Yolanda Laney’s legacy in ladies’s basketball was celebrated on September 6, 2024, with a particular ceremony in Philadelphia, her hometown, the place a avenue was formally named in her honor. The brand new “Yolanda Laney – Basketball Manner” pays tribute to her outstanding profession as a participant and coach, in addition to her lasting affect on the game, significantly for athletes from traditionally Black schools and universities (HBCUs).
Laney’s achievements on the court docket are legendary. As a standout participant at Cheyney College, she turned the one athlete from an HBCU to earn All-American honors in ladies’s basketball. In 1982, she led the Cheyney Girl Wolves to the NCAA Division I Closing 4, a feat that no different HBCU ladies’s basketball staff has replicated. Beneath coach C. Vivian Stringer, Laney’s management and ability had been unmatched, incomes her the title of Most Excellent Participant of the East Regional.
Her affect has been acknowledged by many, together with South Carolina head coach and fellow Philadelphia native Daybreak Staley. Earlier this yr, Staley wore a classic Cheyney State jersey throughout an NCAA event recreation, paying tribute to Laney’s 1982 staff and acknowledging the path they blazed for girls’s basketball, significantly for Black athletes.
On the avenue naming ceremony, household, buddies, and neighborhood leaders gathered to honor Laney’s achievements and acknowledge the importance of her legacy. Laney’s affect prolonged far past basketball. After her time at Cheyney, she earned a regulation diploma from Rutgers and have become a training legal professional, later serving as Atlantic Metropolis’s chief municipal public defender. However her ardour for the sport by no means left. Laney returned to her HBCU, Cheyney College as a coach, guiding the subsequent era of athletes on the similar establishment the place her legacy started.
The road naming, accompanied by the heartfelt ceremony, honors not solely her basketball achievements but additionally her broader contributions to her neighborhood and public service. “It’s an important honor to be acknowledged on this means,” Laney mentioned throughout the occasion. “I hope this avenue turns into a logo of what’s attainable for younger ladies who love basketball and dream massive.”
Yolanda Laney’s story continues to encourage, and her identify on a avenue in Philadelphia serves as an enduring reminder of her contributions to each HBCU athletics and the broader neighborhood.
