From Olympic gold to mental health advocate: Chamique Holdsclaw shares personal struggles at UCSC Martin Luther King Jr. convocation

For UC Santa Cruz’s 41st annual Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Convocation, more than 150 community members gathered Thursday night at Kaiser Permanente Arena, where mental health advocate and Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer Chamique Holdsclaw shared stories about her life while emphasizing mental well-being and MLK’s legacy. 

Holdsclaw, 47, said her grandmother instilled in her from a young age the importance of volunteer work and service. While serving meals with her grandmother at a church, she recalled seeing a Martin Luther King Jr. quote on a wall in the basement: 

“Everybody can be great because anybody can serve.” 

For years, Holdsclaw has been serving communities by speaking up about mental health and disparities in access to care. She said that after she attempted suicide, when she realized that she wasn’t alone in her suffering, it was important for her to speak up and share her experience so that other people wouldn’t feel alone like her.  

Holdscaw told the crowd about her upbringing in New York City, her many accomplishments and some of her most challenging experiences. 

She won a full-ride athletic scholarship to play basketball for the University of Tennessee and won three consecutive NCAA national championships there. She was the top overall pick in the 1999 WNBA draft and earned Rookie of the Year honors with the Washington Mystics. A year later, she won a gold medal with Team USA at the Sydney Olympics. 

Throughout those years, Holdscaw struggled with her mental health. Holdsclaw said she hardly remembers winning the gold medal because she was barely mentally present.  She recalls periods in college when she couldn’t get out of bed and she would cry and cry to herself.

Her college coach helped her get a therapist, but a few sessions in, when the therapist tried to ask about Holdsclaw’s parents, she closed up and stopped going to therapy. Instead, she went back to focusing on basketball and ignoring her feelings.  

“I became a professional stuffer,” she said, referring to stuffing down her feelings. “Young people here, I want to say to you, if you’re going through things, just talk to somebody.” 

Years after her suicide attempt, Holdscaw was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and severe anxiety. She began getting the help she needed and started learning about her family history with mental health – her father had a schizophrenic disorder.

She reached out to mental health organizations offering her help. They asked her to tell her story so other people who were suffering could realize that people like Holdsclaw struggle with mental health, too. Now, Holdsclaw travels to college campuses around the country talking to youth about getting the help they need. 

“I want to encourage you all to reflect on your own dreams and think about what you want your community to look like,” she said. “And just remember that dreams and commitment, and collective effort can create change.”

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