Charlene Curtis broke through first, then turned around to help others. The list of firsts was long, too.
First Black woman to play basketball at Radford.
First Black women's basketball head coach at Temple.
First Black women's basketball head coach in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Each milestone became a marker for someone else to find, a path easier to traverse.
"You can't be what you can't see. She gave us an example at a time where there weren't many," said Natasha Adair, Syracuse women's basketball's associate head coach, who described Curtis as a mentor.
"She deserves a lot of credit for being one of several to set the table for the women that we see having success at those levels now," said LaChina Robinson, a former player for Curtis at Wake Forest and current basketball analyst.
To recognize the impact of Curtis, who died of cancer in 2022, the NCAA is posthumously honoring her with the Gerald R. Ford Award. The honor recognizes individuals who provided significant leadership as advocates for intercollegiate athletics throughout their career.
Curtis became the first 1,000-point scorer at Radford, where she played shortly after the passage of Title IX in 1972. After serving as an assistant coach at UConn, she returned to southwestern Virginia to coach her alma mater from 1984-90, leading the program to four Big South regular-season titles and three tournament championships.
She later coached at Temple from 1990-95 and led Wake Forest from 1997 to 2004. She followed with 11 years supervising ACC women's officials and stints coordinating crews for the Big South Conference, Colonial Athletic Association and Southern Conference, where her impact included expanding staff, introducing instant replay and creating standardized training clinics.
Beyond her resume, Curtis spent her life creating opportunities for others in and around the game. That, more than anything, drove her.
"It was important because, for her, to reach back and to pull the next person along was what you should do in life," said Stephanie Howard, who played for Curtis at Radford. "If you get somewhere, if you make it somewhere, help the person behind you that's coming up behind you to do the same thing. For her, it was important that if you better your circumstances, then you can reach back and help someone else better theirs as well."
A mentor for life
In 2004, with boxes barely unpacked at Wake Forest as a new assistant coach, Adair was still learning the hallways when Curtis, the outgoing head coach, sought her out. It was an uncommon move by an exiting coach.
"She said, 'As a young African American coach, I want you to know that I am here for you as a resource,'" Adair recalled.
Adair didn't know Curtis beyond reputation, but the moment told her what she needed to know.
"This person is of high character," Adair said.
The follow-through made all the difference for Adair. Curtis kept showing up — at practices, at games, with context and connections — until a simple offer became a steady voice. What began as a courtesy became a compass.
"She was a mentor that was a safe space, someone who had been through some of the same hurdles (I faced)," Adair said. "So I could lean on her professionally, I could lean on her personally and I could trust her with every bit of information."
Curtis' mentorship was a lifelong commitment for her players, too.
Howard said Curtis "took a chance on her" twice in different stages of life, first as an underrecruited high school player who became a Radford Hall of Fame member and later as an official, when Curtis opened the door to Division I opportunities.
"Without that opportunity, I don't know if that chance would have presented itself for me. But because she was in a position to be able to offer that and she had the faith in me that I could do that at that level, she gave me that opportunity," she said. "She reached back and improved my circumstances."
Over the last 10 years of Curtis' life, their relationship only continued to strengthen. When Howard's mother died, Curtis stepped into that role. When Howard called Curtis — no matter the time or day — she answered.
"She was family, and family carries a lot of weight," Howard said. "I would call her for advice in work, in life, in relationships, and she would receive that. If it was important to me, it was important to her."
When Porsche Jones, who played for Curtis at Wake Forest, started a youth basketball nonprofit later in life, Curtis showed up with guidance and belief.
"Coach Curtis is one of those coaches that leaves a lasting impact through how she cared about you as an individual," Jones said. "She not only talked the talk, but she walked the walk. So she's someone that I kind of pattern some of my goals and things that I want to accomplish for my nonprofit and other girls that come behind me to have a high level of legacy. Coach Curtis means the world to me."
As Robinson started her broadcasting career, Curtis was in the industry serving as a TV analyst, a stint that included calling games for the Atlantic Coast and Southeastern conferences. Curtis took the chance to coach up her former player again.
"She would reach out and just encourage me, tell me how proud she was, give me pointers here and there, and that meant everything," Robinson said. "Much like when she entered into coaching, there aren't very many women in this field and definitely not very many women of color. So it can often feel like a very lonely space, and Coach Curtis went out of her way to make me feel welcome, to help me to feel more prepared more than anything, to make me feel seen, remind me that I was talented enough to be successful in this field, and that I had what it takes.
"If not for a lot of her early encouragement, I don't know if I would be where I am in my broadcasting career."
The details
Robinson still remembers her first recruiting visit with Curtis.
Curtis didn't pitch dreams in generalities; she opened a binder and laid out a plan. It included year-by-year goals, where Robinson fit on day one and where she could be by her final year. It wasn't salesmanship. It was a blueprint.
"Coach Curtis was someone who always had a vision. She was very focused, very determined, and was strategic about her approach to her life goals and to the things that she wanted to get done in life," Robinson said.
The details, Robinson said, were always of the utmost importance to Curtis. The stories of how this emphasis played out and impacted her players are countless.
Robinson still can picture Curtis walking into the locker room — shirt tucked in, socks pulled up exactly parallel, not a hair out of place, game plan memorized.
"We always felt like she had done everything that she could and turned over every stone in order to ensure that we would be in a position to get a victory," Robinson said. "That type of discipline can go a long way, especially when you think about life and the game of basketball. That was something that she had learned through the course of her own life that she knew was important for us to learn and activate."
The details applied to small moments of integrity, too.
Jones remembers running late to a practice and, to cut time, pulling into a handicap parking spot. As she got out of the car, she saw Curtis eyeing her with concern.
"Do you have a handicap sign?" Curtis asked Jones, who admitted that she did not. Curtis said she'd rather Jones be late than to occupy a parking spot an individual with a disability might need.
"Something that small taught us that she's going to make sure I have a level of integrity no matter what," Jones said. "There's a level of character and making sure at all times that you're making the right decisions that she taught us."
Other lessons involved running.
Following a team meeting, Howard recalls all players having to run in a certain time. Howard, the team's best player, was told she did not make the time. She argued with the coaches. Curtis suspended her.
"Everybody was kind of shocked, but I couldn't come to practice. If I was serious about being on a team, I had to practice myself. Once my suspension was over, there were no more problems," Howard said. "She didn't care that I was one of the best players. It was about me learning a lesson."
Before her freshman season, Robinson was struggling to make the mile time Curtis required for players to start practicing. At one point, defeated mentally, Robinson was ready to go back home.
"She made me stick to it, and I actually made my time the morning before our first practice. Charlene knew how important it was for me to learn those lessons at that point in the season because, again, she had a vision for what I could accomplish that year, but she knew that I had to get over the mental hurdle first," Robinson said. "I would go on to make the ACC All-Rookie team and start as a freshman, and none of that would have been possible if she would not have taught me that lesson about how important it is to stick to your goals and to build your mental toughness and to really push yourself beyond the limits of what you think are possible.
"Those are life lessons that have paid off dividends for me over the course of my life, and they still are. I'm still learning from those moments of what may look like just making a mile."
A legend recognized
The Ford Award recognizes leadership that lasts and lifts others. It honors people whose influence reaches far beyond a single team or season, whose example reshapes college sports for those who follow.
Past recipients range from coaches and athletes to administrators and public servants. Names like John Wooden, Billie Jean King, Pat Summitt, Donna Lopiano, Condoleezza Rice, Grant Hill, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, David Robinson and Ann Meyers Drysdale speak to the company Curtis now keeps.
For those who knew her, the connection is obvious.
"I'm very, very happy for Coach Curtis to receive such a high honor," Adair said. "She deserves it, and I don't know that she received all the flowers that she should have while she was with us, but I do want her legacy to live on."
As Robinson looks across today's game, she sees that legacy in the growing number of Black women leading Division I programs, especially in the Power Four.
"She was always someone who was not afraid to step into more challenging positions and prepare herself to be successful and to expect success and to leave a legacy of discipline, leadership and mentoring those that are coming after her," Robinson said.
For Jones, the award confirms what Curtis' former players have carried for years.
"There's people that come into our lives that are blessings and that are also great teachers for lifelong lessons," Jones said. "I would not be half the person I am today without the influence of Coach Charlene Curtis."
Howard said seeing Curtis recognized this way brings both pride and emotion.
"It means that other people have been able to recognize her life and what she meant to a lot of people," Howard said. "It's so heartwarming to know that now others get to know what I knew and what so many other people knew about Coach Curtis."
