Houston Sports - Cynthia Cooper-Dyke

Cynthia Cooper-Dyke

Born: April 14, 1963

Sport: Basketball (2-time MVP, 3-time All-Star, 4-time WNBA Champion, 2-time NCAA Champion, 2-time Olympic medalist - Gold in 1988 and Bronze in 1992, Hall of Fame)

Happy Mother's Day!  This week I thought it would be nice to focus on a player who is not only a mother herself, but was significantly impacted by her own mother's journey.  As a kid playing competitive basketball throughout the 90s, I enjoyed watching my local NBA team win titles twice, as the Houston Rockets were victorious in 1994 and 1995.  After a one-year gap, the newly-formed WNBA was launched and I saw that my city's women's team was dominant, with the Houston Comets winning the league's first four championships from 1997-2000.  An integral part of that team, and now recognized as one of the greatest women to ever play the game, was Cynthia Cooper.

The Summit, home to the Houston Comets upon Cooper's arrival in 1997

Although she was born in Chicago, Illinois, Cynthia Cooper was raised in the LA neighborhood of Watts.  As one of the middle children in a family of three brothers and four sisters, she watched her community erupt in racial strife at a very early age and learned hard lessons on how to live and act.  When she was just six years old, young Cynthia's father left the family and her mother, Mary, had to raise all eight children on her own.  Cooper originally ran track, but after having played basketball in the neighborhood against the local boys she decided to give the sport a try, playing her first competitive game at the age of 13.  She led her high school to its first state title, was named the Los Angeles Player of the Year as a senior in 1981, and while still just a high schooler was selected to represent the US on their way to a silver medal at the William Jones Cup in Taiwan.  Sports was her path to higher education, as she earned a scholarship from USC to play alongside star teammate Cheryl Miller.  After having won two NCAA titles in her four years, Cooper opted to leave the school before graduating (although she did finally earn a degree in 2005 from Prairie View A&M University just outside of Houston).

After college, Cynthia Cooper participated in numerous international tournaments, beginning with the 1986 Goodwill Games in Moscow that resulted in a gold medal after the US defeated the host nation in the final matchup.  She followed that up with another gold medal performance, once again against the USSR, in the 1986 World Championship.  There were very few professional options back in the US, so Cooper had to remain overseas to forge a career.  Joining a Spanish professional team known as Samoa Bétera from 1986-87, Cooper became a major scoring threat by averaging over 36 points per game.  She returned to the US for the 1987 Pan American Games in Indianapolis which turned out to be a first place tune-up for the following year's gold medal effort in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.  From 1987-1996 Cooper played for Italian professional teams, first for Parma and later for Alcamo, and led her league in scoring eight times during that span.  She competed once again in the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, but Team USA had to salvage a bronze medal that year after falling to the former Soviet Union team by six points in the semifinal.  It was Cooper's only loss in international tournament play.  While in Europe she married Anthony Stewart but the relationship did not last and they were soon divorced.  Finally, in 1996 the WNBA was formed in the US which allowed many high-profile American athletes to return home and play basketball professionally, and Cooper signed with the Houston Comets.

At the age of 34, Cynthia Cooper was not expected to be the cornerstone of the new Comets franchise, but when teammate Sheryl Swoopes had to miss the first six weeks of the inaugural 1997 season due to the birth of her son, Cooper was able to respond.  She had the highest point total on the very first day of WNBA competition, scoring 25 points when no other player reached 20, and continued her output all season en route to a league championship and her selection as the first WNBA MVP.  Even after Swoopes returned to form for their second season together, Cooper's 1998 campaign was even better as she once again won the MVP and led the Comets to a title while also winning the league scoring title.  She didn't win any more regular season MVP awards during her subsequent two seasons but saved her best performances for the playoffs, as she finished off a four-year run with the Comets by compiling four championships and four Finals MVP awards.  Although the team was disbanded after the 2008 season, the Houston Comets are still tied for the most WNBA Championships by any franchise.  

Towards the end of her professional career, Cynthia Cooper dealt with the passing of her mother after Mary Cobbs finally lost her long bout with breast cancer in 1999.  The matriarch had not only raised her own children, but had participated with Cooper to help with seven of her own grandchildren when their parents were unable to do the work themselves.  She not only became known in town for leading the Comets cheering section at home games but also for her appearances in commercials beside her daughter.  Cooper wrote and published an autobiography in 2000, including what she had learned from her mother during a challenging childhood and prolonged illness.  After losing her mom, however, Cooper found love and married Brian Dyke in 2001.  She officially changed her name to Cooper-Dyke and the couple had twins, a boy and a girl, the following year.  After having spent the previous year and a half coaching the Phoenix Mercury to a mediocre 19-23 record while growing her family, Cooper-Dyke made a brief comeback with the Comets in 2003 at the age of 40 and scored a total of 64 points in 4 games before officially retiring.

Having gotten a taste of coaching, Cynthia Cooper-Dyke's next step was to lead women's college teams.  She had solid connections in the Houston area so nearby Prairie View A&M University was a logical fit.  While there from 2005-10 she led the Panthers to three regular season titles and two conference tournament wins, which allowed the team to advance into the NCAA tournament for the first two times in school history.  Her other stops included two seasons and UNC Wilmington, four seasons at USC that included another conference title and trip to the NCAA tournament, and two stints totaling four seasons at Texas Southern University.  All told, Cooper-Dyke's coaching career resulted in a record of 262-219 before her retirement in 2022, and she was recognized as the conference Coach of the Year three times.  In 2009, she was inducted into both the WNBA Hall of Fame and Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, and in 2010 she became the first WNBA player to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.  Cooper-Dyke has repeatedly been recognized as one of the greatest WNBA players of all time and her number is one of two jerseys that were retired by the Comets.  To this day she remains visible in the community as an empowering public speaker, advocating for women's sports and championing the cause of breast cancer awareness in honor of her mother.

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