The ascension of University of South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley beyond the realm of basketball might have begun three decades ago, when she won the gold medal as a player in Atlanta with the trailblazing U.S. Women’s Olympic Team in 1996. She would go on to win two more.
Between then and now was a moment that nearly slices the 30-year period in half – her decision to coach the Gamecocks on May 7, 2008. She’s led them to three national championships, in 2017, 2022, and 2024. While she has continued to be an ambassador for women’s sports and women’s rights, her achievements have remained largely tied to basketball.
Until Wednesday.
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The newly unveiled statue in Columbia, South Carolina, honoring decorated athlete and coach Dawn Staley represents her basketball legacy, as well as her ongoing fight for equality.
The city of Columbia, in partnership with Statues for Equality, unveiled a sculpture in Ms. Staley’s likeness at the intersection of Lincoln and Senate streets. The artwork shows the famed coach cutting down the nets, and it honors the organization’s “global mission to balance gender and racial representation in public statues.”
“It’s a pose that captures not just victory, but resilience, leadership, and the culmination of years of dedication,” said a statement read at the ceremony from Statues for Equality, which has also installed tributes to Harriet Tubman and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. “Our mission has always been to help correct the severe gender imbalance in public monuments by honoring extraordinary women around the world. We believe that when people see sculptures of powerful female role models in their lives, it helps shift perceptions and possibilities.”
Ms. Staley, as usual, was remarkably humble and pensive. She initially thought that having a statue of Las Vegas Aces superstar and former Gamecock A’ja Wilson a few blocks away at Colonial Life Arena should be “the only one ever.” But she changed her mind after hearing about the group’s mission.
“I agreed to the statue. Not for me, but for the girl who will walk by one day and wonder who I was. Maybe she’ll look me up and see that I did some things in basketball, of course, but I hope she sees much more,” Ms. Staley said. “I hope she sees that I was a champion for equity and equality, that in my own way I pushed for change. … If that little girl sees that I was the first to do something, I want her to know it was only so I wouldn’t be the last. I want her to see me as an example of what can be accomplished by giving intentional effort every day.”
Within a basketball’s toss of Ms. Staley’s likeness is another sculpture – the American Sign Language sign for “I love you,” also a common gesture made by Gamecock fans. During the statue unveiling, it was a visible reminder of this city’s love affair with its women’s basketball coach, an affinity truly bigger than sports and larger than South Carolina.
“She’s beloved by the community, by everyone in the entire world, whether they’re in South Carolina or far away. She makes an impact wherever she goes, whether it’s in sports or just believing in other people,” notes Shadell Parks, a deputy clerk from Aiken County, South Carolina, who made the hourlong drive to attend the unveiling. “I feel like her presence here is well worth it. To have a statue not just by the stadium, but out in the open where everyone can enjoy it, is a victory.”
In a state where some officials are doggedly trying to protect more divisive ideals, the image of Ms. Staley resonates. In March, two South Carolina state legislators introduced bills to strengthen the state’s Heritage Act, largely aiming to preserve Confederate statues statewide. At the State House, there are pro-Confederate statues and sculptures of segregationists.
But in downtown Columbia, Ms. Staley’s legacy and that of her prize pupil are set in bronze. Both of Ms. Wilson’s parents were on hand for the latest unveiling, including her mother, Eva, who spoke glowingly about Columbia’s coach and much more.
“To see this statue means the world to us as a family, and particularly for A’ja. She really wished she could have been here, but she’s in training camp. … But everybody who is here today understands what this means. It’s well deserved,” she said.
In these political times, she lives by this motto, she says: “God’s plan in God’s time.”
Ms. Staley also invoked God’s plan in her speech: “I stood proudly in the space God called me to inhabit, not as someone perfect or extraordinary but as a regular girl who used her gifts to open doors so other girls wouldn’t have to knock as hard.”
If A’ja Wilson’s successes are any indication, Ms. Staley doesn’t have to speak abstractly about being a role model. It’s already coming to pass.
