Trailblazers are rarely forgotten, but sometimes they’re overshadowed. Lost among Mary Lou Retton, Greg Louganis, Carl Lewis and Michael Jordan at the 1984 Olympics were the stars of the first gold medal-winning U.S. women’s basketball team.
“Everybody on that team was a star in their own right,” said forward Janice Lawrence Braxton. “We had a team full of stars.”
Legendary Tennessee coach Pat Summitt, who died in 2016 at 64, five years after being diagnosed with early onset dementia in the form of Alzheimer’s, constructed a roster of phenoms, including USC’s Cheryl Miller and Pamela McGee, Louisiana Tech’s Kim Mulkey and Lawrence Braxton, Tennessee’s Lea Henry and Georgia’s Teresa Edwards.
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Barred from contention because of her involvement in professional basketball was former Olympian Nancy Lieberman, who also missed the 1980 Olympics because of the U.S. boycott. But Summitt shifted her sights overseas, bringing in recently graduated talent such as Anne Donovan, Cathy Boswell, Carol Menken-Schaudt, Denise Curry, Cindy Noble and Lynette Woodard, who were competing internationally for U.S. national teams.
Summitt, just 31 at the time, was establishing herself as a successful coach at Tennessee. What was yet to come was a legendary coaching career, during which she amassed eight NCAA national titles, 16 SEC tournament and conference championships, 18 Final Four appearances and a 1,098-208 record. She is now widely regarded as one of the best basketball coaches of all time and was responsible for molding the U.S. team into a dominant force at the 1984 Games.
Miller was a marquee talent on a team brimming with legendary standouts and starred as the primary scoring option. Completing her sophomore season at USC before the Olympic trials, she already was a two-time NCAA Tournament champion and Naismith Player of the Year. She would go on to win two more Naismith Awards before beginning her career in coaching.
Miller and Summitt were heated rivals in the collegiate game, regularly competing on the biggest stages before joining forces. One was the face of a new generation of basketball players, the other an old-school coach. Together, after putting their differences aside, they led the loaded national team to its first Olympic gold medal.
The final roster dominated the field at the Olympics. Summitt instilled a relentless mentality that prevented any moment of weakness. Her coaching, along with the otherworldly talent she assembled, combined to form an unstoppable force. The team led the tournament in every statistical category, and its smallest margin of victory was a 28-point opening-game demolition of Yugoslavia. The Americans crushed South Korea in the gold-medal game, 85-55.
These are the stories from the players, who 40 years later are shining a light on their journey to immortality:
How do you turn a collection of talented individuals into a team? Pat Summitt did it through intensity, exhaustion and a touch of nausea.
Summitt’s practices were highly competitive. Perfection was a requirement, and the team had to be overprepared to deliver gold in Los Angeles. Sprints were the coach’s favorite tool to accentuate a point.
“All we did was run,” Teresa Edwards said. “Almost the whole team threw up. Trash cans were at the corners. I don't know why we were running, and I can't figure it out for the life of me.”
Summitt’s coaching style was new to some players, and there was an adjustment period. Janice Lawrence Braxton, who played at Louisiana Tech under coach Leon Barmore, recalls getting a steal in practice and running the court to make an easy layup. Summitt blew the play dead and screamed at Braxton.
“ ‘Janice Lawrence, I know Leon Barmore didn’t let you play defense like that,’ ” Braxton recalls Summitt yelling at her.
There was a reason for Summitt’s coaching style, however. Through shared pain and countless sprints, a group of rivals became a team.
“Because coach was so hard on us, we had to forge a bond with each other,” Cheryl Miller said. “It had to be us against them, the coaching staff. That united us.”
The passion, the intensity, the cardio, the pain — it all worked.
But as they put the finishing touches on the historic moment, the players couldn’t help but spend their crowning achievement recalling the unremitting practices that helped get them there.
“I remember getting our gold medals, and we were able to raise our hands that we had finished,” Braxton said. “That summer was the most grueling summer. Pat gave us T-shirts that said, ‘We Survived the Summitt.’ When she said that, she was not lying.”
Summitt tried to bring the intensity out of her players. But with Cheryl Miller, she tried to rein it in.
“My enthusiasm for the game, she thought, was showboating,” Miller said. “The animation just irked her. It bugged her.”
During a meeting after one of their pre-Olympic practices, Summitt asked Miller why she was always being so dramatic on the court.
“Because the game is dramatic,” Miller replied. “I’m just the exclamation point in the sentence.”
Summitt would learn to accept Miller’s personality, mainly because she didn’t have much choice as Miller was inarguably the best all-around player on the team.
The 6-foot-2 inch forward from USC, who had just come off a national championship run in which she was named the NCAA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, led the Olympic team in points, assists, rebounds and steals.
“She was so far ahead of her time,” said Debbie Antonelli, a women’s basketball commentator who played for North Carolina State in 1984. “She was long and athletic. She could handle [the ball] and she was strong. She could dunk, she could play at the rim, she could guard anybody. Until Caitlin [Clark] came along, I thought Cheryl Miller was the best college player ever.”
It’s impossible not to wonder what Miller would have looked like in today’s game. But according to Hall of Fame player Ann Meyers-Drysdale, who played on the 1976 silver medal-winning U.S. Olympic team and called the 1984 team’s games for ABC, we don’t need to think too hard.
“Could Bill Russell, Oscar Robertson and Jerry West play today? You're a great player no matter the generation,” Meyers-Drysdale said. “Absolutely Cheryl Miller would have been great in today’s game.”
Miller doesn’t lack confidence in how she would perform in the modern era.
“It’s not being braggadocious,” Miller said. “But there’s no one in the game [today] where I’m like, ‘She would have been a challenge.’ ”
Braxton, a senior forward from Louisiana Tech, vividly remembers watching Georgeann Wells at the 1984 Olympic trials. A 6-foot-7 inch sophomore from West Virginia who would become the first woman to dunk in a college game, Wells was one of the most talented players Braxton had seen.
“This girl had arms and legs for days,” Braxton said. “She was blocking everybody’s shot in the trials.”
But Wells’ defensive dominance throughout tryouts wasn’t enough to earn her a spot on the Olympic roster. In Braxton’s eyes, Wells’ failure to make the cut represented how difficult it was to gain one of the 12 spots.
“When you play in a certain [college] conference, you don't really get to see some of the other teams around the country play,” Braxton said. “When we went to the Olympic trials, then you had these people coming from everywhere. And you'd be like, ‘Oh man, dang.’ ”
Collegiate and professional players competing overseas combined to form a more competitive tryout than in 1980, said Curry, who made the Olympic roster in ’80 but was denied the chance to compete in Moscow because of the U.S. boycott.
“They were really intense,” Curry said. “The number of quality players had increased significantly between the 1980 trials and 1984 trials.”
Making the 1984 roster is a moment Curry said she will never forget.
“I remember pure elation, just like in 1980,” Curry said. “In 1980, they posted the team on the wall in the dorms at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, whereas this time, Pat [Summitt] had us come into a room and she told us individually. In 1984, it obviously was before cell phones and things like that, so then you're hustling to try to find one of those dorm phones down the hall to call your family and let them know what happened. To some extent, there was some relief, but mostly just proud and excited.”
After months of training under Summitt as if they were entering as underdogs, the team dominated like the favorites they were.
With a high-pressure defense and an up-tempo offense, the Americans overwhelmed every team they played in the group stage, cruising to a 33-point average margin of victory.
“I know we had the expectations that we were going to go out and pressure the heck out of people, make it miserable for them, not allow them to get comfortable, not allow them, ideally, to even get into their offense so that they're taking any kind of high-percentage shot,” said forward Curry.
“We did that in every game.”
The U.S. concluded its Olympic run with the gold-medal game against South Korea, where players entered ready to crush their final opponent.
“Five of us were dunking in warm-ups, and you could hear the ‘clack ’ [of the rim],” guard Boswell said. “The [South Korean] players were looking out of the corner of their eyes. And we were all looking at each other like, ‘Hey, we're playing at home in front of our crowd, so let's get this.’ ”
The U.S. cruised to a 30-point win to secure the first Olympic gold medal in U.S. women’s basketball history. Three players, including Miller, scored in double figures, while every other player on the team contributed at least one basket. The performance was emblematic of the collection of individual stars that had melded to become a historic team.
“Being able to come together, knowing that any of us could take over a game at any time but sacrificing whatever it took,” said Edwards, “that’s one thing that made us special. We all wanted to win. Period.”
◾ Game 1: The U.S. began its road to gold on July 30 with a matchup against Yugoslavia. The 9 a.m. tipoff initially had the Americans sluggish, trailing 25-23 at one point in the first half. Miller and McGee eventually provided the jolt their team needed. Miller ended the game as the leading scorer with 23 points, eight rebounds and five assists, while McGee added 13 points, four rebounds and one assist. The U.S. led 43-29 at halftime and coasted to an 83-55 victory.
◾ Game 2: The U.S. faced Australia on July 31, and this time the Americans were ready for the 9 a.m. tipoff. They led by 20 points after 15 minutes and were up 51-28 at halftime. Noble had her best game of the tournament, posting 13 points and three rebounds while shooting 6-for-6 from the field. Curry chipped in with 12 points, two rebounds and three assists. The U.S. improved to 2-0 in round-robin play with an 81-47 win.
◾ Game 3: After a day off, the U.S. met South Korea on Aug. 2. The Americans once again dominated from the opening tip and led 40-20 at the half. Braxton stuffed the stat sheet with 13 points and seven rebounds while shooting a team-high nine free throws. Boswell turned in her best performance with 10 points, three rebounds and three assists. The U.S. continued its demolition of the field with an 84-47 win.
◾ Game 4: The U.S. faced China on Aug. 3 and continued proving itself as the tournament favorite. The team led 38-26 after the first half and widened its margin of victory in the second, outscoring China 53-29 to complete a 91-55 victory. Woodard was the leading scorer with 16 points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals. Braxton followed with 14 points, seven rebounds, two steals and one block. Two Chinese players registered 10 or more points, while four Americans reached the 10-point threshold.
◾ Game 5: The U.S. met Canada on Aug. 5 and forced its will upon yet another opponent. Donovan played her best game of the tournament, recording 14 points, six rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block. The American team outrebounded Canada 42-29 en route to a 92-61 final. The U.S. led by 10 at the half and outscored Canada 51-30 in the second half.
◾ Game 6: In the tournament's biggest game – the gold medal final – the U.S. leaned upon its superstar, who shined against South Korea. Miller recorded 16 points and had 11 rebounds, five assists and two steals to lead the Americans to an 85-55 victory. The team ended the tournament the way it started it - with suffocating defense. Four players on the South Korean team recorded a single point.
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