Womhoops Guru

Mel Greenberg covered college and professional women’s basketball for the Philadelphia Inquirer, where he worked for 40 plus years. Greenberg pioneered national coverage of the game, including the original Top 25 women's college poll. His knowledge has earned him nicknames such as "The Guru" and "The Godfather," as well as induction into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

WNBA: Stepping Up - Or Sideways

By Mel Greenberg

This is a short post to deliver the promise and the only gateway to the evidence at hand.

One of our photo editors was able to create a slide show at Philly.com, but this is the only gateway link to view the Guru at play Saturday night in Houston at the surprise party for the Comets' Dawn Staley at Clyde Drexler's restaurant.

It was held after ceremonies honoring Staley's retirement were held at the Toyota Center following Houston's victory over the Seattle Storm to clinch a playoff berth and the third seed in the Western Conference.

Adding to the caption info in place at the site, Teresa Edwards is a longtime friend of Staley who played with her in the Olympics, helped found the former American Basketball League along with Staley and a slew of other players, eventually played on the ABL's Phila. Rage, and also starred at Georgia. She also played for the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx.

Jayda Evans, who may have even more photos at her web site, is a sportswriter at the Seattle Times, who recently authored a book, and covers the NBA's Seattle Sonics and WNBA's Seattle Storm.

Raye Pond is a former Nike representative who had many dealings with Staley as the lead endorser for the prolific point guard.

Carla McGhee is the new WNBA director of player personnel. A former Tennessee star and teammate of Staley on the 1996 Olympic gold medal squad, she also played for the ABL's Atlanta Glory, as did Edwards, and was an assistant coach for a season to Staley at Temple.

Kathy McConnell Miller was a senior at the University of Virginia when Staley was a freshman. She is currently the coach of the University of Colorado and also is the older sister of Suzie McConnell Serio, the former WNBA Minnesota Lynx coach who starred at Penn State, as well as with the former WNBA Cleveland Rockers. Suzie. a former all-American, also won a gold medal with 1988 Olympic team in Seoul, Korea and a bronze with the 1992 squad in Barcelona, Spain.

That's it until we return to regular coverage from one of our correspondents, or yours truly.

-- Mel