Former Maryland Head Coach Chris Weller Into Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame

During the 2009 WNBA All-Star game, the 2010 class of inductees into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame was announced. Among the list of six honorees was a woman it was my pleasure to get to know in the ’80s: Former University of Maryland Head Coach Chris Weller.

I’m not going to do the typical rundown of how long her career was (27 years), or how many games her teams won (499), or how many ACC titles (8), or NCAA appearances (3 Final Fours, 8 Elite Eights, and 10 Sweet Sixteens), or that she was coach of the year in 1992. I don’t need to note that her service to women’s basketball extended beyond the Maryland campus with her being a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee, the Kodak All-American Committee, and others as well as coaching USA teams in the 80s and 90s. That’s all stuff you can look up. I want to write about a coach who gave me the opportunity to be included in the family of Maryland Women’s Basketball.

I’ve related in other blog entries much of my history with the program. Truth be told, none of it would have happened if Chris Weller hadn’t been generous enough to let a college kid learn as he went.

Though I’d been a fan of the Lady Terps, I didn’t start really interacting with the team until the summer of 1983. I’d mentioned that I wanted to learn how to do sports photography, and Miss Weller allowed me free access to her basketball camp. Even though I was a complete amateur, I was fortunate enough to get some good photos. That led to her giving me my very first professional photo assignment: taking pictures of the locker room and the awards the program had garnered.

After that, I started to become a fixture. I’d practice sports photography by coming in and shooting practices. I shot Maryland games. I started interviewing players and coaches for the booster newsletter. I even got to get beat up by the players on the floor of Cole Field House every now and again (i.e., playing these women, some of whom were Olympians, in basketball).

From there I started shooting other sports for Maryland, and then things sort of took off. If it hadn’t been for Chris Weller, whose door was always open, I likely wouldn’t have had the professional life I’ve had. For that, I can probably never thank her enough.

As the years have gone by and Halls of Fame inductees are announced, I’ve always had an ear out to see if the Maryland legend would be honored. You can imagine my glee when I heard her name on the roll for the 2010 class for the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. She is not only professionally deserving of the honor, without argument, but from my experience, she is also very deserving on a personal level as well.

Congratulations Coach Weller.

(Photos are © CJ Carter, all rights reserved.)