MONTEREY >> The conversations during a recent reunion ranged from memories of showing up to practice in pajamas, to wearing snorkel gear when practicing at altitude.

The bond between the nine women — including Monterey resident Sue Rojcewicz — from a historic basketball achievement 47 years ago at the Summer Olympics in Montreal remains as tight as ever.

That was evident last month when the 1976 United States silver medal women’s basketball team was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

One of those women being honored was Rojcewicz, a 5-foot-7 defensive demon for Team USA, who has called Monterey home for nearly two decades.

“This was the big one,” Rojcewicz said. “When I got there and you are going through the whole thing, I knew it was a big deal. It was a good group of NBA history being inducted. It was such an honor.”

Rojcewicz was part of the Class of 2023, which included NBA legends Dirk Nowitzki, Dwyane Wade and Pau Gasol, as well as San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich and WNBA Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon.

“The guys were great, coming up and congratulating us,” the 70-year-old Rojcewicz said. “I got a chance to talk to Popovich. I told him it was an honor to meet him.”

Rojcewicz was part of a team that included women’s basketball pioneers Ann Meyers and Nancy Lieberman who qualified for the Summer Olympics 10 days before the event and captured a silver medal behind Russia.

“Remember, this was all before Title IX,” Rojcewicz said. “None of us played in college with a scholarship. There were no pro leagues. We played the game for the love of it.”

Having spent 14 years as a counselor at Hollister High before retiring, Rojcewicz saw faces she hadn’t seen since a reunion 20 years ago during the Hall of Fame inductions, near her hometown in Worcester, Massachusetts.

“That was the best part of the whole thing,” Rojcewicz said. “I had moments to reflect, how 12 players ages 17-23, who didn’t know each other, came together and pulled it off. We had very special chemistry.”

The memories of that monumental achievement came right back as seven players recounted the magic that was created on the hardwood in such a short amount of time.

“You could feel it again,” Rojcewicz said. “That connection, the caring. It’s that bond that we created. We were so different. But we had a common bond that has lasted through time.”

The inaugural year for women’s basketball in the Olympics saw six teams play each other once, with Team USA beating Czechoslovakia for the silver medal.

Because it was a round-robin tournament, the winner of that game got the silver behind undefeated Russia, with the loser leaving with nothing.

Rojcewicz came off the bench to average 7.2 points a game for Team USA, as well as playing tenacious defense.

“There were three teams that were 2-2 going into that final game,” Rojcewicz said. “I remember our coach saying ‘you’ll impact women’s sports for the next 20 years’. At 22, I just wanted to win.”

Having played college basketball at Southern Connecticut State, Rojcewicz had been a part of Team USA’s gold medal winning team at the Pan American Games in Mexico City in 1975.

Yet, that did not ensure a spot in the Olympics. The last Olympic qualifier involved 16 different countries vying for two spots two weeks before the Olympics in Hamilton, Canada.

“We won it,” Rojcewicz said. “But we had no budget. Our coach was given a credit card and we were put in Rochester until the Olympic Games started.”

On the heels of the terrorist attacks in Munich in 1972, Rojcewicz recalled her stay in the Olympic Village in Montreal, in which security created an unsettling environment.

“You had at least two soldiers with machine guns on each floor,” Rojcewicz said. “There were metal detectors wherever you went. Security was high.”

With games starting as early as 9 a.m., Team USA was getting up at 4 a.m. for practices to get their bodies acclimated to the early starts.

“I remember all of us showing up and practicing in pajamas,” Rojcewicz said. “This was about being in the right place at the right time. Basketball was great for me.”

Having helped Southern Connecticut State to a top three ranking in the nation, Rojcewicz was often the first player off the bench for Team USA at the Olympics.

Rojcewicz embraced the role, looking at herself as former Boston Celtics legend John Havlicek, who was the sixth man for those iconic teams in the 1970s.

“I remember coach telling me ‘you’re good enough to start,’” Rojcewicz said. “But I need you to come off the bench. I’d come in and start running things.”

The Olympics was not the end of Rojcewicz’s basketball career. After a brief stint as an assistant coach at Penn State, she moved out west to help start the Stanford women’s program with head coach Dotty McCrea.

“I hung up my sneakers,” Rojcewicz said. “But I wanted to coach. I came out to Stanford while getting my master’s degree in 1977.”

Six years later Rojcewicz took the head coaching job at the University of San Francisco in 1982, where she was 71-63 over six years before stepping down.

“I had to get out,” Rojcewicz said. “I didn’t like the business aspect of it. I kind of had a bad taste in my mouth about sports. So I decided to teach and become a counselor. It was more my personality.”

The Hall of Fame induction was not her first honor, as she was enshrined into the Womens’ Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000, earning Kodak All-American honors in 1975.

The team MVP in basketball in 1974 and 1975, Rojcewicz also was also a standout in college in softball and field hockey at Southern Connecticut.

Rojcewicz has been on the Monterey Peninsula for 18 years, where she sees similarities from how her team played 47 years ago in the Olympics to today’s Golden State Warriors.

“They’re unselfish and play team ball,” Rojcewicz said. “Everyone touches the ball, finds the open player. They run when they can. And most play defense. We played good defense.”

While she hasn’t picked up a basketball in years, the sport has left countless memories, which she continues to cherish.

“I really did look at basketball as a spiritual thing,” Rojcewicz said. “I was learning about myself, getting into a zone and responding. I made a lot of lifetime friends. A lot of people don’t get to experience those memories in life.”