Sport

C. Vivian Stringer

The journey to the top of success is not always an easy way all through. One always goes through a series of ups and down and it takes a whole lot of determination to overcome the hurdles encountered on the way up the ladder. This is what C. Vivian Stringer, a successful African American Basketball at Rutgers, New Jersey University, has gone through to get to where she is in her career.

C. Vivian Stringer was born 16th of March 1948 in Edenborn, Pennsylvania. Her interest in sports activities started in high school where she was a cheerleader. Her perfection in sports was well demonstrated after she joined Slippery Rock University where she participated in a wide range of sporting activities.  Her good performance in basketball, tennis, field hockey and softball earned her entry to the Athletic Hall of Fame in that school. Upon clearing college, she joined Cheyney State University as a teacher where she also volunteered to coach the womens basketball team at an early age of 23. Her zeal to succeed bore fruits as she helped her team make tremendous achievements during her ten years leadership (Oglesby, et al, 1998). Among other accomplishments, she helped the team make its first-ever appearance in NCAA finals tournament for women in 1982. She later joined Iowa State University team in 1983 where she was to remain as a coach for twelve years.

Her exemplary leadership and mentorship skills helped her to lift the level of basketball of Iowa in a short span of time. She improved the performance of the team in the participation of national tournaments by winning in six championships. During this period, her name appeared as the NCAA District V coach of the year three times.  She also managed to win two National Coaches of the Year awards while at Iowa. Her determination made her become the first-women basketball coach to lead teams from different colleges to progress to the final four (Abeny, 1999). Some people believe that she oversaw the recruitment of the best beginners class of basketball players in the history of Iowa. This tremendous leadership paved her way to joining the State University of New Jersey in 1995. In addition to a fabulous salary offer the job came along with other social benefits which have given her satisfaction in her career as a coach.

This offer gave her a challenge in decision making as the uptake of the job at Rutgers was marred by racial sentiments. The hullabaloo about her signing was seen as a mere act of public relations strategy after racial remarks about African American were made by the top manager of the team. However, Stringer remained humble and focused on the cause of her career. During her time at Rutgers, Stringer has helped the team make uncontestable victories. These victories have made the team a force to reckon in the basketball scene (Woolum, 1998). It can be well remembered that she represented the team as a spokesperson after racism remarks were made against the team on a television program. It is at the height of this controversial reference to the team that she met with now the U.S secretary of State Hilary Clinton when she was a presidential candidate.

Among her other assignments, she gave her service as international coach for different teams in American womens Basketball. For example, in 1991, she led a US team which finished in the third position in Havana, Cuba during the games held under umbrella of Pan American Games. In addition, she was the leader of the University Games team in 1985. In 1989, she led the entry of the U.S to the World Championship Zone Qualification. In 2004, she was an assistant coach to the national team that went ahead to win gold in the Olympics. In 2008, she led the Scarlet Knights to the Elite eight. In the same year, she became the third womens coach to win 800 career games.

In 1993, she received a distinctive accolade the Carol Eckman Award by being recognized as a womens basketball coach who has demonstrated spirit, leadership integrity, courage, commitment and service in the sport.  In her role as a starter, she has helped in establishment of the Womens Basketball Coaches Association. Presently, she is one of the board members of the U.S Amateur Basketball Association. She has also helped in starting of C. Vivian Child Development Center (Abeny, 1999). The extensive center provides care and learning and other social development to young children. 

Her contribution in the field of sport has earned her recognition from Howard University who has given her an Honorary Doctorate degree in Humanities in 2008. In addition, the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority recognizes her as an honorary member since July 2008. Other past recognitions came from the U.S Sports Academy. In her honor, the academy has named an annual medallion award for women coaches after her. She is thought to be one of the top 101 most influential among minorities in sports according to the Sports Illustrated one of major sporting magazines. This great coach was officially inducted to the Hall of Fame among other great athletes in basketball such as M. Jordan, D. Robinson, J. Stockton and J. Sloan of Utah Jazz in 2009. In her response after this award, she termed the experience as earth-shattering. 

Challenges in life

Vivian was born to a coal miner and was brought up in a town where she could not access affluent lifestyle like other children of successful parents in her childhood. She faced challenges seeing her father whose legs were amputated struggle to bring up his family of six without giving up or complaining.  In her married life she, faced challenge when her daughter was diagnosed with spinal meningitis in 1982. This affected her life as she was always away from her ailing child coaching basketball teams as her career required. This was to be followed by the death of her husband Bill in 1992 after a heart attack during a thanksgiving ceremony (Cheppell, 2005). This also had a devastating effect in her life as she even at one point thought of leaving her coaching job to attend to family matters. The life of a single motherhood seemed too difficult for her.

Her struggles and successes are best exemplified in her autobiography named Standing Tall which is a memoir of her tragedies and triumphs. This book was released in March 2008 through Crown Books. 

Social life

C. Vivian Stringer has been positive female character for all of her life. Her resistance to giving up has made her successful person. Her husband had been one of her biggest fan and supporter when he was alive. He rejoiced in her success and gave her all the family support needed as a husband. When her husband died, her three children David, Jeanie and Justin children became the only pillar of her social strength. The job at the New Jersey piloted her to higher grounds of both financial and social satisfaction.  The university gave her social support by providing her with Home health care provided which catered for her disabled daughter.  In overall, she has helped to transform sport into a career that can support ones lifetime (Hawkes, Seggar, 2000). She has portrayed ability to transform failure and stagnation to success by combining care, community involvement and the zeal to achieve nothing short of the best. She combines novelty with a way of tackling personal challenges to achieve a common goal using a team spirit. By so doing, she has been able to associate with her players as members of one family.

In summary we can say that the life of C. Vivian Springer is one of encouragement and worth celebrating. She has emerged as a mentor to young women who knows her and who have come across in her career. She has garnered respect to women in sporting fraternity. In addition she has changed the face of black women in history. It is no doubt that her long time companion in coaching career termed her as a gem full of exceptional courage. Her believe in success as a marathon where one should help others in achieving their success should be emulated by all.