The NBA Finals date back to 1947 (when they were known as the Basketball Association of America Finals) and the very 1st NCAA tourney was held in 1939. Olympic basketball competition is even older: it debuted as a demonstration event in 1904 and the men’s version became a medal sport in 1936, with the women finally getting their chance to go for the gold in 1976. The United States has dominated Olympic basketball competition from the start: the men have won 16 gold medals in the 19 tournaments they have participated in during the past 87 years, while the women have won 9 gold medals in the 11 tournaments in which they have competed during the past 47 years. While we have to wait 1 more year until the 2024 Olympics in Paris, HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel will fill the void by interviewing as many prior Olympic players/coaches as possible. We continue our coverage by chatting with Mary Anne O’Connor about winning a silver medal in 1976 and (hopefully!) being inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame later this year.
photo credit: Connecticut Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame
You were born in Bridgeport/raised in Fairfield: what made you choose Southern Connecticut State University for college? Southern Connecticut State was a local powerhouse for female sports. A lot of women who played semi-pro softball in the area stuck around during the winter and worked in Fairfield County as coaches, referees and PE teachers. We had a really good high school team coached by Ann DeLuca (who taught me my jump shot), that nobody knew about: we went undefeated for 2 years in a row. Coach DeLuca invited the Southern Connecticut State team to come play against us one day: they dominated us but I was in awe of them and their style was very appealing to me. I graduated high school in 1971 and decided to go to Southern Connecticut where the coach, Louise O’Neal was an icon. I majored in nursing, made the varsity and started as a freshman. We qualified for nationals all 4 years and made the Final 4 during each of my final 3 years. We got noticed and some of us received invites to try out for some of the national teams (I made the ’74 team): we toured the US playing against the Soviet team featuring 7’2” Ulyana Semenova. She had great footwork and was a 90% FT shooter! Needless to say our only option was to run if we wanted to medal.
Along with your sister Eileen, 2 of your college teammates were Joan Bonvicini (who became the 18th coach in D-1 women’s basketball history to win 600 games) and Sue Rojcewicz (your future Olympic teammate): what was it like to have so much talent on 1 team? We got along really well. I played 1-on-1 with Eileen growing up: she was only 5’7” but was strong as an ox and had flawless technique when it came to boxing out. She was even the leading rebounder at the 1975 national tourney. I played against Joan in high school: they called her “Spider” and she was like Pete Maravich. The only thing we lacked was size, which is why I played center. We trapped and used a full-court press. Our coach would take us to high schools and lead clinics for other coaches to give something back.
In 1975 you were named Southern’s Outstanding Scholar Athlete: how did you balance your work on the court with your work in the classroom? It was really hard. I missed a ton of clinical time due to basketball so I switched my major from nursing to psychology, which meant that I had to take like 10 psych courses during my senior year. I also had the incentive of not wanting to graduate with my sister! We never caught a break from any of our professors even though we put the school on the map every year. My parents were even prouder of that award than I was.
You won a gold medal with team USA at the 1975 Pan Am Games: could you tell at the time that your teammate Pat Head was going to become 1 of the greatest coaches in the history of the sport? I knew for sure that she was going to become a coach because she was like a general on the court. She had a good eye for flow/rotations that not many people knew about back then. Cathy Rush from Immaculata was our head coach and she liked to run a lot of different schemes.
You played for team USA at the 1976 Olympics: what did it mean to you to represent your country, and what did it mean to you to win a silver medal? An absolute dream come true! Just to qualify and get to the Olympics was amazing. Being in the Olympic Village with 11,000 other athletes and everyone speaking a different language and wearing different colored clothing was so cool. Even though it was a round-robin tournament it came down to the final game. My parents/siblings/83-year old grandmother all drove up from Fairfield after getting a car from a local dealership. My brother saw Curt Gowdy walking around so he thought he was a hot tamale! It is so immersive and I just soaked it all in. Everyone was over the moon to win a silver medal.
After the Olympics you spent almost a decade playing pro basketball in France and were named France’s Sportswoman of the Year in 1985: what was the biggest difference between college ball and pro ball? I went over in 1976 and played for the CUC 10-time defending champion of the French League for 2 years and then for the Stade Français in Paris for 6 years. The biggest difference was the international rules: the ref did not touch the ball as often so if you were unaware then you could get caught off-guard. It was also much more physical overseas. I got to go to so many great European countries even though the Iron Curtain was still thick. It was an education that I never would have experienced had I stayed in the US. I played for 8 years and won the title 5 times. I later got my MBA at University of Hartford in Paris, then worked as an agent representing American players who wanted to play in Europe. One of my clients was 1984 Olympian Denise Curry. It is amazing to see how much money the players make now.
After retiring from basketball you got your MBA and co-founded an IT/operations consulting firm: how do you like the job, and what do you want to do in the future? I have been doing this for 30 years after moving to San Francisco. It is still going strong but I am unsure how much longer I will feel like doing it. The pandemic has put a break on so many things but I am in a good place given the world we live in now.
Your mother played basketball at UConn and you along with all 5 of your siblings swam competitively: who is the best athlete in the family? If you asked everyone else in my family they would choose me since I did several other sports in addition to basketball. My brother John was a superstar swimmer before getting hurt. The fun thing is that we all drove around to different swim meets together: I do not know how my parents managed to fit the 6 of us in their station wagon!
In 2014 your Olympic team was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame as “Trailblazers of the Game”: where does that rank among the highlights of your career? It is up there for sure. Halls of Fame are a cool thing because it means that people remember you. Even though we were the 1st women’s Olympic team we were standing on the shoulders of the women who came before us: it was the actualization of Title IX. Pat went to Tennessee and did not make a lot of money but changed the game forever. Tara VanDerveer is my age and just look at what she has done at Stanford. A lot of influence came out of the women who played in the 1970s. The biggest change for me is that there were so many female coaches back then. I am with Coach Muffet McGraw on that: young girls need to see women coaching/playing.
Last December your Olympic team was nominated to become part of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2023: do you think we will hear your team’s name called when the inductees are unveiled during the Final Four on April 1st?! I am really hoping and I think that we deserve it. It would be really cool for us to be all together again. We have lost a lot of people including Pat/Billie Moore/Lusia Harris/Charlotte Lewis, which is sad, but it would be nice to take them along with us in spirit.
