Vanderbilt coach Shea Ralph’s mother didn’t think she would see the day women’s basketball was taken seriously. Today, she is watching her daughter shape the next generation of the game.
Ralph’s mother, Marsha Lake, was a trailblazer in the sport in the early 1970s. She played at North Carolina, beginning her career in 1971 ― one year before the passage of Title IX. During her time in Chapel Hill, she became the program’s first All-American. Lake also fought UNC athletic administrators for equal treatment, advocating for essentials such as proper uniforms and enough basketballs for practice.
During her college career, Lake competed on the inaugural U.S. women’s team at the 1973 World University Games alongside close friend Pat Summitt, helping the Americans earn a silver medal.
With her mother, as well as Summitt, serving as guiding influences throughout her career, Ralph has built a program that is distinctly her own.
“The role that I play as a leader is that every day, I show up and my job is to be a torch bearer and a trailblazer for my players because there were women, my mother, Pat Summitt, that did it for me,” Ralph said. “What they did personally impacted my life, and now it’s my job to show our players what it looks like.”
Now in her fifth season as head coach at Vanderbilt, Ralph has the Commodores in the NCAA Sweet 16 for the first time since 2009. And her mother is accompanying the team every step of the way.
The sacrifices her mother made in an era of limited opportunity serve as the foundation for the values Ralph instills in her team.
“How cool it is that we get to experience all of these things in terms of travel and fan attendance, and just the way that this is laid out?” Ralph said. “The resources that are poured into women’s basketball and women in general did not happen when she played, and that’s just a fact. But it was part of laying the foundation for it being able to happen now.”
As a mother herself, Ralph is a testament to teaching through example and is redefining the standards her mother once thought she might never see. Whether it’s enforcing no phones in the locker room or emphasizing eye contact, Ralph’s philosophy reflects the lessons passed down: Being a good person comes first.
“We have standards. We operate a certain way. We live a certain way, standards and values. And my No. 1 standard is you’re going to be a good person,” Ralph said. “You’re going to come here and be a great person. You’re going to invest in the people that are investing in you.
“There will be highs and lows. We’re going to win a lot. We’re going to play basketball. That’s what you came here to do. You’re going to get a degree. But you’re also going to pour into the people pouring into you and use your platform for good.”
Now, with her mother still by her side, Ralph is raising her 7-year-old daughter the same way she was raised. Those values have led the Commodores this far and could take them to the national title. Under Ralph, there will be plenty of opportunities to celebrate success because of the generations that came before her and her team.
“The foundation has been built for and you now you’re going to continue to build it for the players that come after you by appreciating what you have,” Ralph said. “By celebrating the successes, pouring into each other just like the women before us did. Like my mom.”
Lily Cincola is a student in the University of Georgia’s Carmical Sports Media Institute.
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