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Final Four Appearance Still Resonates For Coach

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By JOEY JOHNSTON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 10, 2007

Updated: 10/09/2007 11:55 pm

ST. PETERSBURG - It happened nearly 15 years ago, and Necole Tunsil still can describe every detail. She can see it. She can feel it.

'I've played a lot of basketball in my life,' said Tunsil, 37, the former prep All-American and fourth-season coach at Lakewood High School, her alma mater. 'That afternoon was different. The lights were just a lot brighter.'

And it was time to shine.

For the first time, the Women's Final Four was a pregame sellout. It was April 3, 1993. As Tunsil ran onto the court at Atlanta's Omni arena, joining her University of Iowa teammates, she was momentarily overwhelmed by the sights, the sounds, the flashing colors and the cascading noise.

There was a job to do, of course, but Tunsil knew the moment would resonate with her forever. One of her biggest dreams had been realized.

In turn, women's basketball realized one of its flashpoints. Whether it was the beefed-up coverage by CBS-TV, ticket scalpers on the streets of Atlanta or the charismatic presence of Texas Tech's Sheryl Swoopes (a record 47 points in the championship game and 78 points overall), the sport reached a new level of exposure and interest.

'The Final Four is magic,' Tunsil said. 'It's all about making that journey.'

This season - for more than 300 Division I women's teams that begin practice this weekend - the journey ends in Tampa.

When the Women's Final Four arrives in Florida for the first time - April 6 and 8 at the St. Pete Times Forum - young players may never be closer to the sport's pinnacle. Since 1982, the first season the event was sanctioned by the NCAA, it has been an elusive goal for players with Florida roots.

Only 18 state products - and just three from the Tampa Bay area - have appeared in the Women's Final Four. There's not much history.

But Tunsil, who remains visible at the grassroots level, is a living example of how it can be done. Even when faced with the largest obstacles imaginable.

Iowa Stuck By Tunsil

Just getting to Iowa was challenging enough.

At Lakewood, Tunsil was known as the Michael Jordan of girls basketball, a 6-foot-1 guard capable of firing from long-range, driving inside or breaking down an opponent off the dribble. At the national summer camps, she often dominated the competition, which included future Olympians Lisa Leslie and Dawn Staley.

Tunsil became a two-time prep All-American selection. In her final game, as Lakewood won the Class 3A state championship in 1989, she punctuated her career with 44 points and 21 rebounds.

But when the cheering stopped, Tunsil was denied her high-school diploma because she failed two final exams. As her Lakewood senior class began graduation ceremonies, Tunsil sat near an open window at her home down the block, listening to the names being announced over a public-address system.

At that moment, despite other people saying she would become just another faded athlete, Tunsil vowed she would take academics more seriously. She would persevere and make it to her sport's highest level.

She moved to New York with relatives, insulating herself from most everyone except immediate family in St. Petersburg, and repeated her senior year.

Iowa coach C. Vivian Stringer, now at Rutgers, stuck by Tunsil and had the scholarship ready after a one-season delay. Tunsil was one of seven All-American recruits who joined the Hawkeyes.

But no one was happier to arrive in Iowa City.

'Necole brought an incredible energy and enthusiasm to our program,' said Marianna Freeman, the former Iowa assistant coach who first saw Tunsil play in the seventh grade. 'She had a great following because of how she loved the game.

'If you look back at any video or any picture from those days, you'll always see Necole smiling. And that carried over to the way she played. It was pure passion.'

With one goal in mind.

The Women's Final Four.

'In the back of my mind, it was always there,' Tunsil said.

Reaching The Promised Land

Even before the 1992-93 season began, Iowa players sensed something special was happening. In preseason conditioning, the man who sent the Hawkeyes through a diabolical regimen of drills had a daily message.

'He kept saying, 'Oh yeah, this is the season, I can feel it, ya'll are a Final Four team,'' Tunsil said. 'He saw it before anybody did.'

That man was Bill Stringer, husband of Iowa's head coach.

On Thanksgiving Day, hours before Hawkeye players were to visit their coach's home for a holiday feast, Bill Stringer collapsed in the kitchen. He couldn't be revived. A heart attacked had killed him.

Iowa's season opener was four days away.

'We were devastated,' said Tunsil, pointing out that Iowa's team physician and a rabid young Hawkeyes fan also died during the season. 'Somehow, the basketball brought us all together. We felt like we had a lot to fight for.'

Stringer took a lengthy leave of absence. When she returned, the Hawkeyes clearly had matured into a Final Four contender. Even with the region final at Iowa City, though, the Hawkeyes had to get past No. 1-seeded Tennessee.

'People expected Tennessee in the Final Four, not Iowa,' Freeman said. 'The people who went to the Final Four every year thought 'Rocky Top' was the national anthem.'

But Iowa toppled Tennessee - with Tunsil making the all-regional team - and the Road to Atlanta had been navigated.

'It was like a dream,' said Estella Tunsil, Necole's mother. 'I honestly never thought something like that was possible for my daughter. I didn't think it was going to be that big.'

As Tunsil said, 'When we got to Atlanta, they treated us like queens.'

The story didn't have a perfect ending.

Iowa lost to Big Ten Conference counterpart Ohio State, 73-72 in overtime, in the national semifinals (Ohio State then was beaten by Texas Tech in the final). Afterward, Tunsil, who had 10 points and six rebounds, put on a brave face.

But away from the cameras?

'I cried nonstop for like a week,' Tunsil said. 'It still hurts, knowing that we came all that way and couldn't bring home the big trophy.'

Time healed the hurt, though. Tunsil loves reminiscing about the journey, the best moment of a basketball life that included professional teams in France, Greece and the defunct American Basketball League.

In two days, the Road to Tampa officially begins. In a way, Tunsil wishes she could become a player again, just to attempt that journey.

'The players who make it here for the Final Four, they're going to have the time of their life,' Tunsil said. 'It stays with you forever.'

Reporter Joey Johnston can be reached at (813) 259-7353 or jjohnston

@tampatrib.com.

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