Dawn Staley Announces Book About Groundbreaking WNBA Career (Exclusive)

NCAA championship coach Dawn Staley is sharing her journey in a new book.

PEOPLE has an exclusive first look of Uncommon Favor: Basketball, North Philly, My Mother and the Life Lessons I Learned from All Three, a forthcoming nonfiction book from the South Carolina Gamecocks head coach and WNBA All–Star, 54, set to be published in May.

Uncommon Favor traces Staley’s groundbreaking career in the sport from the very beginning. After growing up playing basketball in the Raymond Rosen Housing Projects in North Philadelphia, Staley played point guard for the University of Virginia before winning three Olympic gold medals for Team USA in 1996, 2000 and 2004. She was also chosen for the WNBA All-Star team multiple times.

Uncommon Favor, however, shows a new side to Staley, and reveals the “touchstones and turning points that molded her,” per a statement shared with PEOPLE.

“From my first moment on the court, basketball made me feel like I belonged,” Staley says in the statement. “This book is my chance to honor the people who have built me up and to show the world what I’ve learned about what it takes to move the room and get things done.”

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After taking over as head coach for the Gamecocks in 2008, Staley led the team to the NCAA championships three times, most recently in 2024. She also led Team USA to win gold at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. An inductee into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, Staley is also the only person in basketball’s history, as both coach and player, to win a Naismith Award.

Uncommon Favor takes a look at the coach’s accomplishments and “shares the rewards of leading with conviction and daring to redefine the limits of what’s possible,” per its publisher.

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“We are honored to have acquired Dawn Staley’s debut book at Black Privilege Publishing,” says Jonathan Karp, Chief Executive Officer of Simon & Schuster, in the statement. “Beyond her extraordinary accomplishments as a player and a coach, she is known as an inspiring and exemplary leader. The same winning insights that have produced championship teams will benefit generations of readers.”

Uncommon Favor: Basketball, North Philly, My Mother and the Life Lessons I Learned from All Three will be published on May 20 by Black Privilege Publishing and is now available for preorder, wherever books are sold.