In C. Vivian Stringer’s 2008 book, “Standing Tall,” the legendary women’s college basketball coach recalled heading to a speaking engagement during an Iowa snowstorm about a month after her husband’s sudden death. She was still deep in a fog of intense grief, and realized she had been driving in the wrong direction. She pulled over and broke down sobbing, telling herself, “I can’t make it.”
But Stringer gathered herself and turned the car around. Although she arrived late, the audience had waited for her. She told them exactly what happened. And that sometimes we all feel lost, as if we can’t go on. But we dig deep, and with the help of others, we learn to thrive again.
That is the essence of Stringer, who announced Saturday she is retiring as Rutgers’ women’s basketball coach. She is a larger-than-life figure who accomplished so much in her profession, but whose personal tragedies and triumphs made her both relatable and an inspiration to so many people — even if they knew nothing about basketball.
Stringer was a trailblazer as a Black woman. For many years, she and Kansas’ Marian Washington were the most prominent Black coaches in women’s basketball. They didn’t have the advantage of role models to look to; they had to be the role models.
She was a trailblazer in the development of collegiate women’s athletics as a viable force in the sports world. She was a trailblazer as a working mother who also had a special-needs child. And she was a trailblazer in helping educate and nurture young people in dealing with the racism and sexism that insidiously impacted their lives.
Stringer was all of these things along with being very successful at coaching: She won 1,055 games and took three schools — Cheyney, Iowa and Rutgers — to the women’s…
Source : espn
