Smile Through It All: The Story of How Darcel Wright Is Still With Us Today

Ryerson was never really a school people went to as their plan A or a place to rival the other universities nationwide. Nowadays, it is known for its premiere and niche programs that are only available at what is now called Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) and its competitive athletics, both men’s and women’s. But with the present comes the past. A past filled with some of the greatest forgotten athletes ever seen at the collegiate level in Canada. A past that includes Darcel Wright, arguably the most decorated, pivotal, and accomplished women’s basketball player the school has ever seen and yet is barely recognized. 

It’s 2001 in downtown Toronto at a university that has constantly been looked down upon and not taken seriously. Starting to turn things around, Ryerson formed their Sports Hall of Fame for the athletes of years past. Wright was one of four former athletes inducted into the new establishment, standing there in her Ryerson blue-coloured dress, holding her induction plaque with the smile that everyone around her talked about. A CIS (now USports) Rookie of the Year (1990-91), three-time OUA East All-Star (1990-91, 1992-93, &1993-93), two-time Ryerson Female Athlete of the Year (1990-91 & 1993-94), the then single-game scoring record with 56 points against Brandon in 1993, the single-season points-per-game record at 20.8, and so many more great feats. Her records can be talked about until the end of time, but it all starts somewhere, and with Wright, it started in her hometown of Halifax, Nova Scotia. 

Darcel Wright (pictured second from the left) standing among other athletes and staff at her  Sports Hall of Fame induction.

Life as a Player

Everyone takes a different road in life, whether it be through school, work, sports or anything else, they are all complicated. Wright was no exception. After finishing high school, she spent three years working in Toronto before enrolling at Ryerson University because she believed she would not be able to balance school, work, and sports. Luckily, Sandy Prince, a forward for the Lady Rams, recognized Wright from pick-up basketball runs and pleaded with Wright to get her to join the team. Wright ended up coming to a couple of practices and was immediately hooked. It worked. 

Then head coach, Theresa Burns, could not have been happier about having Wright join the team. Subsequently, Coach Burns, now at McMaster as the women’s Basketball head coach, and the Ryerson Lady Rams lucked out big time. Some coincidence, don’t you think? That said, nobody knew how lucky they were until Wright hit the court and showed everyone how she played. A fierce competitor, able to shoot the ball, get out in transition, and defend every and all positions on the basketball court, even at her whopping height of five-foot-seven. It was evident that Wright was someone who could play every part of the game and had an effect on all levels. Clearly a complete player. It takes a lot for a coach to put trust in a player to command the team and lead the way, but Burns had no problem doing that early on. Wright walked around with this persona, one that took the eyes of everyone in a room or on the court whenever she walked in. There was this feeling of everyone looking up at her with stars in their eyes to see what she was going to do or say.

After getting the keys to the team, Wright took off and won CIS (now USports) Rookie of the Year, along with being named an All-Star, which was only the fourth time in school history that a Ryerson athlete was recognized with such honours. She was also given the Most Valuable Player award for Ryerson women’s basketball, exemplifying just how crucial she was to the team. Wright was also able to contribute to turning the program around, tripling the previous season’s win total from one to three and helping set a new record for average team points at 57.9 per game. She averaged 16.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game in her rookie season, with the next closest rookie at 10.0 points per game. Not only did she run away with the Rookie of the Year award, but her stats were on par with the best players in the country. Her athletic ability was uncanny for someone of her small stature at a mere 5’7, but she had springs that would have her jumping out of the gym. Truly the full package. 

Darcel Wright (left) sitting with Coach Theresa Burns (right) while receiving her Rookie of the Year award.

With everything going so great, Wright on top of the world, and Ryerson women’s basketball getting a huge boost as a team, it felt as though nothing could go wrong. In an exhibition game after winning Rookie of the Year, Wright badly turned her ankle, tearing multiple ligaments, and was immediately injured. It was so bad that she said she was not coming back to play and had ended her basketball career with a snap of her fingers. According to an article by the Eyeopener before the ‘91-’92 season, she called it quits and said, “She did not want to play anymore.” It seemed as though it was all over for what was supposed to be a historic career, but it was Coach Burns who was able to get her back and join the team. The issue seemed to be the mental process for Wright. As an athlete, being consumed by injuries can put you into a black hole, leading you to make rash decisions about your future. Coach Burns was able to step in to provide some guidance to the young phenom and calm her down, which made Wright change her mind about quitting basketball. 

Now, at the end of the 1991-92 season, where the team set a new high in points per game at 58.2, another year of improving the team's record from 3-9 to 5-7 and clinching the playoffs, we saw Coach Burns depart Ryerson for McMaster. The next coach in line became Sandra (Sandy) Pothier. Sandy, unfortunately, passed away from cancer in the early 2010s, but was an integral piece of picking up where Coach Burns left off to continue to grow the program. The team saw plenty of new faces, which resulted in worse records year after year: 3-9, 2-10, and 2-10, respectively, but one constant stayed throughout:  Wright. She went on to be named an OUA All-Star for the next two seasons in 1992-93 and 1993-94, along with collecting another team MVP award in the 1993-94 season. 

Photo of the new Ryerson Lady Rams head coach, Sandra (Sandy) Pothier.

Now in the final year of her program, Wright was torn between moving on and staying behind. But that could-be final year was something for the ages. On October 27, 1993, Wright shattered a ten-year-old record by scoring 56 points in a single game. She also ended the season with a 38-point game, culminating in the single-season points per game record at 20.8. Many thought that would be her final game, but Wright said she was “50-50” in a Ryersonian article on coming back to the team for a fifth and final season, and ultimately, she did. That said, similar outcomes to years prior, where the team did accomplish much during the season, but this time, Wright was not as big a standout. Her basketball career as a player in college has come to an end, but there was so much that she left behind. 

What’s Next?

Wright majored in information and administration management, part of the business program at Ryerson. However, that was not the route she went once she was done as a player. Instead, she joined her former coach, Sandy, on the coaching staff and became an assistant coach for the Ryerson Lady Rams. Many athletes still have more to give after they are done playing, and this was exactly the case here. There was immediate improvement once Wright joined the coaching staff for the 1997-98 season, going from a 5-15 record to 9-11 and clinching a playoff berth for the first time in seven seasons. The following two seasons, the Rams returned to the playoffs but ultimately lost in the first round all three times. Nonetheless, this showed forward progress in what was considered a struggling basketball program. 

Winning is the ultimate goal when it comes to sports, there is no debating that. Although how you get there, who you are with, and what you have done to try and succeed are still a part of the process. Insert Eva Ain, a standout high school basketball player out of Earl Haig Secondary School, who joined the Lady Rams the same year Wright became an assistant coach. Their relationship started much earlier than when Eva joined the team. “She was tough as shit… I’m going to be able to play and learn from somebody and have them in my corner.” This is why Eva went to play for the Lady Rams. There was no one else that she enjoyed playing for more than Wright, which is the reason she transferred from Guelph to Ryerson after only one year. Wright had a great impact on young women when it came to growing basketball. She would go to Eva’s games and sit with her dad in the stands, cheering and applauding her while she was playing. To see someone of Wright’s calibre watching a meaningless high school game created this relationship between Eva and Wright that bound them together on a much deeper level. Eva said, “I looked up to her with stars in my eyes.” This goes to show how much of an influence Wright had on young, aspiring female athletes.

Becoming an assistant coach was not the only thing Wright did after she finished playing. She built another important relationship with one of her players, Tanya Callaghan. While she was only at Ryerson for two years, it was enough to bring the two of them together. In 2005, the non-profit foundation Girls Addicted to Basketball or G.A.B. was founded by Tanya in Swaziland, Africa, a poverty and AIDS-stricken country where young women were highly disadvantaged. It was made in an attempt to change the lives of young girls by providing them with a positive outlet, such as basketball, rather than letting them fall into bad habits like drugs and alcohol. Tanya heavily credits Wright for the inspiration to change the world and start G.A.B., “Darcel Wright was one of many strong, confident female leaders who inspired our founder to create G.A.B.” Being able to directly impact the lives of troubled young girls/women is invaluable, and it demonstrates the character that Wright was. 

In 2001, the Ryerson Sports Hall of Fame was founded, introducing four of the best student-athletes from all the years before its inauguration. Wright was one of the four individuals who had the wonderful opportunity to be among the first inducted into the Ryerson Sports Hall of Fame. While that is a monstrous accomplishment, it goes a step further. She was also the first woman and the black athlete to go into the Hall of Fame. Helping break gender and race barriers, Wright knew how to stay busy after her coaching career.

Staying Alive

In 2008, Wright passed away from a battle against colon cancer. At age 41, she fought right until the very end, thinking she would beat it, suiting her competitive nature as a player. Now you are probably wondering, what else is there to tell about the story of Wright? Well, each year, the TMU Bold hosts a preseason women’s basketball tournament in honour of her: The Annual Darcel Wright Memorial Classic. The tournament was renamed in her honour in 2008 by former Rams head coach Sandy Pothier. 

To this day, Wright remains a key figure in the women’s basketball landscape. Coach Burns tells her players every year about the tournament's history and uses her personal experience to get her girls thinking about what legacy they want to leave behind. Eva had her own reasons as to why we should remember Wright, which were all about paying homage to a player who had such a vast and lasting impact on the women’s basketball program at the school. Even someone who had never met Wright in the current TMU Bold women’s basketball head coach, Carly Clarke, knows the magnitude of this preseason tournament, “The tournament to us has become really, really special. Obviously, the link to Wright has become a legacy point to us.” Many people still care and remember who Wright was and what she did for the basketball community. To honour her, they host an annual tournament that was named after her in 2008, once she passed. It is highly sought after, bringing in some of the best teams in the country for a preseason tournament. For some, it is about opportunities and new experiences, but for others, such as Coach Burns, it is different. “It has a real personal element to me,” said Burns. “As long as I’m coaching, I will always take my team to that tournament.” 

The Sum of Our Parts

Now, TMU women’s basketball has been one of the most successful collegiate programs of the last decade and a half.  They’ve made the playoffs 16 consecutive years, achieving an undefeated season in 2021-22, resulting in winning the Critelli Cup for the first time in program history. None of this would have been possible without Wright and her devotion to basketball. Whether it was as a player, as a coach, as a mentor or even as a friend, she touched the lives of countless people positively. “She was like a pioneer. She was part of this group that started the wave to take basketball to the next level,” said Eva. 

Being inducted into the Ryerson Sports Hall of Fame for your on-court accomplishments is one thing, but there was so much more than meets the eye when it comes to Wright. From being the first female and black student-athlete to make the Hall of Fame, taking on the role of being an assistant coach and moulding the lives of young women through basketball, inspiring others to create basketball foundations to help underprivileged youths, and mentoring countless basketball players over the years are just some of the astonishing things that Wright has touched. She is more than deserving to be in the Hall, smiling down on us with the great big smile that lit up a room. The smile that “Went from ear to ear,” both Coach Burns and Eva said. The smile she had at her original Hall of Fame induction is just as good now as we continue to remember her and induct her into the TMU Sports Hall of Fame, once again.