How Dawn Staley and others paid tribute to Nikki McCray-Penson at celebration of life in Knoxville

There wasn't an empty pew at Mt. Olive Baptist Church on Saturday at Nikki McCray-Penson's celebration of life.

Hundreds gathered to honor McCray-Penson, the former Lady Vols basketball star who died July 7 after battling cancer and a bout of pneumonia. She was 51.

McCray-Penson's playing career, which earned her a spot in the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, lasted 15 years from Tennessee to the Olympics to the ABL and WNBA. She went on to coach for 16 more years, including at Mississippi State.

The sanctuary was filled with family, friends, teammates, former coaches and players. McCray-Penson spent the last season of her career as an assistant at Rutgers, and her team was present on Saturday.

Ruthie Bolton, who played with McCray-Penson on the gold medal team at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, opened the service by singing. Bolton and McCray-Penson shared a love for both singing and God, and the two were so close it was like family. Bolton reminisced on the times they would sing the national anthem together before a beautiful rendition of the hymn "His Eye is on the Sparrow."

"I would ask one of my teammates to come sing with me, but I don't think nobody raised their hand," Bolton said. "They said no to taking Nikki's spot."

Halfway through the song, Bolton paused to say, "I can imagine this is what Nikki would say," before singing the line "I sing because I'm happy."

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley was among the several speakers, which included family members, McCray-Penson's high school coach Joe Brock, Tennessee mentor Judy Dooley and a speech from former South Carolina player Tiffany Mitchell that was given by former teammate Shelbretta Ball. McCray-Penson spent nine seasons coaching alongside Staley as part of her original staff at South Carolina, which won the program's first national championship in 2017.

What Dawn Staley said about Nikki McCray-Penson

It took Staley a minute to collect herself before she began.

She fought back tears, her pain written across her face as she stood in front of a photo of McCray-Penson and her infectious smile. As Staley struggled to get her words out, 1996 Olympics teammate Teresa Edwards got up to stand with her while she thanked McCray-Penson's husband, Thomas.

"Thomas, you gave Nikki everything she wanted – everything," Staley said. "Thank you for sharing her with us. When I think about you and her, the only thing that I come up with is godly. You were godly ... I know Nikki was a lot. She was a lot, but she was a lot of love. I do regret that I didn't get a chance to verbally tell her I love her. But we lived it. We lived love."

Staley shared how she helped McCray-Penson come up with her son Thomas' middle name. The two were brainstorming when Staley had a revelation based on McCray-Penson's nickname Nik.

"I said, 'Nik, name him Nikson. Nik's son.' And Nikki was a little vain, now," Staley said, drawing laughter from the sanctuary. "I think she took a little while to really agree that, that's what it's going to be. So, Nikson, your mom was an incredible woman who loved hard."

McCray-Penson was the second call after Lisa Boyer when Staley was hired at South Carolina. Staley said the early years in Columbia were "a joy" with McCray-Penson.

She also took time to thank Rutgers coach Coquese Washington for hiring McCray-Penson and giving her another opportunity to live out her passion. When Washington called Staley about McCray-Penson before hiring her, Staley told her she'd be able to sleep well at night, because McCray-Penson would be thinking about basketball 24/7.

One of her last requests was for Thomas to check her phone so she could see what her team did that day.

"That's Nikki," Staley said. "But Thomas provided that for her, an opportunity to just live out her passion."

How Nikki McCray-Penson's former player Tiffany Mitchell remembered her

McCray-Penson was always the first one in the gym to watch Mitchell's AAU games, and sometimes she was the only one.

"I don't think she realized the impact that she had on me when I was 15 and 16 years old, and she would always show up for me," Ball said on Mitchell's behalf. "I could always turn to the sideline and count on her sitting there and smiling and sometimes sneak in a little wave."

When Mitchell arrived at South Carolina, McCray-Penson "really poured it on" her. She never let her settle for "anything less than being great," and there were some days Mitchell felt like the only word McCray-Penson knew was her name.

"She never let me have a bad day," Ball said. "I'm beyond thankful to have had someone so pure and genuine in their approach when it came to coaching me ... knowing all the silent battles she probably was fighting and was still able to show up, not only just for me, but for everyone around her and still do her job – that speaks for everything that she stood for. Her strength was admirable. I know that she fought as hard as she could, because that's the only way she knew how."

Why Judy Dooley was Nikki McCray-Penson's 'Tennessee mother'

McCray-Penson had to sit out her first year because of the NCAA's Proposition 48. Former Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt asked Dooley, an assistant to UT band directors, if McCray-Penson could work in her office that year.

When Dooley met McCray-Penson, her husband's job transferred him out of town and her sons were teens who didn't want their mother in their business. But Dooley quickly became close to McCray-Penson, calling herself her "Tennessee mother."

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"She called me at night and we'd talk about her day – even though we'd spent some of that day together," Dooley said. "I knew about all of her classes and all the young guys that were good looking in her classes. I did have to ask her not to call me at midnight anymore, I go to bed about 10 o'clock.

"But Nikki fulfilled a need that I had. My kids were busy, my husband was away, and Nikki filled that need. I thought I was taking care of her. But I didn't. We were great friends."

When McCray-Penson could play for the Lady Vols, Dooley went to every game. She was Dooley's favorite, and she made sure her teammates knew it.

"She knew when I walked in the arena, because she was standing where I sit to hug me," Dooley said. "I didn't have the privilege of giving birth to her, but she was mine. She never missed a Christmas or a Mother's Day to have a phone call or send me a text message. Even this last May, I got a message: Happy Mother's Day. She meant the world to me. And I can only hope that I fulfilled the need that she had in her life, the way she fulfilled my need."

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: What Dawn Staley said about Nikki McCray-Penson at celebration of life