1982 PA Championship Team — Courtesy of Cheyney University
by Michael Coard
The renowned 1982 Pennsylvania State Champion “Lady Wolves” of Cheyney State College (now Cheyney University) remain one of the most important, most victorious, and most dominant women’s teams in collegiate basketball history, which is why- on April 27- they finally were inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame as “Trailblazers of the Game” during an emotionally powerful ceremony in Knoxville, Tenn.
I say “finally” because it’s actually 42 years late for a team of their unparalleled caliber. And these five indisputable facts prove it:
That Cheyney team is from the only Historically Black College and University (HBCU) to have won a women’s- or men’s- National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Basketball Conference/Regional Championship. And these “Lady Wolves” (as they were officially known) did it in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament on Feb. 27, 1982 by crushing Slippery Rock State College 92-33 after just one day earlier having demolished Millersville State College 114-37.
That Cheyney team is from the only HBCU to have advanced to a women’s- or men’s- NCAA Division I Final Four or National Championship Game.
That Cheyney team is the only team at the NCAA Division I level to have had an all African-American women coaching staff.
That Cheyney team took a 23-game winning streak- which included victories over such Division I national powerhouses as North Carolina State University, Kansas State University, University of Maryland, and Auburn University- into the National Championship Game. Furthermore, that juggernaut Cheyney team was part of a dynasty that had gone undefeated at home in the venerated Cope Hall gymnasium for four consecutive seasons.
That Cheyney team played in the first NCAA Division I Women’s National Championship Game ever, which occurred March 28, 1982.
Who exactly are these superheroes on this historic Cheyney basketball team? They are players Paulette Bigelow, Lena Dabney, Karen Draughn, Sandra Giddens, Rosetta Guilford, Yolanda Laney (All-Tournament Team), Ann Strong, Sharon Taylor, Debra Walker, Valerie Walker (All-Tournament Team), and Faith Wilds.
They are head coach and 2009 Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame inductee C. Vivian Stringer and assistant coaches Ann Hill and Carlotta Schaffer.
They are sports information director William Morton, manager William W. Thomas El, trainer Louise Conrad, and mascot Kyle D. (“Slice”) Morris.
Because of the admiration and the love that four Cheyney alums, namely player Deb Walker, former women’s coach Kyle Adams, sports aficionado LeRoy McCarthy, and yours truly, have for this historic ‘82 team in particular and for the Cheyney women’s basketball dynasty from the ‘80s-’90s in general, we organized a 40-year anniversary celebration that took place on March 26, 2022 in Cope Hall.
Joining a large crowd of alums and students at that triumphant event were numerous local, regional, state, and federal officials including the Philadelphia mayor, Philadelphia City Council, county commissioners, the state House, the state Senate, the Governor, the U.S. House, U.S. Senators, and/or their staffers to honor the team by publicly issuing resolutions, proclamations, and citations.
Fast forward to last week on April 27 when the team was finally inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. When I interviewed All-Tournament Team player Laney on May 1, she said, “The importance of the induction into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame is monumental. It demonstrates the type of Cheyney-made student athletes who came together for a purpose, for a coach [i.e., Stringer], and for America’s first HBCU- Cheyney University, which was founded in 1837. What we accomplished will never be forgotten and probably never will be accomplished again unless, like us in 1982, nine high school All-Americans [i.e., Bigelow, Dabney, Draughn, Giddings, Guilford, Laney, Strong, D. Walker, and V. Walker] are willing to make the same commitment and sacrifice that we made in order to make history.”
And during my interview on that same date with the other All-Tournament Team player, Walker, she told me that national collegiate sports associations and the mainstream media “have tried and continue to isolate and minimize our story. Our voices will not be silenced. Our story must be told. I understand what Maya Angelou meant when she wrote ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.’ The Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame was a platform for our voices to be heard. Humbled and grateful we are. ‘HERstory’ cannot be erased!”
Although the Rev. Dr. MLK was absolutely correct in 1963 when he said “Justice too long delayed is justice denied,” I must state that in the case of the 1982 Cheyney superheroes, “This Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame induction, albeit 42 years late, still feels like a championship game-winning slam dunk starting from the three-point line.”
Michael Coard, Esquire can be followed on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well as at AvengingTheAncestors.com. His “Radio Courtroom” show can be heard on WURD96.1FM and his “TV Courtroom” show can be seen on PhillyCAM/Verizon Fios/Comcast. The views expressed in this column are not necessarily those of The Philadelphia Tribune.
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