Dawn Staley has been a college basketball coach for over two decades, and coupled with her playing career, she has developed arguably the best résumé of any athlete in Philadelphia history, writes Michael Bradley for Philadelphia Magazine.
A three-time NCAA champion with University of South Carolina women’s basketball, it’s easy to forget that the program was merely an afterthought before the North Philadelphia native arrived in 2008.
After going through the growing pains of rebuilding the program from scratch, the team started making incremental improvements each year, culminating in winning the national championship in 2017. After winning a second in 2022, she led her team to an undefeated season last year for her third.
Staley has come a long way from her North Philadelphia roots, and since coaching at Temple University.
Coaching accomplishments aside, Dawn Staley won the National High School Player of the Year Award as a senior at Dobbins Tech before going on to become a two-time National College Player of the Year at the University of Virginia.
As a professional player, she was also a three-time Olympic gold medalist and five-time WNBA All-Star.
In 2013, she became an inductee of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Read more about Dawn Staley’s case as the greatest sports figure in Philly’s history in Philadelphia Magazine.
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Editor’s Note: This post first appeared on PHILADELPHIA Today in March 2025.
