Historical Spotlight: Cheryl Miller
The sport of women’s basketball has come so far since its inception. It’s seen the rise of dominant college teams like LSU and South Carolina and the master strategy of head coaches like Dawn Staley and Geno Auriemma. It has also seen the growth of different professional leagues, including the WNBA. Join me as we shine a historical spotlight on Cheryl Miller, one of the keystone women who helped bring women’s basketball into the national conversation.
Cheryl was born on January 3, 1964 in Riverside, California to her parents Saul and Carrie Miller. She is considered one of the greatest players in the history of women’s basketball. Not only did she help grow the sport’s fan base, but she also helped elevate it to a higher level.
She was born into a family of athletes who also made history in their respective sports. One of her brothers, Darrell Miller, went on to become an MLB catcher, while her other brother, Reggie Miller, went on to become a fellow Basketball Hall of Famer.
Cheryl showed much athletic talent during high school and led her Riverside Polytechnic High School team to a 132-4 record. In 1981, she was awarded the Dial Award for the national high school scholar-athlete of the year. She was also the very first player, male or female, to be named an All-American by Parade magazine four times.
She averaged 32.8 points and 15 rebounds per game, making her the national High School Player of the Year in both 1981 and 1982. In her senior year, she even scored a whopping 105 points in a single game. She set California state records for 1,156 points scored in a single season and 3,405 total points scored in a high school career.
In 1982, she began her collegiate basketball career at the University of Southern California (USC) as a forward. She used her 6 feet 2 inches height advantage to score 3,018 career points and solidify her as a four-time All-American. Her career 1,534 rebounds ranks her third all-time in NCAA history.
Cheryl was an absolute beast in college and won a multitude of awards. She led USC to a 112-20 record and won two NCAA championships in 1983 and 1984. Cheryl was the MVP for both NCAA Tournaments. She was also named the Naismith College Player of the Year three times, earned the Wade Trophy as Player of the Year once, and earned the Broderick Award as the Female College Basketball Player of the Year. Sports Illustrated named her the best overall player in male and female college basketball.
Although she played for USC roughly 40 years ago, she still holds the school record for points (3,018, 23.6 points per game), rebounds (1,534, 12.0 rebounds per game), field goals made (1,159), free throws made (700), games played (128), and steals (462). Her assist (414) and blocked shot (320) records were broken by Rhonda Windham and Lisa Leslie.
USC retired her #31 jersey in 1986. It was the first retired jersey of any basketball player at the school. In the same year, she was nominated for the James E. Sullivan Award for being the most outstanding athlete at the collegiate or Olympic level.
Cheryl played for the USA National team in the 1983 World Championships held in Brazil. The team won the silver medal after losing a close game to the Soviet Union, who hit a buzzer beater in the last seconds. The final score was 84-82. She led the team in scoring after averaging 17.6 points per game.
The team found redemption when they won gold medals in the 1983 Pan American Games in Venezuela, the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, and the 1986 World Championships in Moscow. Cheryl was selected to represent the US at the inaugural Goodwill games held in Moscow in July 1986 where she averaged 20.6 points to lead the team in scoring.
After graduating from USC in 1986, she was drafted by several professional basketball leagues, including a men’s league called the United States Basketball League. Knee injuries unfortunately ended her playing career shortly thereafter. From 1986 to 1991, she was an assistant coach at USC and a television sportscaster.
In 1993, Cheryl was named head coach at USC and coached two seasons for a combined 42-14 record. She then took her basketball knowledge to the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury where she spent four seasons as the head coach and general manager. She coached the team to a WNBA Finals appearance in 1998, but ultimately resigned after the 2000 season.
When she wasn’t playing or coaching ball on the court, she worked as a sideline reporter, analyst, and sportscaster for TNT Sports, NBA TV, ABC Sports, TBS Sports, and ESPN. In November 1996, she made history by becoming the first female analyst to call a nationally televised NBA game. She also served as a women’s basketball analyst and men’s basketball reporter for NBC’s coverage of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
In 1995, she was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts and just four years later was also inducted into the inaugural class of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Cheryl Miller will forever be known as one of the best women’s basketball players to ever play the sport. Not only did she have incredible performances during routine games, but she translated her practice and abilities over to the big stage when it mattered. She inspired a generation of women to continue breaking barriers to play the sport they love.
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Signed,
Jessica Marie
