Three-time Olympic and World Championship gold medalist Dawn Staley made her final return to USA Basketball in 2004 -- on the court anyway -- after first donning the red, white and blue in 1989. She went out on top and in style after being voted by her peers, other U.S. Olympic Team captains, to carry the flag and lead the U.S. delegation into the 2004 Olympic Opening Ceremonies. Additionally, 2004 saw Staley collect her second USA Basketball "Female Athlete of the Year" award.

The head women's basketball coach at Temple University since the 2000-01 season, Staley has advanced her Owls to a pair of NCAA tournaments in four years. Her 2002 team captured the school's first Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament title in the history of the program. In 2004, she led the Owls to the top of the A-10 East standings with a 14-2 record and secured Temple's second A-10 Tournament title. The 2004 Atlantic 10 Conference "Coach of the Year" and 2002 Philadelphia Big Five "Coach of the Year," Staley posted a 74- 47 record in her first three seasons at Temple's helm after finishing the 2003-04 season with a 21-10 mark.

In the 1999 WNBA Draft, Staley was drafted No. 9 overall by the Charlotte Sting and has seen action in four all-star games, one in the ABL (1998) and three in the WNBA (2001-03). In her first season with the Sting, she helped catapult the team to a second-place finish in the Eastern Conference and to the conference finals.

In 2003, Staley aided the Sting to a second-place finish in the Eastern Conference and tied a franchise high of 18 victories. In 2002, she assisted the Sting to an 18-14 record and second-place finish in the Eastern Conference. In 2001, Staley and the Sting turned around a 1-10 start to advance to the WNBA Finals, though they were felled by the Los Angeles Sparks.

The recipient of the 1998 American Red Cross Spectrum Award, which celebrates women who have made outstanding contributions to their communities, Staley has been honored on numerous occasions for her work with inner-city Philadelphia children through the foundation that bears her name, including the 1999 WNBA Entrepreneurial Spirit Award. She is currently in the process of writing a series of children's books based loosely on her life.

Staley, who played her prep career at Dobbins Tech in Philadelphia, began playing basketball with the guys in her North Philly neighborhood as a way to stay out of trouble. One of five children, Staley was born May 4, 1970, in Philadelphia.

Bio courtesy of USA Basketball.com