A coal miner's daughter, C. Vivian Stringer learned a valuable lesson from her parents growing up in the small town of Edenborn, Pa., "Work hard and don't look for excuses, and you can achieve anything."
That lesson has stuck with the legendary college basketball coach. Stringer has overcome many challenges in her life; the loss of her beloved father at the age of 19, her only daughter being stricken with spinal meningitis in 1982 just prior to her team’s appearance in the very first Final Four; the sudden death of her husband, Bill, to a heart attack on Thanksgiving Day 1992 and a bout with breast cancer which she kept secret from nearly everyone in her life. Through it all, Stringer has handled life with dignity and grace moving past the tragedies to make a difference in the lives on hundreds of young women.
During her 15 seasons at Rutgers University, Stringer has built the Scarlet Knights into one of the elite programs in the nation. A 2009 inductee into the coveted Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Stringer is the first coach - men's or women's - to lead three different programs to the NCAA Tournament Final Four (Cheyney in 1982, Iowa in 1993 and Rutgers in 2000, 2007).
She ranks third in career victories in Division I women's basketball history and was the third women, eighth D-1 coach overall (men or women) and first African-American coach to reach the 800-victory plateau when she accomplished the amazing feat in February 2008.
A 2001 inductee into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, Stringer has led her three teams to 24 appearances in the NCAA Tournament. She also made her sixth appearance on a USA Basketball coaching staff in 2004, serving as an assistant coach for the gold-medal winning 2004 U.S. Olympic Team.
Stringer has called the 2007 squad one of the most amazing teams she has ever coached. The team - comprised of 10, including five freshmen - won the program’s first-ever Big East Championship and advanced to the Final Four that despite a 2-4 start to the season. RU bested LSU in the national semifinal game in record-setting fashion to advance to the national championship, the first among any teams in Scarlet Knights history. The squad and Stringer continued to show poise following the season when faced with a shock jock's undignified comments. Stringer was named one of "Five Who Left Their Footprints" featured in a New York Times year-end wrap-up of 2007.
Named one of the "101 Most Influential Minorities in Sports" by Sports Illustrated in 2003, Stringer - who will begin her 40th year on the sidelines in the fall - continues to be one of the most recognized coaches in the game of basketball and in life. Her story is chronicled in her memoir, "Standing Tall," a New York Times best-seller.