Gastonia's great ambassador

Every few minutes in her keynote talk over at the Schiele Museum at the Carolina Club meeting Thursday night, Sylvia Hatchell, acclaimed University of North Carolina women’s basketball coach, would reference something she had learned growing up in Gastonia.

After describing one or another encounter in her world, which includes her high profile, Carolina basketball world; her coaches’ world; her very active, cancer treatment activism world; her family world; her church world; her beach world; her mountain world; she would say something to the effect of: "That’s how we do things in Gastonia," or "That sure brought the Gastonia out in me," or "That’s just the way we were raised in Gastonia."

And in every case the encounter was measured against wholesome, straightforward, keep-your-head-up, right vs. wrong values this Gastonia native-made-good learned in her family, in her church, in her schools and among her many friends and mentors. So much so, by the end of her talk I came away thinking I don’t know if I’ve seen or heard a better ambassador for this town…and I’ve know some good ones, all the way back to the Basil Whitener days, on to T. Jeffers, to Bill Williams, to Marshall Rauch, to Jennie Stultz. And Sylvia Rhyne Hatchell ranks right with them all.

There is not space here for her professional accomplishments. She is the only coach ever to win three national championships at three different college levels, in the AIAW, the NAIA and the NCAA. She has won eight ACC tournament titles and her career record is second among active women’s coaches. She has been inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and in 2013 into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. And there are many, many other honors that have come her way in what continues to be a stellar professional career.

Her fame in the basketball world, however, has at times, in recent years, played a back seat to her activism on the part of cancer treatment. Ever since her near miraculous winning battle against leukemia beginning in 2013, she has been a tireless advocate for the UNC Lineberger Cancer Center in Chapel Hill. Her stories of walking the halls for exercise, of never ever wearing gowns or pajamas but staying up and as active as she could be, even in the midst of debilitating chemotherapy treatments, are both poignant and instructive.

Through Sylvia’s efforts, advocacy and influence, the Lineberger Center now has exercise facilities for its patients and you will often find her there talking to patients. She is constantly raising money and awareness for the cause and when she comes to Gastonia, she reports to us all that the values she learned growing up here saw her though that incredibly tough time.

She says when she knew her hair was falling out she could mope around about it or make it a party. And so she made it a party by gathering friends and taking pictures of her crazy looking Mohawk and then, completely bald, having Go Heels painted on the back of her head. Needless to say, she was an inspiration to so many. Here’s how her mind works… some with acute myeloid leukemia can be helped with a bone marrow transplant and so at one point in her treatment the team was looking for donors. They couldn’t find a match, however; five other people who needed transplants got them because of the folks who volunteered to be tested for Sylvia.

She says, "My getting leukemia ended up saving lives! Isn’t that great!" Her whole story is chronicled in her inspirational book: FIGHT! FIGHT! Discovering Your Inner Strength When Blindsided By Life."

It’s a volume about faith and family and friendship; about a positive attitude and a willingness to do what it takes to confront whatever situations come our way to challenge us. And of course, in typical style, most of the proceeds from her book sales go to the Lineberger Cancer Center.

I was once told that true humility is not self-deprecation but rather, knowing who you are.

Sylvia Hatchell knows who she is. She knows she has achieved near legendary status in the basketball world and she’s as down home as ever. She’ll tell you in a flash about her great teams and even her awards. But you never feel like she’s bragging. It’s almost like you’re kids together and she’s saying, “Guess what happened to me!” She doesn’t hesitate to let you know she has influence at the Lineberger Center so that should you need help in getting in, you can call her. And she’ll answer. And she’ll pull every string she has (and she has spools of them) to help. Why? Because, according to Sylvia, that’s the way we do things in Gastonia.

Fred Gallagher is editor of Gastonia-based Good Will Publishers Inc.