Olympic champion Cathy Boswell returns home to her roots, will coach girls basketball at Minooka

MORRIS – The game of basketball has taken Cathy Boswell on a remarkable journey. It has led her to the highest moments of glory a player can achieve, including an Olympic gold medal and induction into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.

Boswell, who graduated from Joliet West in 1979 after helping the Tigers to a state title in 1978, earned All-American honors at Illinois State University, where her retired jersey hangs in the rafters of Redbird Arena. She then was selected to play for the United States in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and was a member of the first-ever gold-medal winning team. She then played overseas in Germany, Spain, Italy and Brazil.

Boswell competed internationally for 14 years, earning seven team most valuable player awards, one league MVP title, a player of the year award and five league championships.

After her stint in Brazil, Boswell returned to the United States, playing for the Atlanta Glory in the ABL and then for the Chicago Condors in the same league.

“It’s a shame that the 1980 team didn’t get to play in the Olympics,” Boswell said, referring to the United States’ boycott of the games in Moscow. “But it was exciting to be a member of the first USA team to play in the Olympics.

“After I graduated from ISU, I went to Germany and really worked on my game. The coaches of the US National team was impressed with the work that I had done in Germany. Then I played in Spain, Italy, Spain again, and then Brazil. I think I was at the top of my game in Brazil. Then, after I was done playing with the Condors, I thought I might want to go into coaching.”

Boswell began coaching for a team that was in the second division before being called on to play again.

“That was the start of my second playing career,” Boswell said. “They needed a veteran player that could bring veteran experience to the team. I played pretty well. When I was 44, it was my last season, and I averaged 18 points and 12 rebounds.”

Boswell returned to the U.S. in 2015 as an assistant coach at Illinois State.

“I learned a lot in my two years at ISU,” Boswell said. “At that point, I had spent about half of my life overseas and it was nice to be home. After that ended, I had to figure out what I wanted to do.”

Soon after, she got the call from the Women’s Hall of Fame.

“I came back home for that, and seeing my parents and family made me decide that I didn’t want to go back to California. My parents are getting older, and I wanted to be around them.”

It just so happened that John Placher, a classmate of Boswell’s at Troy Junior High in Shorewood, is the current head coach at Minooka after spending nine seasons at the helm for Joliet West. The two got in touch and Placher said he had a spot on his staff. Boswell got a job as a paraprofessional at Minooka, and now basketball has brought her back home. She was on the bench for the Indians on Tuesday as they began play in the Morris Ladies Shootout.

“I’m excited to be back home in the Joliet/Shorewood area,” Bowell said. “I have been trying to involve myself more and more in my family here. Before I came back, I was in Winter Park, Florida, near Orlando. I was a paraprofessional at a school for disabled kids. I wasn’t coaching there, though.

“I knew I wanted to come and be closer to my parents, and I can’t stay away from basketball.”

For Placher, it was a golden opportunity.

“I have known ‘Boz’ pretty much my whole life,” Placher said. “We have stayed in touch off and on throughout the years. If she was in town, we would try to meet and have lunch and talk basketball.

“She moved back here about six months ago and called me to ask if I knew of any coaching jobs. I told her I had a job for her on my staff and would try to get her a job at the school. She got the job at the school and we are very excited.

“I told the girls on our team, just Google ‘Cathy Boswell.’ They did, and they were a little intimidated that an Olympic gold medalist and Hall of Famer was going to be coaching them. When I was coaching at Joliet West and she was coaching at ISU, I would take my teams down there to see a game or two. She is so good at communicating with the kids. They listen to everything she has to day. She is going to be great for our program.”