Dawn Staley is a well known American Basketball Player who is inducted in the Hall of Fame and is currently working as a coach. She has represented the Women’s Basketball Team of The United States of America, five times at the Olympic Games, three times in the capacity of a player and twice as the assistant coach of the team. She was even chosen to carry the flag of the United States of America at the Summer Olympics of 2004’s opening ceremony.

Personal Life

Dawn Staley is an American citizen by birth, she was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America on May 4,1970. Being a professional female basketball player, she is shorter than the conventional height of a basketball player she stands at 1.68m or 5 feet 6 inches tall.

Staley is currently the head of the Dawn Staley Foundation. The foundation sponsors the children of middle school an after school program, to influence their lives in a positive manner. The program is conducted at the Hank Gathers Recreational Centre. It focusses on athletics and academics and also is a sponsor for various basketball leagues apart from being active in various acts of fund-raising.

At the moment Staley is also engrossed in writing and publishing a book, which would comprise of four series, loosely depicting her early life and her childhood. Staley is famous for giving her gold medal from the 1996 Summer Olympics to her mother. Staley has often said that Estelle is indeed the most influential person of her life. Staley has even been part of the 1996 TV series named Martin, where she starred along with her team members from the 1996 Summer Olympics winning women’s basketball team of the United States of America, Sheryl Swoopes, Rebecca lobo and Teresa Edwards.

In the year 2006, Staley became the co-owner of a company that planned to develop a casino in the area of South Philadelphia, however the casino was never opened due to financial issues and opposition from local communities.

The day of July 24,2004 in Charlotte is known as the Dawn Staley Day as proposed by Pat McCrory, the then Mayor.

Career

As a student she attended the Murrell Dobbins Tech High School, located in Philadelphia. It was here that Staley was proclaimed the National high school player of the year in her last season.

She then went on to attend University of Virginia which is located in Charlottesville in the state of Virginia. Staley led her college team to NCAA Tournaments four times, The Final Fours thrice and a single game for the National Championship. Post graduating Staley began playing professional basketball in Italy, Spain, France, Brazil. Later, she joined ABL first and then moved on to WNBA.

In the year 2011, in a voting by fans, she was voted to be, in the WNBA, one of the Top 15 players and later on in the year 2013, Staley was nominated to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.She has even represented U.S.A at the Olympics thrice as a player and twice as an assistant coach and won the Summer Olympics Gold on all the above 5 occasions.