‘SWIN’-SATIONAL!
From the projects of McKeesport to UConn and now induction into the WNBA Hall of Fame, Swin Cash has traveled a star-studded road
No need to use the “woman” qualifier. Swin Cash is simply one of the most successful “athletes” ever to come from Western Pennsylvania. Period.
When you consider everything Cash has accomplished as a high school, college and professional athlete, her huge success in basketball as an individual and with teams, and the impact she has had since retiring from pro basketball, you’ll have a hard time finding any man or woman from a Western Pa. high school (WPIAL and City League) who can match Cash, a graduate of McKeesport High School.
Who can match her lifetime achievements? Anyone? Maybe Joe Montana (Ringgold) or Tony Dorsett (Hopewell)? Someone else? Maybe not. At minimum, Cash belongs on the Mount Rushmore of athletes from Western Pa.
A girl who grew up in the projects of McKeesport, Cash reached a great achievement two weeks ago when she was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. She lives in the New Orleans area with her husband, Steve Canal, and their two sons.
In honor of her HOF selection, the Post-Gazette decided to look back at some of the biggest moments of the career of Swintayla Cash, from her first days at McKeesport High to her induction into the HOF.
1. DECEMBER 1994
FRESHMAN PHENOM: Cash’s high school career started with a bang as she was averaging 15.3 points after the first three games. A 6-foot-1 forward, she went into the new year averaging 16 points, 14 rebounds and 4 blocks. She opened many eyes in an early January game against Connellsville when she had 31 points, 16 rebounds and 5 blocks.
“She has a chance to be the best player I ever coached,” said McKeesport coach Gerald Grayson.
Cynthia Cash, Swin’s mother, said in a Post-Gazette story back then: “She needs to keep her head on straight and learn discipline. People are writing about her and saying a lot of great things about her, but she still has a long way to go.”
2. JUNE 1997
ATHLETE OF YEAR: Cash received a big honor after her junior year at McKeesport when she was named the Post-Gazette Female Athlete of the Year. It’s the biggest honor for a WPIAL or City League athlete and North Hills’ LaVar Arrington was the Male Athlete of the Year. The Post-Gazette ran an iconic photo of Cash and Arrington together.
As a junior, Cash averaged 28.9 points and 19.8 rebounds and was one of only five juniors in the country selected to the Parade magazine All-American team. She finished her junior year with 1,723 points and 1,238 rebounds. Cash was again the P-G Female Athlete of the Year in 1998 while Perry’s Rod Rutherford was the Male Athlete of the Year.
3. OCTOBER 1997
CASH IS QUEEN: Cash was extremely popular at McKeesport High School and also in the town of McKeesport. How popular? Well, she was named homecoming queen at McKeesport in the fall of her senior year. Cash had done some modeling while in high school and also appeared in a hair-care magazine. During her career after high school, she also did modeling and once appeared in ESPN The Magazine’s “Body Issue.”
4. NOV. 15, 1997
UCONN IS THE ONE: Recruited by schools across the country, Cash decided on the University of Connecticut. Her other final choices were Tennesse, Georgia, North Carolina, Penn State and Virginia. Tennessee wanted her so bad that legendary coach Pat Summitt spoke at McKeesport’s girls basketball team banquet in the spring of Cash’s junior year.
“Tennessee was great and the people there were good to me. I just felt there was more for me at Connecticut,” Cash said of her college choice.
5. FEB. 28, 1998
TRIPLE DOUBLE FOR THE AGES: As a senior, Cash had one of the greatest performances in WPIAL championship history and carried McKeesport to its only WPIAL girls title. Cash had a triple double with 40 points, 21 rebounds and 10 blocked shots in a 69-52 victory against North Allegheny at Pitt’s Fitzgerald Field House. At the time, it was the most points ever scored by a girl in a title game. “A silver medal wouldn’t mean anything,” Cash said after the game. “I wanted the gold. And we went after the gold.”
Three years later, before Cash was to play for Connecticut in a homecoming game at Pitt, Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma said, “In high school, nobody played any harder than Swin Cash.”
6. MAY 14, 1998
A TRACK CHAMPION, TOO: Cash never tried track and field until her senior year at McKeesport. All she did was win a WPIAL title in the 100 hurdles and finish third at the state meet. Her WPIAL Class 3A championship might have been one of her biggest high school accomplishments. She hit the sixth hurdle in the race, almost fell, but righted herself and somehow came back to win the gold medal.
“This is just so crazy,” Cash said after the WPIAL title. “I don’t know how I stayed up. It was almost as if God came along, held me up and said, ‘Wait, you’re not going to fall.’”
7. MARCH 31, 2002
NCAA TITLE AND “MOP”: The
2002 University of Connecticut team won the NCAA title with a victory against Oklahoma to finish 39-0, and the Huskies’ starting lineup is considered maybe the greatest in women’s college history. And Cash was part of it. The other four starters were Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Tamika Williams and Asjha Jones. Cash, a senior, averaged 14.9 points and 8.6 rebounds that year and was named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four. It was the second of two NCAA titles Cash won at Connecticut.
8. MAY 13, 2002
DRAFTED NO. 2: In the 2002 WNBA draft, the Detroit Shock made Cash the No. 2 overall pick. Remarkably, Cash and three of her Connecticut teammates were four of the first six picks. Sue Bird went No. 1, Asjha Jones No. 4
and Tamika Williams No. 6.
9. SEPT. 16, 2003
A WNBA CHAMP: In her second WNBA season, Cash helped the Detroit Shock win the WNBA title, defeating the two-time defending champ Los Angeles Sparks, two games to one. In the game that gave the Shock the title, Cash came close to a triple double with 13 points, 12 rebounds and 9 assists. When the Shock was later honored at the White House, Cash presented President George Bush with a Shock jersey.
It was the first of three WNBA titles Cash won. She also won with Detroit in 2006 and teamed with former Connecticut teammate Bird to win the championship with the Seattle Storm in 2010. During her career, Cash also was a four-time WNBA All-Star and twice won the MVP of the WNBA All-Star Game.
She played 15 years in the WNBA and retired in 2016 as only the second player in league history to have 5,000 points, 2,000 rebounds and 1,000 assists.
10. ON THE BIG PICTURE
During much of her career and afterward, Cash was a regular on national television sports shows. She was an occasional studio host for ESPN and also worked for other national media outlets.
11. WORKING FOR OTHERS
During her playing days, and even today, Cash is heavily involved in charitable work. She is the founder of Cash Building Blocks, which is an urban development company that renovates and offers affordable housing to low income families. She also started Cash For Kids, which helps youth in various ways in her hometown
of McKeesport. Cash for Kids mission is to motivate, educate & elevate kids through physical fitness, nutrition, education, cultural trips, and sports camps.
12. AUG. 28, 2004
OLYMPIC GOLD: She was already an NCAA champ, a WNBA champ and now Cash had an Olympic gold medal. Cash made the U.S. Olympic women’s team in 2004 and the squad won a gold medal with a 74-63 victory against Australia in the final game. Cash averaged 6.3 points and 4.4 rebounds during the Olympics on a team that also included Lisa Leslie, Dawn Staley, Tina Thompson, Sheryl Swoopes, Bird and Taurasi.
Cash would go on to win another gold medal with the U.S. team in 2012.
13. JUNE 10, 2019
NBA VP: Two years ago, the New Orleans Pelicans of the NBA opened eyes around the league when they hired Cash as Vice President of Basketball Operations/Team Development. “Her legendary experience as a player, champion and winner at every level, on and off the floor, represents everything we want this organization to be about,” said David Griffin, Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations.
14. APRIL 10, 2020
A FABULOUS PLAYER: The Post-Gazette Fabulous 5 all-star basketball team has been selected every year since 1980. In 2020, the P-G had a panel of coaches and media members select the “all-time Fab 5” from the 40 years of the teams. Cash was named the No. 1 player. The other four players on the “all-time Fab 5” were Seton LaSalle’s Suzie McConnell, West Mifflin’s Tanisha Wright, Hopewell’s Shatori WalkerKimbrough and Allderdice’s Edna Campbell.
15. AUG. 21, 2021
A HALL OF FAMER: Cash is a member of a few other Halls of Fame, but she got a huge honor when she was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tenn. During her speech, Cash said, “To the pioneers of the game, thank you for allowing a skinny tomboy like me to stand on your shoulders with pride and hope of a better tomorrow for our game.”