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Mom said she couldn't come home

Candice Dupree wanted to quit basketball in college. Her mother said stay. Today, Dupree lights up the WNBA's Sky.

By MIKE CAMUNAS
Published August 15, 2006

About four years ago, Candice Dupree almost gave up before she even started.

But someone wouldn't budge.

"It was only about a week when she got to Temple and called me up crying," said Patty Mungenast, Dupree's mom. "She said she was coming home and didn't want to stay and play basketball."

Dupree's mother refused to let her daughter quit so easily.

"I wouldn't let her come. I told her: 'You owe this to yourself, you owe this to the coaches and teammates, and most of all, you owe this to me. We put a lot of time and effort into this.' "

So Dupree, 21, gave Temple a chance and never regretted it.

Now, she's the first professional athlete to graduate from Wharton High School.

"She sent me an e-mail later that year," Mungenast said. "It said, 'Mom, thanks so much for making me do this.' "

It turned out to be a career decision for Dupree. On April 5 (a day she called "nerve-wracking") she was selected sixth overall in the WNBA draft, joining the Chicago Sky.

"She was just what we wanted," said former NBA great Dave Cowens, Sky coach and general manager.

"We would have drafted her even higher if (our pick) had been sooner. She was just a total package we were looking for."

Dupree's inaugural pro season ended Sunday with a 24-point effort in an 80-73 win against Indiana that helped the Sky (5-29) avoid the first 30-loss season in WNBA history.

She finished with 467 points (third among WNBA rookies), 188 rebounds (second) and 25 blocks (first).

"I guess it has (sunk in), for the most part," Dupree said. "I mean, I know I can say, 'I play for the WNBA on the Chicago Sky.' I guess what I don't realize is how many people follow it, and then it's really nice to get recognized on the street."

From a Nike contract to signing autographs to playing on national television, Dupree has been recognized, though it hasn't inflated her ego.

"It's a little weird, watching her on TV and hearing people talk about her," Mungenast said. "I mean, I do tell people, 'Hey, my kid's a professional athlete.'

"She is the same exact person she has been her whole life. She still blushes, and I know none of this will ever, ever go to her head, and that is what makes her so likable."

Dupree is friends with Dawn Staley of the Houston Comets. Staley, who played her final regular-season game in the WNBA on Saturday, coached Dupree at Temple.

The two faced each other twice this season.

Staley, who watched Dupree earn back-to-back Philadelphia Big Five Player of the Year honors at Temple, came out the winner both times.

"It was a little weird," Dupree said, "because even though she was out there playing, she was still trying to coach me. I hadn't talked to her in a while, and yet, she's still giving me pointers.

"But the second time, she just let me play."

Those who saw her talent years before are not surprised.

"She's just so natural at everything she does," said Eddie Henderson, who coached Dupree at Wharton, where she became the first player to score 1,000 points.

"We all sat around and watched the draft. I just knew she was going to do well and make it. People get confused when I don't get excited, but I am, it's just that I knew."

While Mungenast said she has always known Dupree's athleticism comes easily, she never thought about the WNBA.

"We saw (Temple) as a way to get a free college education, because being a single parent (and raising three children), I needed all the help I could get. It wasn't until her senior year that we were like 'Wow, it may really happen.' "

Dupree was also shocked that year.

"I never thought I would be playing any professional sport," Dupree said.

"I thought I'd be a regular student, go to school for four years and then start working nine to five."

Cowens is glad Dupree isn't working in a cubicle somewhere.

"She is the face of the Chicago Sky," Cowens said. "She's what I like to call a keeper.

[Last modified August 15, 2006, 02:06:09]