This Team Continues to Reach Great Heights

Many players from USC’s two-time national championship team would prove to be successful off the court, too.

One of the more impressive post-basketball resumes belongs to guard Melissa Ward, a walk-on, who became an Air Force pilot and now works for United Airlines. She is one of eight African American female pilots for the airline, and the first and only African American female flight captain for a major passenger airline.

“I wasn’t trying to be the ‘first’ anything,” Ward said. “I’ve been fortunate to be in the right place in the right time.”

After graduating from USC in 1986, Ward attended the pilot school at Reese Air Force Base in Lubbock, Texas. Upon completing her training, she became the school’s first African American female flight instructor, and trained pilots for the Persian Gulf War.

She was hired by United in 1992.

Other players from the 1983 and 1984 title teams include:

* Amy Alkek, class of 1986, vice president and trust officer at First Victoria National Bank in Cuero, Texas;

* JaMaiia Bond, ‘86, lives in Los Angeles;

* Cynthia Cooper, ‘86, played and coached in the WNBA;

* Kathy Doyle, ‘83, resides in Aptos;

* Yolonda Fletcher, ‘85, high school teacher in Hawthorne;

* Pamela McGee, ‘84, assistant coach with the WNBA’s Detroit Shock;

* Paula McGee, ‘84, dean of the chapel at Fisk University;

* Cheryl Miller, ‘86, television sports broadcaster;

* Timi Pitzer, ‘83, resides in Whittier;

* Juliette Robinson, ‘84, attorney, lives in Pasadena;

* LeeAnne Sera, ‘84, dentist, living in Saratoga, Fla.;

* Rhonda Windham, ‘87, former Spark general manager, now a real estate investor.

-- Mike Terry