Dawn Staley on the legacy she hopes to leave: βMy mother grew up in South Carolina. This was the 1940s and early β50s. Segregation was still legal. Separate bathrooms. All of it. She left the South at the age of 13, seeking equality and opportunity. I think about her a lot β¦ I think about what she made possible for me and maybe what Iβm supposed to make possible for others. She left South Carolina because of the racial divide. I came back with a hope to bridge it.
I also know what me coaching here symbolizes in light of history. When I walk around different neighborhoods in this city, Iβll hear Black people say, βI had never been on that campus before coming to your game.β I understand that my success isnβt about championships β itβs about bringing together people who were once, and in some ways still are, divided. Itβs bigger than basketball.
If I never won another championship but my legacy was that β to have changed the face of opportunity and united communities β Iβd take that over most other things in this world.β
#BlackHistoryMonth playerstribu.ne/Staley