New Hall of Famer pays a visit
Former Deerfield Beach resident returns to town after Ohio basketball honor
Recent Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Edith Williams Spivey has come a long way since her early days in segregated Deerfield Beach.
The longtime basketball coach recently recounted her experiences as a guest at the Deerfield Beach Historical Society’s Butler House.
“My whole family used to pick beans to make a living,” Spivey said. “We picked beans on the Butler Farm.”
One of 11 children, Spivey grew up before desegregation and attended the all-black Blanche Ely High School. Yet she knew bean picking was not her destiny.
“My grandfather Walter Finley was a school master in the Bahamas and began investing in prop- erty,” she said. “He donated the land for Deerfield Beach Middle School and for St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, and also a hospital.
“My parents took care of us. We had the necessities. But they told us if we wanted to move up the ladder, we had to go to college.”
Spivey was one of six siblings to graduate from college, in her case in 1967 from Tuskegee University. She interned for Dade County Public Schools and then worked two years at Deerfield Beach High School before following her husband to Cleveland.
She was hired to coach girls’ basketball at Shaw High School. For 26 years, Spivey said, her goal was to get girls out of East Cleveland and into college.
“Every teacher knew every ball player because I submitted a list and told them, ‘If you have prob- lems, contact me,’” she said. “I would discipline them — having them run laps.”
Spivey’s teams won 433 games, and she finished with a .702 winning percentage. Her professional achievements include 12 league championships, nine district titles and five appearances in the state championship.
Among those at the Hall of Fame ceremony were 50 family members and former students who came from as far as California.
“I would just remind them of the love we shared and to remember: Always believe in yourself,” Spivey said. “You can accomplish whatever your heart desires if you do the hard work.”