Dawn Staley gets a second street named after her

Philadelphia has pulled out all the stops to welcome Dawn Staley back home, culminating in naming a street after the South Carolina women’s basketball coach on Wednesday evening.

Dawn Staley Lane, a two-block stretch of road, is located just outside of Hank Gathers Recreation Center, where Staley visited Wednesday to give the North Philly institution a replica NCAA championship trophy.

Staley now has two roads named after her — the first of course being Dawn Staley Way just outside of Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, which was unveiled this past April in the wake of USC’s national championship.

The street sign unveiling Wednesday evening capped a busy and emotional day for Staley, as she also prepared the Gamecocks to face her former team, Temple, on Thursday. Before that practice, Staley took time to tell her team about Hank Gathers, a Philadelphia native and college basketball great who died on the court while playing for Loyola Marymount University.

Gathers and Staley overlapped at Dobbins Tech High School in Philly, and the court there is named after Staley, while the rec center where both played as children has been named after Gathers.

In addition to her appearance at the rec center Wednesday, Staley also was honored at a Philadelphia 76ers game at Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday night.

South Carolina faces Temple on Thursday night at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia. Before the game, Temple will retire the number of Candice Dupree, one of Staley’s former players.

This story was originally published December 20, 2017 at 5:46 PM with the headline "Dawn Staley gets a second street named after her."