She Got Next, Episode 36: Pepper Persley talks to Pokey Chatman

“I fell in love with the game because I was just a sports junkie. Honestly, I played softball, I played volleyball, but I was a lot better at basketball. And there were so many more opportunities and got on the AAU circuit, and was able to get some exposure, college offers and the rest was history.”

Pepper mentioned that she goes by “Pepper” and coach Chatman shares the story behind the nickname ” Pokey”.

“It’s actually my legal name now. I was a fat little kid. And it was really Porky. And then it evolved to Pokey. And I’m telling you, I have players that play for me over the years, and they still don’t know my real name, used to be Dana. So Pokey has been my legal name for about 15 years now.”

Role models and idols are important and here is what coach Pokey had to say regarding her idols growing up:

“It’s interesting that you say that because so many of the idols were not necessarily the elite basketball players because the exposure was so different back then. Sometimes you idolize people in your household or you idolize the coach that introduced you to a part of the game. And as I got older, and was introduced to collegiate players at the time, Louisiana Tech was the powerhouse back in the day.”

Pokey has coached many elite basketball players throughout her coaching career including players like Seimone Augustus. And here is what coach Pokey had to say about Augustus:

“She’s just special, I got to watch her play when she was in elementary and middle school. I used to leave LSU practice to go watch her middle school games because they were played early. And she was probably the first female basketball player that the entire state got behind. And it was just fitting. And we’re fortunate that she decided to come to LSU. And from that point on the program really elevated.”

Enjoy Pepper’s latest podcast episode with Pokey Chatman.