At Hopewell Valley Central High School Oct. 17, 2013 for the Hall of Fame induction ceremony are Alden Fiertz, for wife Annette Compton Fiertz, ’77; Dr. Jill Gora, Class of ’87; Chef Michael Cimarusti, ’87; and former University of Virginia basketball coach Debbie Ryan, Class of ’71.
Debbie Ryan survived a bout with pancreatic cancer in 2000, continuing to coach the University of Virginia women’s basketball team while fighting the illness.
Basketball coach Debbie Ryan named Hopewell Valley Central High School Distinguished Graduate
Debbie Ryan has come a long way since gracing the Hopewell Valley Central High School basketball courts during the late 1960s and early ’70s.
The 1971 graduate and recent inductee of the Distinguished Graduates Hall of Fame said the team didn’t have uniforms, had to borrow the boys’ warm-up jackets, and played all of its games between 3:30 and 4. Things are obviously much different now, and Ryan herself played a significant role in that change.
She retired from her post as head women’s basketball coach at the University of Virginia in 2011 after 34 years, amassing over 700 wins and 24 NCAA tournament berths, including 12 Sweet Sixteens and three Final Fours. What’s more, Ryan was hired when she was just 24, only two years after graduating from Ursinus College.
Her CHS basketball career ended just after Title IX was enacted 1972. The law requires equality for men and women in any school program that receives federal assistance, though it is most famous for its impact on sports. Ryan said many schools ignored it until the 1980s.
“I didn’t really realize how unfair it was at that point because that was the norm,” she said. “I knew it had to change. By the time I got to college, I was certain it had to change. Once I got to the University of Virginia, I was part of the change.”
Ryan was born in St. Louis, where she said her basketball career really began. She started playing recreationally on outdoor courts because there were little to no organized sports opportunities for young girls, though her “first loose ball” came on a much larger scale.
“When I was four, the St. Louis Hawks and the Celtics were playing an exhibition game,” she said. “The ball squirted out, and I ran on the court and tried to get it. My father about killed me because I about got killed because all the guys were running down the court. That’s kind of when I got started.”
Her family moved to Hopewell in 1963 after her father, an Anheuser-Busch sales director, transferred to his own distributorship in Trenton. They lived in the Washington Crossing area, and she attended Bear Tavern Elementary School.
Her basketball career continued at CHS, where she played on the girls’ squad. The girls, she said, weren’t afforded luxuries like uniforms and convenient start times. Those were allotted to the boys. She even dressed up as the Bulldog her senior year to attend the boys’ games and “be a part of something bigger.”
“It was pretty cool, but I got to see what it was like for the boys,” she said. “My question was, why isn’t this like this for us? Why are we playing at 3:30 or 4 in the afternoon? My dad could never come because he worked. It wasn’t fair.”
Outside of the gym, though, was a different story. Ryan formed bonds with many teachers and classmates, which she said was more beneficial to her education than anything else.
“There are so many,” she said. “I would be listing them forever. I was just one of those people that really loved every minute of my education. Most of the education I got was in the hallways. I really loved the education I got outside of the classroom, too.”
Ryan’s brother, Pat, is the president of Hopewell Valley Community Bank and a 2005 CHS Hall of Fame inductee. His daughters also attended the school and played basketball for the Bulldogs. Debbie Ryan lives in Virginia, but said she comes back to Hopewell for holidays and, in the past, her nieces’ basketball games. Her mother still resides in the area.
Ryan attended Ursinus College, where she was a point guard, after CHS. She graduated in 1975 and went on to graduate school at the University of Virginia. Two years later, after a stint as an assistant coach, she became the women’s basketball head at an age when she was not much older than many of her players.
She made just $10,000 in her first year as head coach; that significantly less than her fellow coaches made. The Cavaliers went 8-17 that year. Her athletic director told her if the team started winning, her salary would increase accordingly.
The next season, the team finished with a 16-12 record and made its first NCAA tournament five years later. As she told CHS seniors and juniors assembled in the Performing Arts Center for an Oct. 17 assembly honoring the 2013 Hall of Fame inductees, eventually, she made a much better salary.
Many players she has coached went on to become professional athletes and coaches themselves. but one stands out as another prominent Hopewell figure. Val Ackerman, a 1977 CHS graduate and 2008 Hall of Fame inductee, played under Ryan from 1978 to 1981. She is the past president of both the WNBA and U.S.A. Basketball, and is the current commissioner of the Big East conference.
“I always knew Val was a lot smarter than I was,” Ryan said. “I wanted to recruit her because I knew she had an innate emotional intelligence that a lot of people don’t have”
Ackerman, Ryan said, has a really good sense for what should happen next.
“She’s also somebody who doesn’t take no for answer, and I really love that about her because she’s not afraid to step into a male-dominated arena and make something happen,” Ryan said.
After a distinguished career, including coaching through a bout with pancreatic cancer following her diagnosis in 2000, Ryan retired in 2011. She’s not sure if she really wanted to call it quits, but she knew it was the right time.
“I’m still going to find my way back into athletics somehow,” she said. “I’m just not sure where that’s going to be. I still have a lot of energy. I still want to do something. I’m just not sure what it looks like.”
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