Wendy Larry learned the news in a text from Katie Meier.
Staring at her phone on June 13, she read these words from the Miami coach, “I’m here for you.”
Why? Larry wondered. What was going on?
Meier replied with one word: “Anne.”
Larry noted the correct spelling of Donovan’s first name. “I got this sinking feeling,” she said.
The Old Dominion community gathered together on Sunday at the Constant Center to remember Anne Donovan, who died on June 13 abruptly at the age of 56 from heart failure. Donovan stands alone in the ODU record books for points, rebounds and blocked shots. She’s in every notable hall of fame for accomplishments that range from collegiate national champion to Olympic gold medalist as both player and coach to first female WNBA coach to win a championship.
While Anne died six weeks ago, ODU took the time to put together a memorial that would allow most of the significant people in her life to attend, including five of her seven siblings, Marianne Stanley, Nancy Lieberman, Larry and Lady Monarchs from multiple generations.
“The lessons she taught us, if we pay attention, will carry us through a lifetime,” Stanley said. “Anne’s life is really a blueprint of how to live life the right way.”
Anne was easy to talk to, uninhibited about her 6-8 height, often making jokes about how hard it was to find pants that size. Larry knew of her before she was on the map given both hailed from north Jersey. Larry, a graduate assistant to Stanley, recalls first seeing Anne play as a sophomore at Paramus Catholic High.
“I didn’t know she was somebody we were going to recruit,” Larry said. “She was really good as was her sister Mary.”
Anne went on to serve alongside Larry as an assistant coach for a decade.
“She was really so about doing it the right way,” Larry said. “There was no gray. It was black and white for Anne.”
Allison Green, also an assistant to Larry, appreciated many things about Donovan, particularly her smarts.
“She was an academic All-American in addition to being an All-American,” Greene said. That allowed Greene to take a “what’s your excuse?” approach to the Lady Monarchs vs. the books back in the ’90s.
Friends, sisters, former teammates and coaches painted Donovan as gritty and tough but the kind of person you’d have a blast spending a few hours with. Roomie Pam Elliott kept everyone laughing with stories about Anne cruising campus with a station with a brown-paneled interior. That included a trek to see ODU win the national field hockey championship in 1982, reason for a party when the two got back to their dorm room. When an RA told them to shut it down, Anne shut him down, detailing ODU’s commitment to cohesiveness and cooperation.
Anne gifted Elliott with the poem “Footprints in the Sand,” testament to their 38-year-old friendship. “I was blessed and very lucky to spend three years at Old Dominion with Anne,” Elliott said. “While we likely spent way too many hours playing video games on Little Creek Road and we ate way too much fast food at night, Anne loved her time here at ODU.”
Nancy Lieberman also kept things upbeat in remembering Donovan. She confided for the first time the story behind a strip tease foul shot contest that left her, Donovan and Chris Cristelli as the last three standing. Lieberman was down to a white patch she wore on her elbow and a pair of panties when she missed a shot. Let’s just say she left the patch in place.
“What are you doing?” Donovan squealed.
“I’m hurt,” Lieberman fired back.
Then there was Anne and Nancy babysitting in Virginia Beach with Anne propping up the 4- and 6-year-old boys on her shoulders, just narrowly missing the ceiling fan blades.
“Anne! You’re going to kill the kids,” Nancy exclaimed.
There are five Donovan sisters and every year they congregate for a “no boys, no kids” retreat. Last year Anne came despite being on crutches from a broken leg. They are a close bunch and pictures from the Paramus High slide show, also shown at ODU, attest to that. Mary Donovan Grab described Anne as her go-to person, the one she could share crazy cat pictures with. She called Anne the fashion guru, a whiz at matching shoes and outfits who was her best friend, the maid of honor at her wedding. They played against each other; Mary was two years over and went to Penn State, admitting Anne “was always on the winning team.”
The four sisters will gather in Wilmington this weekend missing the fifth. Anne, who resided there, did all the planning for it.
“It’s a solid but now broken sisterhood,” Mary said.
Death reminds us how incredibly unfair life can be. You wonder how someone almost literally large than life can be gone in a blink at the very young age of 56.
Stanley reminded everyone so poetically, that Donovan’s passing forced her world to go off its axis. “It’s a challenge to accept a world without Anne in it,” she said. “Anne, simply put, is one of the finest human beings I’ve ever met.”
We’re lucky we had her. We just wish it had been a while longer.