Dawn Staley helped Team USA’s women’s basketball team win gold at the ‘96 Olympics. It was the highlight of her career. Yet she fell into a depression that was so bad, she didn’t even want to look at a basketball. Nothing prepared her to process reaching such a milestone. She was left asking herself: now what? With a resumé is full of career-highs (hi, 3x national champ), Dawn says the real reward isn’t the trophy – it’s all the work it took to get there. Dawn gets into it all in her new memoir, “Uncommon Favor: Basketball, North Philly, My Mother, and the Life Lessons I Learned from All Three”.
In this episode of 9 to 5ish, Dawn also shares:
How many shoes she has in her collection (sneaker heads beware)
Why she aspired to play in the NBA – instead of the WNBA – growing up
How the taboo nature of mental health stopped her from asking for help post-Olympics
Why she was insulted when approached for a coaching job
The one thing she wants to see change for women athletes this year
PS: Dawn’s memoir is out now.
On What Growing up in the Projects Gave Her
Dawn: There's such richness that is a part of someone who grew up in the projects. Not monetarily, but rich in family values, rich in togetherness. We lived as a big family. There's so much love for sports in the projects. We lived and died by how well the Sixers, the Flyers, the Eagles played. Like it was us when we won…it's my foundation.
On the Importance of Team in Her Career
Dawn: The coach and it was Lisa Boyer, who was our associate head coach. She was like, take two weeks and then see how you're feeling. I did take those two weeks. And then I'm like – there are teammates that are waiting for me. They're going through training camp and I'm not going through training camp. I'm getting preferential treatment. And I don't like it. Like really, I didn't like it. I took it off of me and put it on the team…I thought about my teammates and when you're able to take the mirror off of you and put it on other people – that's who I am. I'm a woman of the people. I love being around the team. I love that commitment. And that's why I probably am not someone who played an individual sport because it's lonely. I needed people.
On What She Learns from the Losses
Dawn: I'm so thankful for the wins and the losses. I can't just be thankful when we win. That's not real life and it's not godly. It doesn't mean I don't get mad. It doesn't mean that I'm not angry. But when you peel back and you sit back and you see yourself on the other end of winning, you count your blessings. Because last year, during this time, there was a parade in our city. Everything that I've needed in my life has come when I needed it. What a loss will signify, I'll know later on. Maybe as soon as next year. Like when we lost to Caitlin Clark two years ago when we were undefeated and we lost in the semifinals. I was devastated. But I thanked them for the loss.
These quotes have been edited for clarity.
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