Sylvia Crawley, born September 27, 1972, began her meteoric rise to women's basketball stardom in her native Wintersville, Ohio, becoming the key to the success of the girls basketball program at Steubenville "Big Red" High School. As the star forward at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill (where she was one of just nine players in school history to have her number "00" jersey retired), she led the Tar Heels to a 33-2 record during the 1993-1994 season and was awarded Final Four MVP honors and named to the East Regional All-Tournament Team. Crawley is the ninth-leading women's NCAA Tournament scorer, averaging 14.3 points over six tournament games; she is also one of only 24 UNC players to score 1,000 points and is in the school's "top 10" in blocked shots and field goal percentage. After college, Sylvia was named to the 1995-96 USA Basketball Women's National Team and was also a member of the 1995 silver medal-winning World University Games team. In addition, Crawley was the 1995 USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year. In 1996, Sylvia was a member of the gold medal 1996 USA Jones Cup Team and a finalist for the 1996 Women's Olympic team. In 1998, Crawley began her profesional career with the ABL's Colorado Xplosion and shot 33.3% from the floor and 80% from the free throw line prior to being traded to the Portland Power. Sylvia was the winner of the inaugural ABL Slam Dunk Contest, which was one of the determining factors regarding her entry into the WNBA in 2000. During that rookie season, Crawley average 11.5 points per game and 6.0 rebounds, ranking in the top five rookie player standings in several categories. In 2001, Crawley started in all 32 games and led the team in points and rebounds during several key matchups. In 2002, her final season with the Portland Fire, Crawley started in a team-high 32 games and led the team to a franchise-best 16-16 record. In 2003 and 2004, Sylvia played with the San Antonio Silver Stars and began to build on her coaching expertise, which began in 2000 at her alma mater the University of North Carolina and continued during the 2005-2006 season as the top assistant coach at Fordham University. She became Fordham's interim head coach in late-2005, and was hired as the head coach at Ohio University in April, 2006. Crawley is the youngest of three children (brother Rex and sister Helen) and enjoys modeling, sewing and reading the Bible in her spare time.
From the description of Papers, 1972. (Robert Morris University Library). WorldCat record id: 71353220
