South Carolina coach Dawn Staley offered praises to the late mother of Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer Sheryl Swoopes, Ida Louise Swoopes, who died of colon cancer in March 2017.
Staley, who was Swoopes’ teammate on the U.S. women’s national basketball team that won three gold medals in the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympics, talked about Swoopes’ mother in an episode of “NETLIFE with Dawn Staley” that was posted on YouTube on March 12, 2022.
Swoopes was asked about her first memory of watching women’s sports, and the former Texas Tech and Houston Comets star said it was seeing her mother play softball growing up. Staley was amazed to hear about that moment and also offered her description of Swoopes’ late mother.
“May her soul rest in peace. I loved her. She was a woman of not too many words, but you could see her strength everywhere, every trip she came on,” Staley said (1:12:13).
After their stints with the U.S. women’s basketball team, Swoopes and Staley were teammates at the Comets in the 2006 WNBA season. Swoopes was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2017.
Sheryl Swoopes grateful to shoe brand for releasing a design named after her
“It’s such an honor when I think about where I come from and the journey that I’ve been through for a big brand and a company to see something in me that they felt was special,” Swoopes said (1:08:31). “Because I don’t care who you are, for someone to say we’re going to design a shoe for you and name it after you, that’s a pretty big deal.”
Swoopes expounded on the honor of having her shoe re-released and connected it to the representation of female athletes in sports. She explained that having a design named after her is for those who were rejected in the past.
“It doesn’t matter what people say to you, what you look like, where you come from, or how many times you’ve been told no, as long as you continue to strive to be the best and just be a good person,” she said.
Sheryl Swoopes had an opportunity to coach Loyola Chicago that lasted for three seasons, while Dawn Staley coached Temple for eight seasons before transferring to South Carolina in 2008 and guiding the Gamecocks to three national titles in 2017, 2022 and 2024.
