This semester, Special Collections & University Archives hosted undergraduate intern, Alana Loya, History major ‘25, to curate a physical and digital exhibition on a topic of their choice using USF archival materials. After a productive semester, Alana is excited to share their work and reflect on their internship experience.
I spent this semester in the University Archives, primarily working with the Athletics Collection. My first challenge was narrowing down a subject. I had the most interest, initially, in the successes and stories of the men’s basketball program. Sorting through boxes of the materials, I found an abundance of content. As the self-proclaimed biggest basketball fan on campus, I was awestruck. However, as I thumbed through more of it, I began to feel conflicted.
I wanted to use my passion for the sport to drive my project. However, as a Museum Studies minor, I recognize the power and social value of communicating ideas in the form of visual displays. I feared if I was driven by pure wonder rather than critical thought, I would be left with a flat celebration of well-known men’s basketball stars without regard for how the display speaks to our current social and political climate. I wanted to create a display that demonstrates the value of diversity and inclusion, one in which the sport of basketball is a revolutionary, liberating act.
Pivoting from what I already knew, I took a day to familiarize myself with women’s sports programs by perusing the digitized Foghorn collection. I stumbled across an edition from March 1997, when the women’s basketball team won three straight West Coast Conference championships. Next I found an edition from March of 1996, chronicling the Dons Sweet Sixteen appearance in the NCAA tournament. They were the first WCC team and first twelve-seed to make it that far. I sat there slack jawed, wondering how I, supposedly the biggest basketball fan on campus, knew so little about the history of our women’s program. My own implicit biases slapped me across the face. I wanted to correct this and learn everything there was to know.
I dove into media guides and articles. I recognized the name “Hile” from the jersey hanging in War Memorial Gym, but could not tell you much about the player it represented. However, I quickly learned that Mary Hile holds the record for total points in USF basketball history, men’s or women’s. I also learned she returned to campus to co-coach the Dons with her husband. They were the coaches of the 1996 and 1997 teams that drew me to women’s basketball. I realized creating a display about Hile’s career would allow me to bridge between these two eras of USF women’s basketball.
My exhibition, “Hile on the Hilltop: A Closer Look at USF Basketball’s All-Time Leading Scorer,” celebrates women’s history and speaks to the value of diversity and equal opportunity.
This March, the last women’s basketball home game happened to also be Alumni Day. Fifteen to twenty former USF women’s basketball players were present and honored at halftime, including Mary Hile-Nepfel. I was starstruck. I had been in the archives for a few weeks at this point, and knew the names and recognized the faces of almost all of these women. After gentle encouragement from a friend, I went up and introduced myself to Hile, probably shaking and sweating the entire time. She was so kind and agreed to sit down with me for an interview.
This was my first time ever conducting an interview and collecting an oral history. The conversation breathed life into the materials. I saw a folder of photographs titled “Lisa Maurino,” but Mary saw years of memories and moments shared with her former roommate and teammate. I learned a lot about the process and gained a lot from it. I felt more inspired than ever to communicate the story of USF women’s basketball history through my display.
Everything has a history. The history of Bay Area women’s basketball feels more relevant than ever with the arrival of the Golden State Valkyries this Spring. Delving into these materials, learning from Hile, and organizing this display has been an incredibly fulfilling experience. I feel inspired to continue this research in the future. I would love to collect oral histories and conduct archival research at other institutions and with other former stars. I hope to contribute to the fuller picture of the obscured, under-researched figures who made the game of women’s collegiate and professional basketball what it is today.