At Dobbins Tech, Dawn Staley's presence is still felt

Rick Yankowitz remembers when the Dobbins Tech basketball gymnasiums were both jam-packed with fans - more than 550 in a small space. In those days, the boys' coach from 1971 until 2005 said the bleachers and balconies were filled to capacity with people standing on window sills to catch a glance. Other, more nimble, followers climbed ropes - there for physical education classes - that were fastened to the ceiling and sat up there to watch games.

It was the mid- to late 1980s, and Mustangs basketball was the hottest ticket in North Philly.

The boys' team had Hank Gathers, Bo Kimble and Doug Overton.

As for the girls, they had No. 24: Dawn Staley.

"We always drew a crowd," Staley, coach of the No. 2 women's team in the country, South Carolina, said over the telephone. "It was 30 years ago and girls' basketball was packed in our gym. It was a beautiful thing.

"It was really cool," added Staley, the former national high school player of the year and two-time college player of the year at Virginia. "I thought we played exciting basketball that most people could relate to."

Walk the halls of Dobbins now and it is hard to miss the impact Staley has had on the school.

A mural displaying her likeness is located just outside the girls' gym that bears her name. Posters and plaques adorn the hallways, commemorating her three gold-medal trips to the Olympics and her professional career. Enter the boys' gym and just above the doorway a chart still lists her as the 10th grade girls' leader for curl-ups in the physical fitness test. There are countless trophies, too, and just outside Room 207 a bulletin board lists all of the records and honors Staley collected with the Virginia Cavaliers.

"Dawn was intelligent, very polite, very, very shy - never said a word," Yankowitz said, sitting at his old desk in the physical education office. "Watch her coach now and you see the veins pop out of her neck. It's like it is somebody different - you wouldn't know her."

Admittedly, Diamond Johnson didn't know much about the school's proud basketball pedigree when she entered as a freshman. As for her previous knowledge about Staley?

"She is basically the face of Dobbins," the junior said. "That's all I knew."

Older players quickly informed Johnson of tradition.

"It's an honor to call myself a Lady Mustang and to follow the footsteps of all the legends from Dobbins," Johnson said. "I think that means no matter where you are from, you can go as far as you want to go."

With Staley, the Mustangs won three consecutive Public League championships from 1986-88, but the team has struggled since, only winning one game last year. There's a new outlook now. Dobbins is 5-2 this season and excited about what the future holds.

It is hard, coach Toni Goodman said, explaining that as inner-city kids it isn't always possible for her players to compete year-round with AAU or in summer leagues.

And so Goodman spends a lot time teaching her players the "basics" like rebounding, playing good defense and learning how to box out.

In her six years with the Mustangs, Goodman, who also serves as athletic director amid a host of other responsibilities, has had only had one player go on to compete collegiately. She wants that to change.

"I've got some work to do," Goodman said. "I want colleges to come out and see our kids. Maybe Dawn can come and watch them someday."

On Wednesday, Goodman sat in her office, where if she left the door open she could see Yankowitz's old desk from her chair. The room will be renovated soon, she said, and when it is she wants to build a Wall of Fame.

There she will put pictures of kids who go on to play in college, she explained. Just maybe it will include the next Dawn Staley.