Another View
Second of two parts
Knoxville, Tenn. — The story of the 1982 Cheyney State team, despite finally receiving Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame (WBHOF) recognition, is far from being complete.
“It is way past time for … historically Black college basketball to be recognized,” Freda Glover-Doxey (Cheyney, 1977-81) told us after last Saturday’s WBHOF 2024 Induction Ceremony.
Before the seven individuals, including former Minnesota Lynx stars Taj McWilliams-Franklin, Seimone Augustus, Maya Moore-Irons, and referee Violet Palmer, were individually introduced and inducted, the 1981-82 Cheyney State Lady Wolves were inducted as a team as Trailblazers of The Game. This recognition extended to the 11 Black women players, the all-Black female coaching staff, and other essential personnel.
A Division II school with limited resources but featured eight high school All-Americans and a future WBHOF and Naismith HOF Coach C. Vivian Stringer, but finished the 1981-82 season second-ranked in the nation and runners-up in the first-ever NCAA women’s basketball national championship game with a 28-3 record.
They remain the sole HBCU to have ever competed for an NCAA women’s Division I title.
“I thank God for Vivian Stringer, the coaches and players of 1982 that broke that ceiling so that others [who] come after us can also do incredible things,” Glover-Doxey said.
Kyle Adams, who has been pushing the WBHOF for several years to finally recognize the Cheyney team, recalled: “I was here in 2019 … there was nothing speaking to those teams that Coach Stringer had.”
Karen Draughn, a sophomore guard from Connecticut, wanted to go to a small school, “which happened to be a historically Black college,” she said. “I was inspired by the style of play. Everybody on the team could play.”
During her acceptance speech, Valerie Walker, a senior center, told the audience at the Tennessee Theater in downtown Knoxville, “When you look at our team, we were part of God’s plan … a team of All-American, all-state players turning down scholarships [from larger schools] but we had one common denominator, and that was the great Vivian Stringer.”
Adams, who once coached at Cheyney and is now Delaware State deputy athletic director, added, “They didn’t have to go to Cheyney. They chose to go to that school because they felt a connection to their coaches but also the heritage and mission of the institution.”
Walker strongly advised all within the sound of her voice, “If you want to really understand the history of women’s NCAA championships, you have to go back to the first year … and I want you to investigate us.
“Forty-two years ago was a really long time,” she continued. “I wonder why it took so long for us to be on this stage?”
She and her teammates recalled how Cheyney State was treated going into that first NCAA title game. “The commentators didn’t even bother to learn how to pronounce our names. They called us Cheyanne State. The T-shirts that were being sold for the first NCAA championship and Final Four—only three teams were on the shirt, not us.”
As wonderful as last Saturday night was here in Knoxville, watching these proud Black women standing on the stage, receiving individual WBHOF rings and supporting Walker as she stood behind the podium, they still want the Cheyney State story to be a continuous one and not a closed chapter in history.
“I think the Hall of Fame needs to go even deeper,” said Keith Johnson, who played on the Cheyney State’s men’s team at the same time as their female counterparts. “The story still needs to be told; need to dig a little deeper and put up all the accomplishments that these young ladies did.”
Nonetheless, the 1982 Lady Wolves are in the WBHOF for all to see and know.
“It is a blessing,” concluded Faith Wilds, a senior center.