How Cheyney State players recalled making NCAA history before Women's Basketball Hall of Fame honor
Cheyney State will finally be recognized for its place in women's basketball history this weekend.
Cheyney, which is now Cheyney University, is the nation's oldest HBCU. Its women's basketball team is the only HBCU to reach an NCAA Final Four (1982) where it fell to Louisiana Tech in the national championship. It is also believed that Cheyney, led by Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer, was the first coaching staff made up of entirely Black women to compete in the women's national championship game.
Cheyney will be honored by the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame with the 2024 Trailblazer of the Game award. Debra Walker, who was a forward on the 1982 team, said the recognition means somebody's still fighting for them.
"We're trailblazers because they told us that we couldn't do it," Walker said.
The credit is overdue, but it never bothered Walker, because she believes "everything happens in divine order and divine time." With the popularity of women's basketball and the attention it's getting right now, there's no better time to remind everyone of the history they made at the first women's NCAA Final Four.
"You've got to always talk about the first," Walker said. "You can't talk about the NCAA Final Four unless you talk about Cheyney. Had they talked about us sooner, who knows, we might be forgotten right now. But I think the moment is now with this weekend and what's to follow."
Ten of the 11 members of the 1982 team are still alive, and seven of them made it to Knoxville for the induction ceremony Saturday (5:30 p.m. ET, ESPN+). Yolanda Laney, who starred on the 1982 Cheyney team, said the recognition means a lot.
"It is good to get your flowers while you're still alive," Laney said, "because it's been 40 years ... long overdue."
C. Vivian Stringer's Hall of Fame career started with Cheyney State
C. Vivian Stringer retired from Rutgers in 2022 with a record of 1,055-426. Her decorated resume includes four trips to the NCAA Final Four with three different programs (Cheyney State, Iowa and Rutgers).
"Cheyney was first," Laney said. "Cheyney is where it all began. My teammates have told her and she said it herself, she’s Cheyney made. And I know we’re the No. 1 team, since it all started there at Cheyney. She won’t say that, but we’ll say it for her."
Stringer coached Iowa from 1983-95 and won six Big Ten regular-season titles in addition to the 1993 Final Four trip.
Iowa was back in the national spotlight the last few seasons with star guard Caitlin Clark leading it to back-to-back appearances in the national championship game. Walker saw the talk that Iowa women's basketball was never great before Clark.
"Yes, it has been," Walker said. "So then they had to go back and do their research to find out, no, Iowa was really good (under Stringer). Had her husband not passed, I’d say Iowa might have won a Final Four or two."
Playing for Stringer taught Walker that life was about more than basketball, and that basketball was a tool to shape her. Basketball created a sisterhood with her Cheyney teammates.
"She probably doesn't get enough recognition," Walker said of Stringer. "But the thing is, her peers know who she is. And it's sad to say ... I'm sure whenever she leaves this side of earth, she'll get a whole lot of flowers and people will say, 'I don't know.' And it's OK."
When Dawn Staley wore Yolanda Laney's Cheyney State jersey
Walker's phone started blowing up during South Carolina's second-round game in the 2023 NCAA Tournament. When she answered her phone, she was told to turn the South Carolina game on.
So she turned on ABC, and she saw Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley in Laney's Cheyney State jersey on the sideline. Staley sparked a national conversation about the 1982 Cheyney State team during March Madness.
"So when people saw Cheyney, well, what’s Cheyney? Who’s Cheyney?" Walker said. "And she told the story about why she wore it, and it meant so much to us. Even now, people still say they want jerseys ... That meant the world to us."
Laney called Staley that evening. She told her how surprised she was, she had no idea they were sending Staley her jersey.
AFGHAN WOMEN: 'No one cared about us': Women's Basketball Hall of Fame honors Afghan women in Knoxville
"She just said it was the right thing to do, and it was long overdue for us as far as the history that we made 40 years ago to come to light," Laney said.
Laney sees her jersey pop up sometimes now. She saw some at the men's Final Four and a few at New York Liberty games when she goes to watch her daughter, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, who's a forward for the Liberty.
"It meant a great deal," Laney said. "She brought a lot of light back to Cheyney's history."
Cora Hall covers University of Tennessee women’s athletics. Email her at cora.hall@knoxnews.com and follow her on Twitter @corahalll. If you enjoy Cora’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that allows you to access all of it.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Cheyney State women's basketball history honored by hall of fame
