Surrounded by what her UConn teammates deemed an excessive amount of stuffed animals, Swin Cash used to spend her free time sitting in her dorm room listening to Kirk Franklin and DMX.
She’d often come out to find Tamika Williams and Sue Bird up to something in the other room. For instance, the pair used to take TENS units — a device that delivers electrical currents through sticky pads placed on the surface of one’s skin — and place them all over each other’s arms for fun.
“Oh my God, you guys need to grow up!” Cash would exclaim before running back into her room, Williams (now Williams-Jeter) recalls. She and Bird would then burst out laughing, while Asjha Jones sat there shaking her head.
“That pretty much sums up her personality,” Williams-Jeter said. “If I had to explain her, it would be a combination of Kirk Franklin and DMX.”
The gospel music of Kirk Franklin speaks to Cash’s spiritual side. As long as Williams-Jeter has known her — dating back to AAU circuits and USA Basketball in middle school — Cash has held an unwavering belief that she was going to be really good. That purpose is met with a hunger, intensity, determination and relentlessness that echoes throughout DMX’s music. Much like the late hip-hop star, Cash is unapologetically herself and gives off an energy and confidence that hypes up everyone around her.
Such a unique combination has guided Cash throughout her UConn, WNBA and post-playing career that’s being celebrated on Saturday as she is inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. She will be presented by Geno Auriemma, Teresa Weatherspoon, Isiah Thomas, Tamika Catchings and Tina Thompson.
Cash enters the Hall as a two-time NCAA champion with the Huskies (2000, 2002), three-time WNBA champion with the Detroit Shock (2003, 2006) and Seattle Storm (2010), and two-time Olympic gold medalist (2004, 2012). She was also a four-time WNBA All-Star (2003, 2005, 2009, 2011) and two-time All-Star Game MVP (2009, 2011). The McKeesport, Pennsylvania native currently works for the New Orleans Pelicans as their vice president of basketball operations and team development.
3/27/00-RICHMOND, VA Sue Bird and Swin Cash celibrate after the victory. University of Connecticut played Lousiana State University in the East Regional Final at the ALLTEL Pavilion at the Stuart C. Siegel Center in Richmond, Va., Monday, March 27, 2000. PHOTO BY JAY L. CLENDENIN/THE HARTFORD COURANT UConn women’s team (JAY L. CLENDENIN / HC)
One of the first things Jones noticed about Cash was how polar opposite they were. They’d been on the USA Basketball and AAU circuits growing up but didn’t spend much time together until a recruiting visit to North Carolina. Jones was quiet and observant, the type who preferred to feel her way into things and find her place. Cash was loud and quick to make her presence known. She knew what she wanted and had an intense focus.
They’d both end up joining UConn as part of the highly-anticipated 1998 class alongside Bird, Williams and Keirsten Walters.
It was clear to UConn associate head coach Chris Dailey that Cash had her mind set on earning a starting role as soon as she stepped on campus as a freshman. Even if those exact words weren’t said out loud, that much was clear from how hard she worked in practice, going hard after every single rebound.
“Her energy level, she wanted to set a tone,” Dailey said. “She came here and she wanted to outwork everyone, and she did that.”
Cash came in as a 6-foot-2 forward with explosive athleticism. She was skinny but never afraid of contact and making her presence felt inside the paint. She averaged just under 10 points and over five rebounds per game in her freshman and sophomore seasons, the latter of which saw the Huskies win their second national championship. En route to the third title in her senior season, Cash led the team in points (14.9) and rebounds (8.6).
Underclassmen were paired with upperclassmen for hotel rooms on road trips, and Maria Conlon was often with Cash. Cash was meticulous about certain things, such as turning the heat up really high and ironing her uniform before every game, even though it already came pretty crisp. Conlon also remembers how much Cash talked on the phone with her family, particularly her mom, who had her at a young age and raised her alongside her grandma. That motivated Cash and put a chip on her shoulder, Williams-Jeter explained. In college they’d have conversations about how Cash was going to make it and find a way to help young people back home — which she now does with her Cash For Kids charity, among other endeavors.
Cash had quite the funny side to her as well. She loved to watch soap operas and would often reenact scenes from them as well as movies. With a flair for dramatics, she’d do her own version of fake karaoke by lip synching songs, Ashley Battle recalled. Cash also used to make up words and sayings like “umpteemph power,” Williams-Jeter said.
“I don’t think she really concerned herself with what other people were thinking,” Jones said. “She just kind of existed and it was up to you to kind of figure out all those nooks and crannies and those different kinds of variations.”
UConn Women’s Basketball wins their third National Championship against Oklahoma. The final score was 82-70. Here is Swin Cash during the NCAA finals game. (Jeff Mitchell/ Reuters)
With under 12 minutes left in the 2002 national championship game, Conlon caught the ball at the top of the arc and tried to make a pass to Cash on the wing. But an Oklahoma defender stepped in, intercepted the ball and took off.
“It goes from like being a horrible play by me to a turning point where we all got kind of fired up,” Conlon recalled.
Cash sprinted down the other end of the court, rose up and swatted the ball away with force as Sooner guard LaNeishea Caulfield went up for the layup. It didn’t matter to Cash that the Huskies were up 13 points, she was going to make the play.
“Swin is the ultimate winner. No one that I played with was as intense as Swin,” Diana Taurasi said. “She struggled in the semifinal game and we just knew in the finals that Swin was gonna come with a different intensity. … That just was pure energy, pure inner strength.”
Cash stepped up in moments it was most needed. She always made those kinds of plays that didn’t necessarily stand out in the box score, but made a huge difference in the momentum of the game by bringing everyone else’s energy back up.
“She was the epitome of the hype girl,” Conlon said. “She would get so excited, not just for herself but for everybody else on the court when a big play was being made. And I think that’s what really made her special was that presence that she gave both on the court and off.”
Cash could be counted on to be in her teammates’ ears lifting them up. If anyone thought things weren’t going to go well, she would promptly tell them otherwise.
“Swin was the confidence builder,” Williams-Jeter said. “She’s still my confidence. She’s still the person when there’s a little bit of doubt she’s going to push you towards the fire, to this day – to all of us.”
Cash’s ability to do so stems from her belief in herself and her faith. Williams-Jeter said Cash has the best self-talk of anyone she knows, able to continuously push through any moments of doubt. Perhaps the biggest of her career was dealing with a herniated disk in her lower back, which she suffered during the Detroit Shock’s 2006 championship run and kept quiet for several years while playing through pain.
After undergoing surgery in 2009, Cash went to Kansas to train with Andrea Hudy, who spent 15 years there as strength and conditioning coach following her first stint with UConn, and Williams-Jeter, who was an assistant coach for the women’s team. Cash struggled in shooting drills at times, her body not cooperating the way she wanted. In those moments, she would take a quick break to drink some water, shake her head and force herself back into the right mindset. When things got particularly hard, Williams-Jeter said Cash would literally go down on knees and pray.
“There are times you sell yourself short,” Williams said. “I feel like when that talk comes in her head, she’s one of the best at talking it out of her head. Like, ‘No, I’m going to be great.’ ‘No, I’m going to make the Olympic team.’ ‘No, I’m going to do this. Even though people think I can’t do it, I’m going to do it.’ And she’s very focused on the process of getting there.”
UConn legend Swin Cash was recently inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and named one of the WNBA’s 25 greatest and most influential players of all time. Photo provided by New Orleans Pelicans PR.
Williams-Jeter doesn’t remember the exact details of which UConn class she, Bird and Cash were all in, whether it was their sophomore or junior year, or the specific prompt for the project — after all, it’s been over two decades — but she’ll never forget the presentation Cash gave.
Cash stood up in front of a class and shared her vision for “SwinTayla Cash and the Cashettes,” a professional basketball team she aimed to start in Pittsburgh. She would serve as some sort of combination of owner, CEO and general manager — all roles that were entirely foreign to women at the time, especially so ones of color.
“Now look where she’s positioned herself,” Williams-Jeter said. “That sums up Swin.”
Cash is currently one of the highest-ranking women in the NBA as the New Orleans Pelicans’ vice president of basketball operations and team development. She was the first Black woman to take on such an executive position when she was hired in 2019.
She served as the New York Liberty’s director of franchise development before that and was also on-air analyst for Turner sports. Though Cash took on more prominent roles following her retirement from the WNBA in 2016, she laid the foundation throughout her playing days. Cash was involved in the WNBA Players Association leadership, and while most took their talents overseas during the offseason, she often stayed back to try her hand in media, television and business spaces, as well as other work with her charity and social justice movements.
“This woman is a relentless human being,” Auriemma said. “When she sets her mind on getting something she gets it.”
Auriemma and Cash’s teammates aren’t sure whether the Hall of Fame was on that checklist or not, but no one is at all surprised by the induction. They’re also certain Cash is only going to keep pushing towards more groundbreaking roles; she’s not one to settle or be satisfied with where she’s at, always looking towards the bigger picture.
“We’re all proud,” Jones said. “It’s just kind of fun to sit back and watch what’s gonna happen with Swin. What’s gonna happen next? Where is she gonna end up next?”
In 2002 UConn stars, from left, Tamika Williams, Sue Bird, Swin Cash and Asjha Jones were all among the top six picks in the WNBA Draft. When Cash retires after this season, that will leave only Bird as an active player. (Associated Press file photo )
Copyright © 2022, Hartford Courant
Copyright © 2022, Hartford Courant
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