Sylvia Crawley Spann got her winning start at Steubenville High School in eastern Ohio, where she averaged 17.9 points and 19.4 rebounds per game during her 1990 senior season. She went on to play basketball at the University of North Carolina, amassing 1,158 points, 582 rebounds, 124 blocks, and 98 steals during her collegiate career. During her senior season, UNC won the NCAA Division I National Championship.
Sylvia signed her first professional contract to play abroad in France and continued to play professionally across 16 different countries.  

A Silver and multiple Gold Medalist, she played USA Basketball for the Jones Cup, Select Team, Pan American Games, and World University Games. Sylvia was named USA Basketball Player of the Year in 1997, shortly after she was named to the USA National Team where she became an Alternate for the 1998 Olympic Games.

Sylvia joined the first independent women’s basketball league, American Basketball League, where she won the first-ever women’s Slam Dunk Contest with a perfect score of 100 doing a Blindfolded Dunk! When the ABL ended, Crawley joined the Portland Fire for three seasons. From there, Crawley was selected by the Indiana Fever during the WNBA’s dispersal draft in April 2003 and was eventually traded to the San Antonio Silver Stars before retiring due to a collision on the court. 

As a respected coach, Sylvia served as an Assistant at the University of North Carolina and Fordham University before being named Head Coach at Ohio University from 2006-2008. She then went to Boston College (2006-2012) to be an Assistant Coach for the Indiana Fever before returning to the University of North Carolina as an Assistant from 2016-2019. 

Her #00 jersey was retired at the University of North Carolina in 2000. A licensed minister, today Sylvia is both a motivational speaker and clothing designer.