Basketball Legend Dawn Staley Honored with Statue in South Carolina

Sports News

Columbia, South Carolina recently unveiled a statue honoring women’s basketball legend, Dawn Staley, outside Colonial Life Arena. The statue celebrates not only Staley’s championship career, but more importantly, the woman behind the wins. A fearless humanitarian who’s not afraid to stand for equity and equality. 

An Olympic Gold Medalist and the first Black coach in NCAA Division I basketball history to win three national championships, Dawn Staley has earned deep respect in the sports world. Her leadership at the University of South Carolina helped change the narrative in women’s basketball and raised the standard for what’s possible.  

“South Carolina has been able to see it was worth it to invest in Dawn Staley, and how she changed the program and the impact she’s had on these young women,” said WNBA MVP and former Olympic teammate of Staley, Lisa Leslie, in an interview with USA Today. 

Beyond six Final Fours, and more than 450 wins since taking over the Gamecocks program in 2008, Staley’s purpose has always been bigger than basketball. At the unveiling ceremony on April 30th, she shared: “I agreed to the statue, not for me, but for the girl who would walk by one day and wonder who I was. Maybe she’ll look me up, she’ll see that I did some things in basketball of course, but hope she sees much more…a regular girl who used her gifts to open doors so other girls wouldn’t have to knock as hard.” 

The 14-foot statue shows Staley atop a ladder, snipping the net in her Gamecock hat, an iconic victory moment frozen in time.

This bronze statue is so well deserved and comes at no surprise to the gayes who have seen firsthand how Dawn plays absolutely no games when it comes to showing up for the community.

Dawn has used her platform to speak on issues that matter, even if it means risking backlash.

Just a day after winning the Final Four to NC State, Dawn stood up for the trans community after being asked her opinion on whether or not trans women should be allowed to play in women’s sports. 

Given the political nature of the question, her answer was loud and clear. “I’m of the opinion that if you’re a woman, you should play. If you consider yourself a woman and you want to play sports, or vice versa, you should be able to play.” 

She added, “Now the barnstormer people are going to flood my timeline and be a distraction to me on one of the biggest days of our game, and I’m okay with that. I really am.” 

The debate over whether trans athletes should be allowed to compete in conformance with their gender identity has run rampant in courts and governing spaces over the past few years. 

Dawn Staley being honored with a statue doesn’t just reflect her excellence and resilience on the court, it’s a symbol of her integrity and commitment to leaving every space better than she found it. Her work is the blueprint of what true leadership looks like.