Trailblazer: Peggy Pope - Texas A&M Athletics

What do you think about the Texas A&M women’s basketball program now compared to what it was when you were playing?

Oh, it has definitely grown. The number of African-Americans on the team creates a sense of pride in that they feel A&M is a place where they can come and grow their game. The facilities, of course, are super awesome compared to when we were here.

What type of situations or feelings come along with being such a pioneer in women’s basketball?

A sense of pride, that I was able to be one of the first to come in and pave the way for other African-Americans to feel like A&M is a good place for them to grow their game.

You helped pave the way for Blacks and women in sports at Texas A&M. How does it feel to come back here and witness how it has changed?

Every time I come back I see something different. I see the parity between men’s sports and women’s sports really growing to be comparable. So, I think that coming back and seeing the success of the women’s program having a championship title has been awesome, with them just being able to recruit top athletes. Their success and recruiting are a big plus that I have noticed the women’s basketball team being able to maintain.

What type of team player were you at A&M, and how did it change as you started in the WBL and grew to be a Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer?

As a team player coming from back-to-back national championships at the junior college level, we were used to winning. Coming in and having to adjust to tougher competition in Division I play, I was looking to bring everyone along with that winning attitude. I was pretty hard on my teammates initially because I just wasn’t used to losing. (After) losing five or six games in a row I was pretty hard on my teammates. In the end, we all became really close as a team and we had the success of winning during the remainder of our years. Our program really grew as a result of the recruiting it was able to bring in. Yes, I was a tough teammate, but it worked in the end.

What made you decide to coach women’s basketball?

My love for the game. I felt like at the collegiate level, it was giving back. At the high school level, it was preparing those athletes who had the skills and whose parents wouldn’t be able to afford to send them to college to learn to develop those skills. Those students could use basketball as a means to get a scholarship to further their education. That was my motivation, particularly when I chose to coach at the high school level. Then, collegiately, it was just the love of the game.

How did your involvement in sports shape you?

Teamwork, sportsmanship, being hard-working, having good ethics, and carrying a belief in yourself…all of that carried over into my work environment. I felt I could be successful in whatever I chose to do simply because I was conditioned to work hard and persevere in low times. All of that came from my time as an athlete.

Talk about the challenges you faced being the first Black woman playing basketball at A&M.

I felt like I had a good experience here at A&M because I didn’t feel alone. There were other athletes, although not in basketball, but other Black athletes on campus. We had a great support system for each other, therefore it made it easier for us. My teammates along with my coaches were all supportive. I can’t say that I experienced racism in its face here at A&M.

What is your fondest memory from your time playing at A&M?

I would have to say it’s just every time we stepped on the court and played in G. Rollie White Coliseum, and the kind of atmosphere that it brought every time we played. It was just electrifying to play in that type of facility.

Growing up, did you have an athlete or sports figure that was a role model?

I would play out on the sandlots with my brother because no other girls wanted to do basketball, and I just wanted to play. So most of the time it was with the guys in a parking lot or wherever we could find to play. I didn’t really learn about athletics, particularly women’s athletics, until I got to the collegiate level and learned that there are people that use basketball to get their education paid for. That was my motivation, because my parents would not have been able to afford to send me off to college. Once I realized women were actually getting college scholarships, that became my motivation.

You didn’t make your junior high teams in seventh and eighth grade. Talk about the drive you had to play basketball and how happy you are that you stuck with it and put in all the work it took to succeed.

Again, my play was all with the guys. I was awkward at that age and I continue today to talk to young girls who are at that awkward stage and let them know, ‘Hey, I got cut from the seventh-grade team and this is the success I had by sticking with it and moving forward.’ It’s a big motivator to think that I got cut and still could reach success. A lot of it had to do with my growth spurt but a lot of it also dealt with me feeling the need to keep at it. That’s something that has been a driving force with me throughout my life; just stick with it and it’ll happen for you.

You never got to shoot in high school playing 6-on-6 basketball. How hard was that adjustment to playing 5-on-5 basketball in junior college and later at Texas A&M?

It wasn’t a hard adjustment for me because off the court, playing with the guys, I had some experience with trying to shoot. But doing it in a game where I’m used to just standing and watching on the other end was a thrilling part. It wasn’t hard because it was something I wanted to do. I was just a leaper and I could jump well, so my position was to do the rebounding. Shooting the basketball was always something I wanted to do so it wasn’t hard for me to pick it up and develop a love for it right away.