A winner. That would be the best way to describe basketball guard Gloria Smith Corey. She was the slick point guard for a fledgling College of San Mateo hoops program that won two Bay Area College Association of Women’s Athletics championships in 1977 and 1978.
Moving on to the University of San Francisco, she helped the Dons collect two more conference crowns in 1979 and 1980. Her crisp passes helped Mary Hill become one of the Hilltop’s all-time leading scorers, for men or women.
In addition to those collegiate titles, Smith Corey’s high school team at Westmoor in Daly City captured a prep title in the old North Peninsula League in 1976. That makes five championships in five years. At every level, the 5-foot-6 standout was an All-Conference choice. She was the first true female point guard in San Mateo County, and definitely one of the very best, regardless of era.
“I’ve seen a lot of girls basketball in the county over the years,” former College of San Mateo women’s basketball coach Tom Martinez said, “and Gloria was the best.” She will be inducted into the San Mateo County Sports Hall of Fame on June 21 during a banquet at the San Mateo Elks Lodge.
According to Martinez, Smith Corey “was taught how to attack defenses and she had some skills. She always had the ability to see everything on the court instantly. She was always visually in control of the game on the court, and was very steady and calm. “Gloria could score. She was one of the first girls to have a good jump shot, but she always wanted to share the ball. She got the ball to the scorer, no matter what the situation. She always made people around her better.”
When Smith Corey first played organized basketball at Ben Franklin Junior High and at Westmoor High in Daly City with coach Margie Wright, girls basketball wasn’t a path to fame and fortune. Games were played in relative obscurity.
“After Westmoor, I went to CSM and I had no intention of playing basketball,” Smith Corey said recently. “I was going to work part-time, get a degree, and then get a real job.” It was just at that time that Martinez, then the CSM football coach, was talked into taking over the women’s basketball program as well. It was supposed to be a temporary coaching stint, and it turned out to be a three-decade commitment.In Smith Corey’s first year at CSM in 1977, the Bulldogs posted a 22-8 record and went to the Northern California half of the state tournament for the first time. In 1978, CSM went 32-1 and won the NorCal championship at Saddleback College.
CSM played the University of San Francisco in Smith’s Corey’s freshman year, and new coach Walt Bugler was so impressed (after CSM defeated USF by 25 points) that he offered her a scholarship — one of the first basketball scholarships given to a female basketball player on the Peninsula.
She went to San Francisco, became a starter immediately and helped the Dons win those two conference titles and a national ranking in 1979-1980. USF went to the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women Western Regionals in 1979 in San Luis Obispo, and Smith Corey was named to the All-Tournament team. She guided the Dons to a national tournament appearance the next year at Brigham Young University in Salt Lake City before graduating from USF in 1981 with a degree in industrial technology.
“Gloria was nails,” said Bugler. “We had a good team with Mary Hile, but with Gloria, we became a great team. She understood the game. Gloria was very calm and knew who to get the ball to. Never had to worry about her with the ball. She ran the whole show out on the court. She never spoke very loudly, but everyone listened to her (EastBayTimes).”
