Valerie Still: Basketball legend, author, keeper of family legacy
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 27, 2025) — University of Kentucky alumna Valerie Still is returning to Lexington next week, but this time, the UK basketball legend will be honoring a different kind of legacy.
Still, UK’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder, is set to celebrate her family’s extraordinary history in two powerful ways: through an upcoming family memoir and an opera that brings her ancestors’ story to life.
On March 7, UK Opera Theatre will debut “Sanctuary Road,” an opera that recounts the journeys of those who traveled the Underground Railroad. Inspired by the writings of William Still, known as the “Father of the Underground Railroad,” this emotional opera relives the telling of enslaved peoples’ journeys to freedom, as they recounted their tales to Still, who documented their stories and helped them find safe passage.
Among the compelling vignettes is the story of William Still’s brother, Peter Still, who was sold into slavery in Lexington, with local ties that exist to this day.
Valerie Still, who is a direct descendant of William’s brother, James Still, will attend the premiere alongside her brother, Art Still, UK football legend and former NFL star.
UK announced the opera in partnership with the City of Lexington last week, as part of the yearlong commemoration of Lexington’s 250th anniversary. Read more here.
Valerie Still says she looks forward to honoring her family with UK Opera Theatre.
“As we celebrate the 250th Anniversary of Lexington, Kentucky, I’m thrilled that part of this yearlong celebration is the recognition and honoring of the Still family in Lexington with UK Opera Theatre presenting ‘Sanctuary Road,’” she said. “Most Kentuckians know my brother Art and I as UK’s most dominant brother and sister athletic superstars. But the Still family legacy is much more than that. It is a legacy of faith, freedom, fellowship and family. It is a legacy of self-respect, self-awareness, self-sovereignty and self-empowerment. It is a legacy of fearless, altruistic superstars.”
James Still, one of the earliest Black physicians, left a lasting legacy that Valerie Still has spent years researching. That journey of self-discovery will soon be captured in her forthcoming family memoir, “STILL Family: Legacy of the Underground Railroad,” set for release in 2026 through University Press of Kentucky.
Still says her family memoir will serve as a narrative of survival and influential life during the darkest and deadliest days in American history.
“It is a memoir about legacy,” Still said. “A legacy of family, friends, faith and freedom. A legacy of commitment and dedication to family, to a network of supportive friends, to a belief in a higher source and no fear.”
For Still, generational wealth is not solely based on monetary transfer but the transfer of knowledge and wisdom.
“Knowledge is unlimited, imperishable. Education is wealth,” she said. “‘Still Family’ is a journey of self-transformation — a pilgrimage on the road of freedom leading to an existence with no fear, travelling on the sanctuary road of self-discovery in search of self-empowerment.”
Still hopes to inspire readers throughout the ages with her family memoir’s message of unity, survival, perseverance and triumph.
“The ancestor superstars have beaten extreme odds and risen to unthinkable heights. Like them, born in the ashes, yet still I rise and soar.”
About Valerie Still
Valerie Still of Palmyra, New Jersey, is a former professional basketball player and coach, author and musician. She earned a bachelor’s degree in animal science for the UK Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment in 2000, and went on to earn a master’s degree in African and African American studies and work toward a Ph.D. (ABD) in sports humanities at Ohio State University, where she was a graduate research and teaching associate. She was a member of the UK women’s basketball team from 1979-83 and holds UK career records — men and women — in points (2,763) and rebounds (1,525). Still played professional basketball in Italy, hosted her own television show and was a TV commentator for men’s basketball. Later in the USA, she played in the American Basketball League, winning two world championships with the Columbus Quest and earning MVP for both championship series. She then joined the WNBA where she played with and coached the Washington Mystics and became assistant coach of the Orlando Miracle.
She founded the Valerie Still Foundation, a nonprofit organization that assists youth in their development and launched STILL Java, a socially-conscious gourmet coffee company to assist charities and women and children in underdeveloped countries.
She is a member of the UK Athletic Hall of Fame inaugural class and was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2019. Still is a recipient of the Jefferson Award for her public service. As president of the Dr. Clarence B. Jones Institute for Social Advocacy she continues Jones’ legacy of public service, social justice and civic engagement through youth empowerment programs and social advocacy. Still was inducted into the 2020 UK Hall of Distinguished Alumni.
Her personal memoir, “Playing Black and Blue: Still I Rise,” was published in 2018.
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