The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 ■ 43 BY JUSTIN H. WILLIAMS he history of NC State wom- en's basketball can't be told without former star forward Chasity Melvin. Not only does she rank top five in school history in ca- reer points, rebounds, blocks, double-doubles and field goals, she also led the Wolfpack to the program's only Final Four appearance to date during her senior season in 1998. After a historic four-year career in Raleigh, she was selected 11th overall in the 1998 WNBA Draft, becoming the first Wolfpacker to be chosen in the first round. Over a 12-year career, she played for three WNBA fran- chises and overseas in nine countries. Beyond her playing career, Melvin never abandoned the game of basketball. Whether it was coaching high school teams, providing mentorship in bas- ketball camps or giving back through sports diplomacy programs, she remained connected to the game. "Once you retire, you're still looking for this higher competitive edge in something," Melvin said. "That's the thing with former players, especially former pros. We want to compete on the highest level, wherever it is. You want something that really challenges you or pushes you." She ended up enroll- ing in the NBA Player Development depart- ment's assistant coaches program. It scratched her competitive itch. After assistant coach- ing stints in the NBA G League and at the college level of women's basketball, Melvin is now looking ahead to a third season on staff with the Phoenix Mer- cury. It hasn't taken long for the former Wolf- pack standout to make her presence felt on the sidelines of the WNBA. The Mercury have advanced to at least the second round of the playoffs in each of Melvin's first two seasons with the franchise. Last year, Phoenix appeared in the WNBA Finals for the first time in seven seasons. Just five years after entering the NBA's coaching program, Melvin is already leading championship squads from the sidelines at the highest level. Believe It, Achieve It A girl from the small southeastern North Carolina town of Roseboro doesn't make it to the WNBA without grit. Growing up, Melvin had to practically beg her female classmates to play basketball with her just so that the squad would reach the minimum number of players. She was a talented athlete in several sports, including volleyball, softball and track. But it wasn't until she hit a ninth-grade growth spurt, sprouting up to over 6-feet tall, that she found an intuitive determination that she would make something of her life through the game of basketball. "For me, it was just trying to have a team," Melvin said. "When I got to high school, I basically made a few of my friends go out for the team just so we'd have enough to have a team. I would drive everyone home after practice in my dad's station wagon. "I just had this sense of fortitude and de- sire to see a bigger vision for my life with basketball." In 1991, her mom took her to Fayetteville to watch the ACC Women's Basketball Tour- nament. It was there she witnessed head coach Kay Yow and Wolfpack greats Andrea Stinson and Rhonda Mapp cut down the nets in the Civic Center for what would be the program's last conference title until 2020. "I was like, 'Oh, wow, those are female players playing and doing what I want to do,'" Melvin recalled. "That kind of sealed the deal for me. I wasn't naive anymore. After that, I knew I was going to go to college to play ball. "And I told my mother I was going to play professionally, even though they didn't have pros for women at the time. I told everyone they will by the time I graduate." Melvin was dis- covered as a ninth- grader at a girls' basketball camp at Methodist Col- lege. After beating a staffer in a game of one-on-one, she thought she had earned herself a scholarship. Instead, the school's head coach called up Yow in Raleigh, letting her know about the ACC-caliber talent from Roseboro. Melvin was introduced to an AAU program in Raleigh. And after her first tournament, she quickly picked up interest from a laundry list of Power Five schools. "It seemed like every college was recruit- ing me," Melvin said. "I was from a small town, and I was hearing about colleges I didn't even know about. I knew I wasn't going to leave North Carolina." Her decision came down to NC State and North Carolina. She may have grown up in a Tar Heel family, but it was ul- timately her relationship with Yow that made her a Wolfpacker for life. "We had the same character, and I felt like she just understood who I was as a person and where I was trying to go," Melvin said. "It was just the best fit for me. "Carolina had just won the national cham- pionship. And I said, you know what, they won, I'm going to go to NC State because I want to do something there. I wanted to be a trailblazer for my own path, and trailblaze for the team and put NC State on the map." Just as she drew it up, the girl from Rose- T Melvin was the first woman in NC State history to reach 2,000 career points and 1,000 rebounds, and led the Wolfpack to the program's only Final Four appearance as a senior in 1998. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS " Coach [Kay] Yow told me a long time ago, 'Be where your feet are.' At the end of the day, I've always done that. I've always been great where I was or tried to be the best at where I was. " Melvin A COACH ON THE RISE After Playing Professionally For Over A Decade, Chasity Melvin Continues To Make A Name For Herself In Basketball