Twenty-five years ago, the privatewomen鈥檚 basketball team (24-6) won the Capital Athletic Conference championship and advanced to the third round 鈥� the Sweet Sixteen 鈥� of the NCAA Division III tournament at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Their success has inspired generations of deaf girls and women, and two books were written about them: , by Wayne Coffey (actually about the following year鈥檚 team), and by Wendy Tiefenbacher.聽

The team was coached by Kathryn 鈥淜itty鈥� Baldridge, then in her 22nd season. Two of its players 鈥� , and , 鈥� are members of the privateAthletics Hall of Fame, as is . , the daughter of 1998-1999 team member Shanada Johnson Schwartz, ’02 & G-’04, is a first-year player on the current team.聽聽

sans player Ronda Kopatich-Johnson, ’04; assistant coach Ben Baylor, and team interpreter Mary Thumann, G-’06 & PhD ’10, who have passed away, returned to Kendall Green February 2-3 for an emotional reunion. The weekend鈥檚 festivities began with a on Friday evening. On Saturday, the team held a shoot-around in the morning. They were the guests of honor at the women鈥檚 basketball game in the afternoon. Their gathering concluded Saturday evening with dinner at , a nearby Latine marketplace in the that did not even exist during their time.聽聽

We were inspired by the Sweet Sixteen team 25 years ago and honored by their presence last weekend. Congratulations to them on reaching this milestone! 

Thanks to alumna and retiree Carlene Thumann-Prezioso, ’80 & G-’84, for providing additional context. Photographs courtesy of Bruce Saperstein, ’10, Athletic Communications Coordinator.