Counting down the seconds, radio broadcaster Stan Sandroni, voice of the Lady Statesmen, calls the final moments of the 1975 AIAW Championship game between Delta State University and Immaculata College. At the final buzzer, a jubilant crowd roars as players and fans rush to the court to celebrate. The Lady Statesmen of Delta State University have just defeated three-time defending champions Immaculata College for the 1975 AIAW National Championship in women's basketball. Led by head coach Margaret Wade, the Lady Statesmen will become known as a powerhouse in women's basketball.

Now for the first time in sports history, Coach Wade's and the Lady Statesmen's story will be shared in a documentary film on the career and legacy of Margaret Wade. The film, Coach Wade, provides the audience with an intimate look into Coach Wade's career through the voices of those who were most influenced by her life and legacy. Directed by Matteo and Elisabetta Zengaro, Coach Wade is the story of how a woman from a small, impoverished town in the Mississippi Delta rose to success while compiling an impressive 157-23 record during her career at Delta State. She overcame obstacles and brought distinction to DSU, her hometown of Cleveland, Mississippi, and young women across the nation. Through a contemporary lens, viewers will see how Margaret Wade and the Lady Statesmen changed the nature of athletic competition for generations to come.

"I want to thank everyone who helped out to make this film a reality," said co-director Matteo Zengaro. "For generations including my-own who did not know Margaret Wade, this film is important so we can learn what her legacy meant to Delta State and to women's college basketball. I hope that viewers will get the chance to marvel at the success of the 75,76,77 championship winning Lady Statesmen, but also learn how coach Wade touched the lives of her players, fellow competitors, and friends."

"It has been an incredible journey to make this film and share Coach Wade's story," said co-director Elisabetta Zengaro. "While my generation never had the chance to meet Coach Wade, she established a legacy as one of the greatest basketball coaches in history. She put Delta State and Mississippi on the map at a time when women's participation in sports was still largely ignored. She established a legacy as a champion, showing women and girls across the country anything is possible."

Coach Wade's legacy as a champion is a core motif in the film. At her home in Greenwood, Mississippi, Lusia (Lucy) Harris-Stewart, Olympic athlete, Hall of Famer, and three-time All-American under Coach Wade, recalls the moment she and her teammates rallied together to defeat the Mighty Macs.

"Oh, that was great, Harris-Stewart said. "I mean they were the defending champs. It wasn't quite as easy as most people think it was, but we were able to rally together and defeat them."

Harris-Stewart helped guide the Lady Statesmen to three consecutive AIAW championship titles in 1975, 1976, and 1977. With Harris dominating the Lady Statesmen's offense, the Lady Statesmen played in front of sell-out crowds at home, met fierce competition on the road, and lit up the scoreboard at Madison Square Garden. The Lady Statesmen played their way across the nation to become one of the winningest teams in women's basketball. All anyone wanted to do was beat them, including Nancy Lieberman. 

At her home in Plano, Texas, Lieberman sits in her memorabilia room, but two objects stand out. These are her Wade trophies, her most prized possessions. Lieberman is the first two-time recipient of the Wade Trophy. She shares how Coach Wade gave her something to strive for as a young athlete.

"The Wade Trophy is symbolic of the Heisman," Lieberman said. "It's for the best of the best. It's not for the meek. It's not for the 'I'm kind of good.' It's for the greats, and that's why not that many people have won it."

"You know today's kids win this award, but I got a chance to shake her hand and give her a hug, and say, 'thank you' to her, and actually experience who she was as a as an icon," she added. 

Lieberman was Harris-Stewart's teammate on the United States Olympic women's basketball team in 1976. She heard the stories of Coach Wade from Harris-Stewart and was in awe of Coach Wade's mythic status. She first met Margaret Wade at Old Dominion when the Lady Statesmen came to play them.
 
"Lucy was the star, and I just was fascinated," Lieberman said. "You know the stories of them winning championships, and then she would tell me about Coach Wade, and she was kind of like this mythical figure. You know you hear about Babe Ruth or you hear about you know Hank Aaron or Willie Mays or Mickie Mantle, and then she walked into our gym.

"There she was, you know, Margaret Wade, and she was really nice. She came up to me and just started talking to me, and I can't remember exactly what she said, but it was like 'I hear you're a very talented young lady, and I'm sure I was straight New York like, 'Yo, that's really nice of you Coach Wade How you doin?' And you know she was just elegant and just very kind that she would walk over to me while we were stretching."

Wade and the invincible Lady Statesmen attracted national media attention, and Langston Rogers, former sports information director at Delta State University during Wade's tenure, shares the impact Wade had in contributing to increased coverage of women's basketball in the 1970s.

"She developed a great rapport with the media because they were so important in developing and covering women's basketball in that era because there really wasn't much, much coverage," Rogers said.

"Stan gave our fans an avenue to either come to the game and see them or hear all the games that we played, and I think that was so important in the very beginning—to have that kind of state coverage, and then it just grew from there," Rogers said.

During those years, the Lady Statesmen became a brand for Delta State. Coach Wade was a longtime family friend of current DSU President Bill LaForge, who shares his stories of attending games while he was a student.

"The Lady Statesmen soon became a brand for us in those four years she coached, but three years especially they won national championships unprecedented," LaForge recalled. "Immaculata had done it, but they were a smaller school. We did it back at a time when there was no DI, II, and III. It was all really DI, so to speak. We were throwing it in the same basket. And she left a great impression here."

Coach Wade left a legacy untouched by any other coach during her time and a dynasty future women's basketball players continue to build upon, something current head coach of the Delta State Lady Statesmen Craig Roden describes.

"She laid the foundation for this to become what it is today," Roden said. "I can remember when you could go to the state tournaments in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and they were played in high school gyms. And you could sit anywhere you wanted to, and now they're all in the coliseum. They're packed. The Final Four is a sold out event, and it used to be in little places. I think all of that goes right back to Margaret Wade and the success that the Lady Statesmen had early on."

Coach Wade inspired a generation of women's college basketball players, but she never got the chance to live her dream the way her players did. While Wade put women's collegiate basketball on the map, her own college playing career was cut short. In 1933, she gathered with her teammates to burn their basketball jerseys in protest of Delta State's decision to cut its women's basketball program. Team captain of the Delta State University women's basketball team, and with one year left to finish her collegiate basketball career, Wade suffered a devastating blow with the university's decision to cut the program. Wade was at the peak of her athletic career following two very strong seasons with the Lady Statesmen, but Wade and her teammates were forced to give up the sport because the school administration said it was "too rough for ladies to play." For the woman who would come to be known as the mother of women's colligate basketball, Wade's life was at a crossroad. Little did she know she would later lead a team to one of the greatest championship runs in sports history.

Following the enactment of Title IX, DSU President Aubrey Lucas announced Delta State was going to reinstate the women's basketball program in 1973. Wade, now 60, agreed to take the job. The first year the program was reinstated, the Lady Statesmen rose to national prominence in women's basketball.

The Lady Statesmen finished their first season 16-2. The following year, Delta State went undefeated, upending three-time defending champion Immaculata College in the 1975 AIAW National Championship. During Wade's reign at the helm of Lady Statesmen basketball, her teams won 157 games and lost only 23 games during the 1973-79 seasons. At home, the Lady Statesmen lost only three games in Walter Sillers Coliseum during that span. In her final season, the Lady Statesmen went 21-12.

"She had a lot to offer as far as teaching you how to be a young lady and also a basketball player," Harris-Stewart said. "Coach Wade was really easy to get along with. You know, she didn't demand a whole lot, and she was easy to talk to. I mean, I could go to her house, and we would just sit down and just talk. You know, just talk about life."

Icon. Trailblazer. Pioneer. Coach Wade retired from coaching following the end of the 1979 season, but established a legacy others continued to build on. Coach Wade distinguished herself amongst competitors as a champion. She proved a small-town college in the South could compete on a national scale at a time when women were still fighting for equality. Wade passed away in 1995, but left a mark as one of the greatest coaches in women's basketball history. In 2017, Coach Wade's 1975, 1976, and 1977 AIAW championship-winning teams were honored by the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame with the Trailblazer Award.

With the 1974-75, 1975-76, and 1976-77 Delta State University women's basketball teams receiving the 2017 Women's Basketball Hall of Fame's Trailblazer Award, it reminds all of the importance of women's ability to achieve athletic success during a time of social upheaval. Wade and the Lady Statesmen redefined women's collegiate sports, proving women could be competitive and successful playing under the same rules as the men.

Coach Wade will premiere on the campus of Delta State University during Go Green Weekend. Stay tuned to gostatesmen.com for updates.