Charlene Curtis, first Black women's basketball head coach in ACC, dies at 67

[C-40]

Charlene Curtis, first Black women's basketball head coach in ACC, dies at 67​

Charlene Curtis, the first Black women's basketball head coach in the ACC, died Thursday from cancer, the conference said. She was 67. Curtis was the head coach at Wake Forest from 1997 to 2004, after head-coaching stops at Radford and Temple, where she also was the first African American head women's basketball coach. Curtis played basketball at Radford shortly after the passage of Title IX in 1972 and became the school's first 1,000-point scorer, male or female, and a member of its Hall of Fame. She majored in music and joined a Radford women's basketball team that didn't offer scholarships at the time. A native of Roanoke, Virginia, her early coaching jobs included an assistant at Radford and graduate assistant coach at Virginia in 1981. She worked with Virginia head coach Debbie Ryan and then-assistant Geno Auriemma. Curtis became Radford's head coach in 1984 at age 29, finishing with a 121-53 record in six seasons.

Click Here For Full Story

 

[C-40]

‘More than a coach’: Charlene Curtis was a role model and mentor to Black players and coaches​

Former Radford, Temple and Wake Forest coach was one of the few Black women leading college basketball programs in the 1990s and 2000s

[size=5[Natasha Adair still remembers the conversations that she shared with Charlene Curtis as a young coach. For Adair, Curtis stood as a role model. Adair knew of Curtis’ trailblazing journey — how she worked under great basketball minds such as University of Virginia coach Debbie Ryan and UConn coach Geno Auriemma and how she later became the first Black women’s basketball head coach at institutions such as Radford, Temple and Wake Forest. At Wake Forest, Curtis made history as the first Black women’s basketball head coach in the ACC. Curtis shared advice with Adair about perseverance and getting through roadblocks, staying humble and outworking the field. When Adair asked Curtis what she needed to know to make the leap to become a collegiate head coach, she sat with a legal pad and pen, readying for Curtis to relay her favorite offensive plays, defensive schemes or practice drills. But Curtis’ answer had nothing to do with X’s and O’s. Her answer has stayed with Adair ever since. Be good to people. Be kind to people. Leave a positive impact on people.[/size]

Click Here For Full Story

 

[Saleel Majeed]