Hooah for the Holidays

Dec. 24, 2009


	Phylesha Whaley was the 2000 Big 12 Player of the Year.

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Christmas Day was last Saturday for Phylesha Whaley.

The former Sooner women's basketball star ate dinner and opened gifts with her family in San Antonio, Texas, ahead of the traditional Dec. 25 date.

While many of us commemorate the holidays (and Oklahomans dodge a peculiar blizzard), Whaley is at Fort Gordon, preparing for the first phase of her deployment with the U.S. Army's 14th Combat Support Hospital (CSH) to Iraq.

"I'm excited to go," Whaley says, "but I've never gone without seeing my mom or my family for more than a couple months. So six months will be a long time.

"It's something new -- new challenges, new experiences. What better way to serve my country."

This Saturday, Whaley, recently promoted to captain, leaves for her briefing assignment at Fort Benning in Columbus before meeting her unit in the Arabian Peninsula.

As she used to lead the Sooners on the court, becoming the program's second All-American and all-time leading scorer by the end of her collegiate career, Whaley may soon be leading a team of nurses in critical care for soldiers and Iraqi patients.

"The CSH works like any medical center stateside. It has an emergency room, ICU and surgery ward. I'll be working as a cirtical care nurse in the ER and may even be the head nurse depending on the assignment."

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Additionally, the hospital will serve much more than the U.S. forces. It operates to care for the need of the surrounding Iraqi community and detainees.

"My unit is already over there, I'm joining them for the last half of their tour," Whaley says.

Army nurses serve six-month deployments, something Whaley attributes to lessening the strain on the mostly female occupation leaving families behind for extended periods of time.

Whaley has been stationed at Fort Gordon for nearly three years, serving as a nurse at Eisenhower Medical Center. As home of the Southeast Regional Medical Command, the center is responsible for military hospital care from Kentucky to Puerto Rico and treats active-duty military and retirees.

"I love nursing," Whaley says. "I love it more than I ever could have imagined. I have a good boss and work with really, really good people."

Doing what you love has long been a mantra of Coale's program. Whaley attributes that and what she learned as a student-athlete for the path she took after school and the choice to enter the Army.

"Certainly, college basketball taught me discipline and how to handle adversity.

"I had to take a combat medical course to do what I'm doing now, and it was probably the hardest thing, academically, that I've ever done in my life. People quit. I wanted to quit, but I couldn't.

"I didn't know how to quit."

A 5-foot-10 forward from Slaton, Texas, passed over in recruiting by the powerhouse teams in her home state, Whaley became an all-everything player for the Sooners. From a 5-22 season her freshman year to a Big 12 Championship and national ranking as a senior, Whaley was the catalyst for the incredible decade of success the program has enjoyed.

"Losing that much, the first year, was ridiculous," Whaley remembers. "But you could see everyone staying positive and working hard every day and it turned around for us."

Whaley carried the team on her shoulders through its first winning season in four years, then a Big 12 title, followed by a NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in 2000, when she was voted an All-American and Big 12 Player of the Year.


	Whaley with Robin Roberts at the NCAA Woman of the Year ceremony.

Coincidentally, Whaley would meet up with a teammate from the 2000 team while at Fort Gordon.

Caton Hill served as a surgeon at Eisenhower before her recent deployment to Afghanistan.

"When we finally saw each other, we would just reminisce," Whaley says.

"It was crazy, working together. I would call her `Caton' when I should be saying `Dr. Hill'. All the other nurses would ask why I called her Caton. I had been there some time before her and they didn't know I played basketball, but when Caton got there she told everyone."

Whaley says Hill is a true solider and someone from whom everybody in the Army can watch and learn.

As for herself, Whaley would like to continue her nursing career, hopefully at Eisenhower.

"I would like to stay in Georgia, hopefully in Augusta. I'm a country girl. I like it at a steady pace."

For the next six months, though, she'll sacrifice for the men and women in our armed forces and for what she believes is a higher purpose.

"I really believe God wants me over there to help someone."

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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