DONOVAN, Anne Theresa

(b. 1 November 1961 in Ridgewood, New Jersey), professional basketball player and coach, a three-time Kodak All-American and three-time Olympian known for her size, power, skill, dedication, and good nature.

Growing up in a close Irish-American family of eight, Donovan always had her family's support. She began playing basketball in her New Jersey driveway. When she entered Paramus Catholic High School in 1975 she was already six feet, one inch tall and towered above most of her team-mates. With her height and skill Donovan had the potential to be a ruthless aggressor on the court, mean and threatening. That was not her style. In one high-school game her coach, Rose Battaglia, was using Donovan in a crushing full-court press. The other team could not even inbound the ball. During a time-out Donovan asked Battaglia if they could stop the press. The stunned coach asked Donovan why she wanted to abandon a press that was working so well. Donovan replied, "You're not the one looking into that poor girl's eyes."

Donovan's kind and easy nature did not prevent her from winning and setting records. During her junior and senior years she led Paramus to two consecutive undefeated seasons and two Group III state championships. Her individual awards also reflected her skill and ability. She was named to the First Team Parade All-America in 1978 and 1979. In her senior year she averaged thirty-five points and seventeen rebounds per game and was named the Dial Soap National High School Player of the Year. With 2,583 career points Donovan became the most recruited player in the country.

After graduating from Paramus in 1979, the now six-foot, eight-inch Donovan joined the Lady Monarchs at Old Dominion University (ODU) in Norfolk, Virginia, where she majored in leisure studies, and continued to shine on the court. As a first-year student Donovan led ODU to a 37–1 record and the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) national championship victory. In her junior year ODU made an AIAW third-place finish and in her senior year a Final Four appearance. During Donovan's tenure ODU accumulated a 116–20 record.

Donovan's individual totals were equally impressive. She scored 2,719 points in 136 games for an average of 20 points per game, making her the team's all-time leading scorer. Donovan also amassed 1,976 rebounds and an incredible 801 blocked shots, a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) record. By the time she left ODU in 1983, she held twenty-five school records. From 1981 to 1983 Donovan was consistently named a First Team All-American by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association, American Women's Sports Foundation, and Basketball Weekly. She also held Most Valuable Player honors in the ODU Optimist Classic (1980–1983) and the Sun Belt Conference (1983). Donovan capped her college career with the Naismith and Champion Player of the Year awards in 1983.

Donovan was named to three Olympic teams; only four other basketball players held that distinction. The first squad fell victim to the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Moscow games, but in 1984 and 1988 the U.S. team won the gold medal. Donovan was also a member of twelve U.S. basketball teams. She collected medals on the first-place Olympic Festival East teams in 1978 and 1979; on the 1981 World University Games team that took silver; on the gold-and silver-winning Pan American Games squads; and on the World Champion team, winning a silver medal in 1983 and a gold medal in 1986. Out of eleven possible medals, Donovan was part of teams that won nine golds and two silvers.

With her amateur career over, Donovan was forced to look for professional leagues in other countries since there were no professional leagues in the U.S. She decided to play in Japan, although most other U.S. women players opted for European teams. Her parents were skeptical but said Donovan could go as long as they got to visit. She spent five seasons (1983–1988) in Shizuoka, Japan, and one season (1988–1989) in Modena, Italy, before returning to the United States to coach.

Donovan's first coaching job brought her back to ODU, where she served as an assistant coach of the women's basketball team for six years (1990–1995). During her time on the ODU coaching staff the team won four Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) conference titles and made five NCAA tournament appearances. In 1995 Donovan accepted the head coach position at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. The Lady Pirates were struggling, having collected only ten wins during the previous two seasons. In just two years with Donovan as their coach, the Lady Pirates earned a CAA tournament championship appearance.

Donovan's extensive playing experience as well as her coaching experience contributed to her success in the international coaching arena. She was named the assistant coach for the 1997 U.S. Basketball Women's World Championship qualifying team. The team had a 4–2 record and earned the silver medal in Brazil, which qualified the United States for the Thirteenth World Championship. The U.S. squad also built a 12–1 record and claimed two tournament titles during a precompetition exhibition tour of Canada, Germany, and Slovakia.

Having coached college and international basketball, Donovan decided to try her hand at coaching professional women's basketball. In 1997 she became the head coach for the Philadelphia Rage in the American Basketball League (ABL).The ABL and the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) were created within three months of each other, and were the first efforts at a professional league for women since the Women's Basketball League (WBL) in the late 1970s. The WNBA, however, had the backing of the powerful NBA. Unable to compete with the financial and marketing strength of the NBA, the ABL folded after the 1988–1989 season. Undeterred, Donovan accepted a temporary position with the WNBA in October 1999. The Indiana Fever needed an interim head coach while Nell Fortner coached the national team for the 2000 Olympics. Fortner was grateful to have someone of Donovan's caliber coaching the Fever in her absence. Once Donovan's commitment to the Fever was complete, she was named the head coach of the Charlotte Sting, also a WNBA team, in March 2001.

Donovan was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995, the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999, and the New Jersey Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame in 2000. Continuously involved with women's basketball since 1975, Donovan demonstrated that women could be aggressive and remain in control both on and off the court. While her height gave Donovan an obvious advantage as a player, her work ethic and perseverance set her apart.

Information on Donovan comes primarily from current WNBA material and coverage from her college and Olympic career. "Donovan Having Fun Shooting for the Gold," New York Times Biographical Service (1987), provides information on her international play. A second article, "Anne Donovan," Basketball Digest (Mar. 2001), is about the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, while "A League of Her Own," World of Hibernia (autumn 2000), provides a brief biographical sketch. Information on Donovan as the head coach of the Sting can be found on the team's website at <http://www.wnba.com/sting>.

Lisa A. Ennis