EXCERPT FROM STANDING TALL

"I have far fewer years ahead of me than I do behind me in my coaching career, and it has become increasingly important to me that the young women I coach feel empowered to go out and make a difference in the world. Lee Iacocca famously asked, 'Where have all the leaders gone?' The answer, of course, is that we're all leaders. Every one of us has the power to inspire the people around us and to change what has always been. [...]

I am not large in stature, but I have never doubted my ability to stand tall and to make a difference. That's what happened this year [*], and what a tremendously powerful thing it was! My young ladies stood up. They stood up for themselves and for what is right. And when they did, people all around the country stood up with us and for us.

-- From Standing Tall: A Memoir of Tragedy and Triumph, written by C. Vivian Stringer, Head Coach of the Rutgers University Scarlet Knights, with Laura Tucker

[* ] 2007, the year that radio personality Don Imus made racist and sexist comments about the women on the team.