Margaret Wade

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Wade_%28basketball%29

Lily Margaret Wade (December 30, 1912 in McCool, Mississippi, USA – February 16, 1995 in Cleveland, Mississippi, USA) was an American basketball player and coach. Wade was inducted in the inaugural class at the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999.

Early years

Margaret Wade was the youngest of eight children born to Robert and Bittie Wade in Cleveland, Mississippi. She grew up in Cleveland, playing forward for the Cleveland High School girls basketball team. She made the All-Conference team in 1928 and 1929.

College

Wade played college basketball for Delta State University in 1930-1932. In her second season, she was named captain of the team and earned All-Conference honors. In her junior year, she continued as captain, and was named the team's most valuable player. Over the three years, the team's record was 28–5–2. In her junior year, the school decided the game was "too strenuous for women" and dropped the program. Wade was very upset; she and her teammates decided to burn their uniforms.

AAU

Wade played for two years for the Mississippi Tupelo Redwings, a nearby AAU team. She was the team captain and helped her team reach the Southern Championship. Her playing career was cut short by a knee injury.

Coaching career

Wade started her coaching career at Marietta High School in Marietta, Mississippi in 1933. Her first year, the team had a record of 12–2. She then moved on to coach at Belden High school, where her team had a record of 11–3. After that, she coached Cleveland High School (Cleveland, Mississippi)'s girls basketball team from 1935 to 1954 with a 453-89-6 record. Her teams won the Bolivar County Championships and entered the North Mississippi tournament fourteen out of her last fifteen years, and came in second in the state championships three consecutive years. Wade also coached the girls' track team to consecutive state championships in 1958 and 1959.

When Delta State restarted the women's basketball team in 1973, Wade became the coach for them. They won three consecutive national championships at the AIAW Women's Basketball Tournament in 1975, 1976 and 1977. Those seasons included a 51-game winning streak. She also coached a future Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Lusia Harris-Stewart.

Cleveland High School's Margaret Wade Gymnasium, on the campus of Margaret Green Junior High School, was named in her honor in 1977. The top women's collegiate player is now awarded the Wade Trophy named after her. She was inducted into the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame in 1992. She was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1985 and in the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999.

A Mississippi Historical Marker honoring Margaret Wade was unveiled on the front lawn of Cleveland High School on October 11, 2008.

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Born on 30 December 1912 in McCool, Mississippi, Lily Margaret Wade played a pivotal role in the sport of women’s basketball as both a player and a coach. Wade played basketball for two years while attending Cleveland High School, from which she graduated in 1929. Wade then spent three years playing for Delta State University, serving as team captain and earning all-conference honors each year and winning the most valuable player award in 1931 and 1932. The school’s administration cut the women’s basketball program after the 1932 season, however, arguing that the sport was too strenuous for women. Some women protested the decision by burning their athletic uniforms, but Delta State did not restore the program until 1973, when Wade became the coach.

In the intervening forty-one years, Wade had kept busy on the courts. She played semiprofessionally with the Tupelo Red Wings, leading the team to the Southern Championship and serving as the team captain in 1934–35 before a knee injury ended her career. Wade then found a new niche as a coach at Marietta High School (1933–34), Belden High School (1934–35), and Cleveland High School (1935–54), compiling an overall 476–94 record.

Wade headed the women’s physical education department at Delta State University from 1959 to 1973, when she brought the school’s women’s basketball program back to life. She had immediate success, compiling a 16–2 record in her first season and developing the team into a national basketball powerhouse. Prior to her retirement in 1979, Wade’s teams won three Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women national championships and posted an amazing fifty-one-game winning streak. Wade was the first woman enshrined in the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and in the Delta State University Hall of Fame. She was also honored by the Mississippi Coaches Hall of Fame, and in 1984 she was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The Margaret Wade Trophy is now awarded each year to the top women’s college basketball player. She died on 16 February 1995. Delta State University dedicated a statue honoring Wade in 2014.