocked on the big red doors on the Banks. Cappie Pondexter, Matee Ajavon, Kia Vaughn, April Sykes and Monique Oliver (and many others that have walked through the door). In February 2008, Coach Stringer won her 800th game and she ranks #3 all time.
Now they are a team that is talked about as possible NCAA Champions! Coach Stringer took an average to above-average team and made them one of the best, a force to be reckoned with. People used to say: UCONN, Tennessee, Stanford and UNC. Now they say: UCONN, Tennessee, Stanford, UNC and Rutgers. She has taken yet another program and put them at the top of their game. Congratulations to C. Vivian Stringer on this special day. I am proud to say she is the head coach of my team, Rutgers University.
C. Vivian Stringer's impact reaches beyond the court
Stringer’s Long, Rewarding Trip to Hall of Fame
Naismith Induction "Earth Shattering” for C. Vivian Stringer
Chaney and Stringer
Stringer nervous before Hall of Fame inductions
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