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Amy Touli '93 got started playing basketball late, by today's standards, starting out on the softball diamond and soccer field. Playing hoops at the YMCA was next, and that's where she started building a passion for basketball. Playing on the varsity team as a freshman is what pushed her to go even further in the sport. And seeing former USF coach Jennifer Azzi direct the floor for the Stanford Cardinal is what make her realize that her further could be playing collegiate athletics.
"My dad said, Stanford's basketball team is pretty good, we should go watch a game," recalls Touli. "I remember going and watching Jennifer Azzi and all their players make these full-court passes. Up until that point I never really thought about playing sports in college. I didn't really make that connection that that could be a possibility for a female athlete, and I just thought I want to do that."
And that she did.
While on the Hilltop, Touli became an All-West Coast Conference performer in her senior season and still stands in seventh all-time in career three-pointers made (122). Graduating just before the NCAA championship runs in the '90s, Touli hopes that the culture that was present during her time on the team is, in part, why some of those stars made their way to USF.
"I formed almost an immediate connection with Mary Hile, which is easy I think for anyone to do, whoever meets her. When I came up on my recruiting visit just meeting the athletic department, the president of the university Father Lo Schiavo – I mean who gets to meet the president of the university. Everyone was so welcoming, the girls on the team showing me around and immediately putting me at ease and letting me know they were excited to potentially be a teammate.
We were competitors and we wanted to win. We wanted to win for ourselves, for our school, for our coaches, for each other. It's kind of cliché but these girls, your teammates, are your family. There are times when you annoy each other, there are times when you love each other and I think that creates a culture and I think other players not really realizing it at the time, they see that. You pick up on these things when you witness it, and hopefully that is what really brought some of those talented teams in for their Sweet 16 team and things like that."
Along with her time on the court, some of Touli's fondest memories revolve around that culture and that spirit of family. From minty green uniforms to courtside encouragement, USF Athletics Hall of Famer and Dons' equipment manager starting in 1970, Bobby Giron, holds a special place in her mind.
"He was boisterous and loud, and he was always there supporting you and he would do it in humorous ways. He would tell me before every game that I had the green light," Touli says with a chuckle. "He'd say you tell Mary Hile that you've got the green light from Giron. So any time I got any grief from Bill or Mary, I'd say Bobby gave me the green light so I'm going to shoot the ball. He was that kind of big personality and he would make you laugh and lighten things up. He was another one that had been around for so long that he just had this history of USF athletics, and he loved the school and he loved the student-athletes at the school. It was hard not to love him back."
Hear more from Touli in this Tuesday Testimonial, one in the series focusing on the pioneers of USF athletics who will be featured in "The Rise," an upcoming documentary profiling some of the greats as part of a celebration of the 45th anniversary of Title IX. The Rise," will be seen this spring, released in conjunction with National Girls and Women in Sports Day, and airing on NBC Sports California in February.
