Two-time Olympic gold medalist and former Tennessee star Nikki McCray-Benson has died. She was 51 years old.
McRae Benson was an assistant women’s basketball coach at Rutgers last season and the school confirmed her death on Friday. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013.
She joined coach Don Staley as an assistant at South Carolina from 2008-17. She was part of the Gamecocks’ first national championship in 2017. They were fellow gold medalists at the 1996 Atlanta and 2000 Sydney Olympics.
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“It’s hard to think of Nikki’s death because all I can see is the full extent of her life,” Staley said in a statement. “From her days as a junior basketball player to becoming my friend and colleague to the way she mentored young players, Nikki did everything from her heart. … She had such a light, such positive energy within her no matter what was going on. I feel Sad that cancer has taken that light from us, but I know she wants us to be the ones to carry it on in her absence.”
McCrae Benson played at Tennessee from 1991-95 under Hall of Fame head coach Pat Summitt. Rule was a two-time SEC Player of the Year and a two-time Kodak All-America during her junior and senior seasons for the Lady Vols. The team reached the Final Four in 1995, losing in the championship game to undefeated Connecticut.
The 1996 US Olympic team sparked the formation of the WNBA and ABL (American Basketball League 1996-1998). She won the MVP award in 1997 while leading the ABL’s Columbus Quest to a championship before heading off to the WNBA. McRae-Benson was a three-time All-Star in that league while playing for the Washington Mystics.
I played until 2006 when I retired, with stops in San Antonio along the way.
“She’s competitive,” said New York Liberty coach Sandy Brondello, who coached her in San Antonio and played against on the Australian Olympic team. “She just came out and did it the best she could. This is really sad and tragic. Exodus prayer for her family.”
McRae-Benson began her 16-year coaching career as an assistant at Western Kentucky for three seasons from 2006-2008. After South Carolina won the NCAA title, she became the head coach at Old Dominion in 2017, going from 24 to 6 in 2020.
She spent one year at Mississippi State before stepping down for health reasons and returning as an assistant under coach Cookies Washington at Rutgers last season.
“Nikki had the biggest smile and the biggest heart,” Washington said. “She was full of life and energy, and it was so much fun to be around her. Nikki has touched so many lives because she has made it her mission to uplift others and help them achieve whatever dreams and goals they have expressed.”
McRae-Benson was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012. She is survived by her husband, Thomas, and son, Thomas Jr.