Charlotte Sting: Former Player Dawn Staley wins National Championship

Former Charlotte Sting star Dawn Staley continues to find success in her post-playing career. Look at yesterday.

Dawn Staley is a national champion. Not long after the South Carolina Gamecocks on the men’s side saw their historic run come to an end, the women finished the job on their end. The school won their first basketball national championship 67-55.

Now you are probably asking what business I have in such an event. After all I cover the Charlotte Hornets, North Carolina Tar Heels, and other things precisely because they are on the other side of that early nineteenth century surveyor line. What do I have to do with the Gamecocks and their success?

Not much, really. But there is one clear North Carolina connection to look at with the Gamecocks women’s team. That is the coach herself. Dawn Staley was briefly part of the athletic life of the city of Charlotte. The Virginia and ABL star was brought into the WNBA when the ABL folded. The team that was lucky enough to get her were the Charlotte Sting.

The Sting put her at the point guard position in 1999 and she led a team that was pretty talented. There was Andrea Stinson and a couple of former Lady Tar Heels on board. They finished second in the East, but never won the WNBA title (like a lot pro franchises in the state not named the Carolina Hurricanes).

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Staley became a fixture on the Sting for the next few years. She made the All Star Game five times with the Sting. She went to the Olympics three times in her career. In the post-Hornets era, she was arguably the most recognizable pro basketball player in the city.

When the Hornets left, the Sting stayed behind in Charlotte when it became clear that the NBA was going to put in an expansion franchise which became the Bobcats. The Sting had to shift their colors to the Bobcats’ orange and blue while retaining the name Sting and the Hornet with eyelashes as their mascot.

Staley was traded from Charlotte to Houston and played until 2006. The Sting folded soon afterward. Staley’s next job was already in the works. Back in 2000 she was approached by Temple to coach their women in the WNBA off season. She kept this second job until 2008 when her success and her recent retirement from playing gave her the time to take the South Carolina coaching job.

The end of that story is yet to be written, but the win by the Gamecocks yesterday has the Charlotte Sting somewhere in its DNA. I am thrilled that Staley has continued to find success outside of the WNBA world and hope it continues. She is also the current head coach of USA Basketball’s women team as well so her success truly becomes our success.

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