C. Vivian Stringer Earns WBCA Lifetime Achievement Award
C. Vivian Stringer, who made history at Cheyney University, receives the WBCA Lifetime Achievement Award — a legacy rooted in HBCU excellence and Black leadership.
In brief
C. Vivian Stringer has earned the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Lifetime Achievement Award, cementing a legacy that began at Cheyney University — an HBCU — where she coached the Wolves to the inaugural NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship game in 1982. With over 1,000 career wins across three programs, Stringer is widely regarded as one of the most consequential figures in the history of women's sports.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
C. Vivian Stringer receives the WBCA Lifetime Achievement Award, one of the highest honors in women's college basketball coaching.
Stringer built Cheyney University — a historically Black university — into a national powerhouse, reaching the first-ever NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship game in 1982.
She accumulated more than 1,000 career wins across Cheyney, the University of Iowa, and Rutgers University.
Stringer was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009, one of only a handful of women's coaches to receive that honor.
Her career stands as a defining argument for HBCU investment, Black women's leadership in athletics, and equity in college sports.
The Cheyney Chapter: Where History Was Made on an HBCU Court
Before Rutgers. Before Iowa. Before 1,000 wins and a Hall of Fame plaque, there was Cheyney University of Pennsylvania — the nation's oldest HBCU, founded in 1837, sitting in Delaware County just outside Philadelphia. That is where C. Vivian Stringer first announced herself to the world of women's basketball, and where she built something that had never existed before.
In 1982, Stringer led the Cheyney Wolves to the inaugural NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship game, a landmark moment not just for the program but for HBCU athletics nationally. Cheyney lost to Louisiana Tech that night, but the statement had been made: a historically Black university, operating on a fraction of the resources available to predominantly white institutions, had reached the pinnacle of the sport.
That 1982 run remains one of the most remarkable — and underacknowledged — achievements in college basketball history. Stringer accomplished it with recruiting relationships built on trust, a coaching philosophy rooted in discipline and dignity, and a belief that her players deserved to compete at the highest level regardless of what their school's endowment looked like. For anyone tracking the HBCU excellence conversation from Howard University's campus in Northwest DC to campuses across the MEAC and SWAC, that chapter reads as foundational text.
Iowa, Rutgers, and the Architecture of a 1,000-Win Career
Stringer left Cheyney for the University of Iowa in 1983, where she spent eight seasons transforming a Big Ten program into a national contender. She then made her most celebrated move to Rutgers University in New Jersey in 1995, where she would spend nearly three decades building one of the most consistent programs in women's college basketball.
At Rutgers, Stringer coached the Scarlet Knights to the 2007 NCAA Championship game, where the team's grace under pressure — and her own composure in the face of Don Imus's racist and misogynistic broadcast comments about her players — became a defining cultural moment. Stringer did not deflect or minimize. She stood at the podium in Piscataway and demanded accountability, and much of the country listened. NPR's coverage of that press conference captured a coach operating as something far larger than a coach.
She finished her career with more than 1,000 wins — a threshold fewer than a dozen coaches in women's basketball history have crossed. In 2009, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inducted Stringer, recognizing not just wins and losses but the architecture of a career that changed who got to stand on the sideline and what they were allowed to demand for their programs.
Why the WBCA Lifetime Achievement Award Matters Beyond the Trophy Case
The Women's Basketball Coaches Association Lifetime Achievement Award is not handed out annually. It recognizes careers that have altered the trajectory of the sport — coaches whose influence extends beyond wins into culture, policy, and possibility. Stringer's selection carries particular weight because her career is inseparable from the broader story of Black women in American athletics.
She coached during eras when women's basketball received almost no television coverage, when HBCU programs operated in the shadows of Power Five budgets, and when Black women coaches were systematically overlooked for head coaching positions at major programs. That she built her first historic program at an HBCU — and that Cheyney's 1982 run still sits in the record books as the first finalist in the history of the tournament — is a data point that deserves to be cited every time the conversation turns to equity in college sports.
The Women's Basketball Coaches Association has a platform to shape how the sport's history is told. Centering Stringer — and by extension, centering Cheyney — is an act of institutional memory that the broader sports media has too often failed to perform.
Why This Matters in Washington
Washington DC sits at the center of the HBCU universe. Howard University's Burr Gymnasium has hosted generations of athletes who learned what Black excellence in sports looks like. The District's political institutions — from the Congressional HBCU Caucus to the Department of Education's ongoing debates over Title IX enforcement and HBCU federal funding — make DC the policy capital of the conversation Stringer's career demands we have.
When a coach like Stringer receives a lifetime achievement honor, it is not just a sports story. It is evidence in an argument that DC's lawmakers, advocates, and education leaders are actively litigating: that HBCUs produce excellence at the highest levels, that Black women's leadership in athletics has been chronically undervalued, and that the infrastructure investments directed toward HBCU athletic programs remain unequal. Howard's own athletic programs, navigating the full-scholarship transition after joining the CAA, understand exactly what Cheyney was up against in 1982 — and what institutions like it still face today. Follow WDCM's ongoing coverage of Howard and HBCU excellence for that full picture.
Stringer's award should land on the desks of every member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee as Exhibit A. See our DC Politics Guide for how HBCU funding debates are shaping the 2026 legislative calendar.
A Career That Redefined Who Gets to Lead
The bottom line on C. Vivian Stringer is this: she did not wait for the door to open. She built her own door at Cheyney University in the late 1970s and early 1980s, walked through it into the national championship game, and spent the next four decades proving that what happened at that HBCU outside Philadelphia was not a fluke — it was a forecast.
The WBCA Lifetime Achievement Award arrives late by any honest accounting, but it arrives with the weight of everything Stringer built behind it. A generation of Black women coaches, athletic directors, and players across the country — including those currently competing at Howard and the MEAC's member institutions — carry her work forward every time they step onto the court. Track the broader conversation about Black women in sports leadership on WDCM's DC Power Players Index.
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Frequently Asked Questions: C. Vivian Stringer and the WBCA Lifetime Achievement Award
What is the WBCA Lifetime Achievement Award? The Women's Basketball Coaches Association Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes coaches whose careers have had an enduring, transformative impact on women's basketball — spanning wins, program-building, advocacy, and cultural influence.
Why is Cheyney University significant to C. Vivian Stringer's legacy? Cheyney University of Pennsylvania is where Stringer launched her head coaching career and where she made history in 1982 by leading the Wolves to the first-ever NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship game. Cheyney is the nation's oldest HBCU, and that run remains one of the most significant achievements in HBCU athletic history.
How many career wins does C. Vivian Stringer have? Stringer accumulated more than 1,000 career victories across three programs — Cheyney University, the University of Iowa, and Rutgers University — placing her among the winningest coaches in the history of women's college basketball.
When was C. Vivian Stringer inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame? Stringer was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009, one of the sport's highest individual honors and a recognition of her total impact on the game over more than three decades of coaching.
How does Stringer's career connect to the broader conversation about HBCUs and equity in college sports? Stringer built her first national championship-caliber program at an HBCU operating with far fewer resources than Power Five competitors. Her 1982 Cheyney team is direct evidence that HBCU programs can compete at the highest level — and a standing argument for closing the funding and infrastructure gap that persists today.
What was the Don Imus controversy involving C. Vivian Stringer and the Rutgers team? In April 2007, radio host Don Imus made racist and misogynistic comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team after their NCAA Championship game appearance. Stringer responded publicly with a press conference that commanded national attention, defended her players with moral clarity, and became a landmark moment in the intersection of sports, race, and media accountability in America.
What to Watch Next: The WBCA award cycle often signals broader momentum around women's coaching recognition — watch for how Stringer's honor influences the conversation around HBCU athletic investment in the 2026 federal budget process, and whether Howard University's expanding athletic profile accelerates a new generation of HBCU coaches into national spotlight positions. WDCM will track both stories. Browse our full HBCU coverage and Power Moves tag for ongoing updates.
Reporting drawn from: Sports Illustrated. Washington DC Magazine provides original analysis, DC-specific context, and editorial perspective beyond the source material.This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by WDCM editorial staff. Washington DC Magazine is committed to accuracy, transparency, and editorial integrity. If you believe any information in this article requires correction, please contact editor@washingtondcmagazine.com.
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CAN I KICK IT? screens New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument, on Aug. 22. (Courtesy SHAOLIN JAZZ)
The live-cinema series CAN I KICK IT? returns to the National Mall this month with what its producers are calling the "Gangsters on the Mall" chapter of their free outdoor summer run. On Saturday, August 22, the SHAOLIN JAZZ production brings the 1991 crime classic New Jack City to the Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument for a night of film, music, and community under the DC summer sky.
What sets the event apart is the sound. As the film plays, DJ 2-Tone Jones builds an original score in real time, reimagining one of the most iconic crime movies of the ’90s through hip-hop, soul, funk, and more. It is less a movie screening than a live performance built around the film.
The details:
Film: New Jack City (1991), with a live soundtrack by DJ 2-Tone Jones
When: Saturday, August 22 — seating opens at 7:30 p.m. (bring lawn chairs and blankets); film begins at 8:30 p.m.
Where: Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument, Independence Ave SW & 15th St NW
A parking note from the organizers: expect road closures and restricted parking east of 14th Street NW due to a separate race event in the District. Roads west of 14th Street NW will be accessible and available for parking.
New Jack City is the second of three screenings in this year’s free CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series, which opened with Black Panther at Skyland Town Center and concludes with Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial on September 5. Produced by the Washington, DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, the series has presented more than 150 live cinematic experiences at venues across the country, from Lincoln Center to SXSW.
"I wanted to be able to tell good stories with substance and remove the ‘ego’ out of the art," said Andrew Huang during a recent interview. Now, he’s building his career at the intersection of discipline, creativity and innovation.
Andrew Huang, founder of New Place Studios. (Courtesy photo)
As a Chinese American, Huang was reared with a deep respect for hard work, consistency and excellence. He describes his childhood as "not so affluent" and later attended college to hone his passion for videography. "In college I tried to do something I loved, which was video, but along the way I knew that I had to find a job. And so I thought, ‘what was the low hanging fruit to get to that stable 9 to 5 job?,’" he stated.
Later in life, Huang found himself working for corporations where his creativity was often limited, eventually leading to burnout. "I worked in a corporation for a long time and there were a lot of missing pieces. I wanted to fill in gaps missing in corporate video production," said Huang.
He later described how his upbringing and a mindset of "survival" led him toward a corporate career. However, his desire for balance and authentic storytelling ultimately pushed him to take the entrepreneurial leap.
"I founded a new place where you can create video and film with ‘substance and style,’" said Huang. His desire for work-life balance and passion for storytelling naturally evolved into a small business based in Virginia. With the launch of New Place Studios, the entrepreneur quickly found himself reconnecting with the values that would become the foundation of everything he creates behind the camera.
Huang said being a business owner has allowed him to first embrace himself. While others may see video as simply capturing moments, he sees it as a way to preserve stories that inspire, connect and leave a lasting imprint.
By combining cinematic visuals with cutting-edge production techniques and a keen understanding of branding, Huang helps organizations and individuals communicate their vision with purpose. He said understanding a client’s "why" serves as the compass for delivering the services they need.
One benefit of working with a small business, he said, is that clients get to see the production process unfold through a micro lens while working with the same faces throughout the entire project. "The work feels personal," said Huang.
Huang does not regret leaving behind the flash-over-substance mentality and corporate hustle culture. That does not mean the Asian American entrepreneur has been without challenges in the industry. "It’s relatively hard to find other Asian American creatives or people who would want to work with me in the DMV," said Huang.
He identifies the industry culture in which everyone is trying to blend in, creatives may fear displaying their Asian identity and some feel pressure to adopt an American corporate persona. He also points to what he describes as a level of gatekeeping within the industry. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2024 statistics, Asian American and Pacific Islander entrepreneurs own more than 3 million businesses and employ 5.2 million people in the United States.
After tapping into organizations such as SCORE, which offers free small business mentorship, New Place Studios has become a trusted creative partner throughout the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia). The company produces a range of creative services, including commercials, corporate branding, documentaries, film, 2D animation, motion graphics and photography.
For Huang, entrepreneurship has become more than a departure from corporate life. It has given him the freedom to create with intention, build meaningful connections and tell stories that go beyond the surface.
The 2026 CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
For three Saturdays this summer, some of Washington’s most familiar public spaces will do something they rarely do after dark: fill up with blankets, lawn chairs, and the sound of a movie being scored live, in real time. CAN I KICK IT?, the traveling “live cinema” series produced by the DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, is bringing a free outdoor run to the city — pairing three era-defining films with an original soundtrack performed on the spot by DJ 2-Tone Jones.
The premise is what sets it apart from a normal screening in the park. Rather than simply pressing play, 2-Tone Jones builds a score as the film unfolds, pulling from hip-hop, soul, funk, jazz, rock, electronic music, and sounds from around the world. The result, the organizers say, is less a movie night than a one-time performance — the same film you know, wired to a soundtrack you have never heard and will not hear again. Guest DJs warm up the crowd starting at 7:30 PM before each 8:30 PM screening.
The 2026 outdoor schedule
All three events are free and open to the public.
Saturday, August 8 — Black Panther at Skyland Town Center. A pop-up marketplace and community activities kick off the evening; guest DJs at 7:30 PM, film at 8:30 PM. Marvel’s superhero epic gets a one-night-only live score in Southeast DC.
Saturday, August 22 — New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument. Seating begins at 7:30 PM; the film starts at 8:30 PM. The 1991 crime drama plays out at the foot of one of the country’s most recognizable landmarks.
Saturday, September 5 — Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial. Seating at 7:30 PM; film at 8:30 PM. The series closes with Brian De Palma’s crime saga against the backdrop of the Memorial, scored live from start to finish.
First up: Black Panther at Skyland Town Center on August 8. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
A DC company with a national footprint
SHAOLIN JAZZ describes itself as a Washington-based arts company working at the intersection of music, film, art, and culture, and CAN I KICK IT? is its signature production. According to the organizers, the series has staged more than 150 live cinematic experiences around the country — at performing arts centers, museums, festivals, and cultural institutions including Lincoln Center in New York, SXSW, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Republic Square in Austin, the Tacoma Armory, and The Cary Theater.
“CAN I KICK IT? has always been about creating a shared experience,” said Gerald Watson, co-founder of SHAOLIN JAZZ. “When you combine iconic films with live music in public spaces, something special happens. People aren’t just watching a movie — they’re experiencing it together. That’s what makes these nights so memorable.”
Cinema as a community event
The DC run lands as cities across the country look for new ways to activate public space through arts and culture — and this series is a straightforward pitch for how to do it: take a landmark everyone already knows, add a film everyone has an opinion about, and let a live soundtrack turn the evening into something neighbors experience shoulder to shoulder. Families, film buffs, and music fans are all invited, and admission won’t cost a thing.
The CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series runs August 8, August 22, and September 5. All events are free; check SHAOLIN JAZZ (shaolinjazz.com) for the latest details and any weather updates before heading out.
