Sports Illustrated and Empower Onyx are putting the spotlight on the diverse journeys of Black women across sports—from the veteran athletes, to up-and-coming stars, coaches, executives and more—in the series, Elle-evate: 100 Influential Black Women in Sports.
Just a few years ago, Jennifer King was spending her time coaching on a court, not the football field. As the head women’s basketball coach at Johnson and Wales University in Charlotte, King won a USCAA Division II national championship with the team in 2018. But it just so happened that her office was near the Carolina Panthers practice facility, so she networked her way to a meeting with then coach Ron Rivera and was eventually hired as a coaching intern with the team.