In Playground Games, Staley Can’t Forget

No one said a discouraging word to her about the missed layup at the buzzer in regulation.

Not in New Orleans, even in the wake of Virginia’s overtime loss to Tennessee in last season’s NCAA title game. Instead, Dawn Staley was the one comforting her teammates.

Certainly not in Charlottesville, even though the favored Cavaliers had missed out on making school history. At least a thousand people were in the parking lot at the University of Virginia, offering praise and support.

Then Staley went home again.

The words--about as hard as asphalt--came loud and clear from Staley’s old friends at the Moylan Recreation Center in North Philadelphia.

“They’re like my own worst critics--I got a lot of grief for missing that layup,” says Staley, the nation’s premier playmaking guard for the No. 1-ranked Cavaliers, who are 23-1, 13-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

“A lot! They told me I sold out. They told me I sold my team out.

“Actually, it’s funny. It’s the truth, but they said it in a funny way. But in the back of my mind, I was thinking, ‘Yeah, I did sell out the team.’ ”

Never mind that the 5-foot-5 Staley wasn’t exactly unimpeded on her way to the basket. Under different circumstances, a foul could have been called that day in New Orleans.

Even now, almost a year later, Staley is still trying to devise another route to the hoop.

“If I were in that situation again, I would probably do something different,” said Staley, who is averaging 14.6 points this season. “Probably gone off two feet, and, maybe I would have gotten fouled.”

Too bad she has to wait an entire year for redemption. On the Philadelphia playgrounds, you can often retrieve any lost dignity in the next game.

Staley’s identity was formed, and then refined, at the playgrounds near her home, the Raymond Rosen housing project. She fought off the initial concerns of her mother and fought to get into games at age 9.

Her mother, Estelle, had reason to be concerned. Dawn was playing all day, and, sometimes, all night against an all-boy crowd.

“My mother was protective in that she didn’t want me to play with the guys because they were so rough,” Staley said. “I came home dirty and my legs were scratched. I think she was just trying to protect me.”

As it turned out, the courts were almost the safest place to be in the neighborhood. Staley quickly gained acceptance and made new friends, including the late Hank Gathers. She made even more friends once the boys watched her pass the ball inside.

The John Stocktons of the world rule the playground. Or, at least, they get picked first.

“At first, I wasn’t allowed to play,” she said. “They used to say things like, ‘You need to be in the kitchen somewhere.’ I got taunted all over the place.

“But I wouldn’t have it any other way. The fact I had to prove myself over and over again. That I could be on the court with nine other guys and hold my own. It was hard, but it was necessary.”

The hard early times toughened Staley’s resolve once she faced the inevitable culture clash upon her arrival on the pristine grounds of Virginia. She found a new best friend, Tammi Reiss, a fast-talking, fast-playing guard from New York.

In three years, Staley and Reiss formed an All-American backcourt and led Virginia to two Final Fours. In 1991, Staley was the national player of the year and this year added the Broderick Cup to her resume.

More impressive is Staley’s versatility. She led the Cavaliers in scoring her freshman and sophomore seasons but tailed off last season and averaged 14.1 points--3.8 points below her sophomore average and 4.4 under her freshman totals. The reason? Staley decided to pass more and shoot less because of the presence of Reiss and another adept outside shooter, Tonya Cardoza.

Staley shored up her defensive skills and managed to lead the team in rebounding last season, a remarkable feat considering her teammates were 6-5 identical twins Heather and Heidi Burge.

Heather Burge, who is averaging a team-leading 16.6 points, shakes her head in wonder.

“She’s like a man in a woman’s body,” she says. “She’s a one-of-a-kind player. I’ve never played with anyone like her. She’s quiet, yet inspiring. Dawn just shuts up and plays. She demonstrates by ability, not by mouth.”

Said Virginia Coach Debbie Ryan: “She’s highly unselfish and doesn’t enjoy the limelight. She’d much rather be in the background. I think she’d rather have Tammi be the All-American.”

For Staley, the spotlight has proved to be unsettling.

That kind of tension was nothing like the pressure Staley faced in October. Then she helped talk a 16-year-old Charlottesville girl out of jumping off a parking garage. The teen-ager was a Staley fan and would speak only to Staley and Ryan.

After averting the suicide attempt, the three of them talked for three hours. Near the end, the girl was trying to help Staley and Ryan, saying they would get over the three-point loss to Tennessee.

“It got out (publicly) accidentally,” Ryan said. “I told Dawn, ‘Either you answer your own questions or you’re going to have to defer everything to me.’ She didn’t want to do anything that might hurt the girl. She never wanted anybody to know she had anything to do with it.”

Staley would have preferred it to stay that way.

In her world, it’s better to give than receive. That’s the way she is--whether it’s on the basketball court or signing autographs for large groups of youngsters.

This is part of her appeal.

“She gets so much satisfaction out of making somebody else happy,” Ryan said. “She’s made Heather Burge a star. But she’s a big celebrity here. Small kids look at her and they think they can be like her because she’s so much like them. They can identify with her. She’s not a great, big 200-pound male who is, like, 6-7.”

Self-analysis isn’t Staley’s style. For her, almost everything goes right back to her upbringing on the playground. She remembers the lessons of her youth, to keep her feet on the ground even when flying through the air to make a shot.

Staley knows one lesson word for word.

“Every time I go home, I still play on the playground,” she says. “And I think that’s important. That’s the code from my neighborhood: Never forget where you came from.”