"I looked up in one game and only saw eight [band-aids]."
 
Those band-aids represented the hustle displayed by Debbie Black when she played for the Miami Sol of the WNBA. Every time she hit the ground going after the ball, a band-aid went up in the arena.
 
"If I got 10 or more band-aids, we usually won the game."
 
Black, a 5-foot-2.5-inch point guard, recruited by Jim Foster at Saint Joseph's in her hometown of Philadelphia, went on to play a professional basketball career that most can only dream about and it all started with a typo.
 
"I got the opportunity to play in Australia because Street & Smith had me listed at 6-3," Black said. "Coach Foster called them and told them 'We've got a problem. She's not that tall, but try her out. If you don't like her send her back.'"
 
She jumped at the chance to travel further out of the country than she had ever been, all for just a tryout. That kicked off a 16-year career in three professional leagues and enough accolades to fill a trophy case.
 
Always the underdog as the youngest of four children, Debbie saw it as a challenge when she was told that she wasn't good enough.
 
"When I'm told I can't do something, I'm going to do it," she said. "I loved that people didn't think I was good enough."
 
Her career started in the WNBL in Australia as point guard for the Tasmanian Islanders. She helped her team to two national titles in eight seasons. In the off-season, Debbie remained in Tasmania to work for the Hydro-Electric company in the marketing department and obtained dual-citizenship.
 
"First, I had never heard of Tasmania and didn't know it was an island," Debbie admitted. "It is absolutely beautiful and their love of living is different from ours.
 
"They say Americans live to work and in Australia they work to live. Work is important but there are more important things outside of that."
 
She would have stayed in Australia had it not been for the opportunity to play in her home country where family and friends had a better chance to come watch her.
 
That led her first to the ABL where she played for the Colorado XPlosion.
 
"The very first game we played, I heard the National Anthem," she said. "I never grew up thinking I could be a pro. The day arrived in Colorado for that first game, the National Anthem played and I was like, I'm one of them."
 
She was an All-Star for the XPlosion and the 1997 ABL Defensive Player of the Year.
 
One night, against the Atlanta Glory, Debbie accomplished a rare feat. She recorded a quadruple-double with 10 points, 14 rebounds, 12 assists and 10 steals.
 
"It was one of those nights when the ball just came to me," she recalled. "The hardest thing to get, in my opinion is steals. Rebounds can come to you and I don't really score.
 
"There was about a minute-and-a-half left in the game and I remember my coach saying, 'Deb, go get a basket.' I've never been asked to get a basket."
 
So, two points shy of a quad-double, she went in and made history on a reverse layup. She is one of 20 women in various levels to accomplish the feat and the only one in America professional.
 
When the WNBA formed, she was drafted in the second round, 15^th overall, by the Utah Starzz in 1999. She was known for her energy, intensity and toughness. Her relentless defense earned her the nickname "The Pest." She was the shortest player in the WNBA, edging out Temeka Johnson and Shannon Bobbitt and is just a half inch shorter than Muggsy Bogues, the shortest player in NBA history.
 
As a member of the Miami Sol, she was selected the 2001 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year at the age of 35.
 
Throughout her playing days, she kept in touch with Foster and assisted all of his teams after he left St. Joe's. She helped at Vanderbilt while playing professionally and coached current UTC assistant Brittney Johnson while at Ohio State.
 
After four seasons as the head coach at Eastern Illinois, she came to Chattanooga to work with Foster one last time.
 
Her duties with the Mocs guards, working to pull out of them what is inside.
 
"I tell them that I made the WNBA because I worked harder than them," she said. "They are way more talented than me, but I worked harder."
 
That hard work translated into records and accolades for the Philadelphia native.
 
At the time of her graduation from St. Joe's she was the Hawks' leader for assists and steals. She is a member of the St. Joseph's Basketball Hall of Fame (1994), St. Joseph's Athletics Hall of Fame (2000), the Philadelphia Big Five Hall of Fame (1995) and the Bucks County chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame (2010).
 
Upon her retirement from the WNBA, she was ranked eighth in steals, 10^th in assists, was the all-time leader in steal-to-turnover ratio and fourth in steals per game. In the now-defunct ABL, she was the all-time leader in steals and second in assists.
 
Debbie continues to display her love of basketball as an assistant coach with Chattanooga. She concluded her second season with the Mocs in that position this season and looks forward to working with the guards as the Mocs.
 
"I think I've grown up in the last 15 years of coaching and I want to go toward the player who has the potential and not miss out on the opportunity," Debbie said. "I've seen too many not reach their potential."