As the Celtics’ vice president of team operations and organizational growth, she and the team are on the cusp of bringing home their 18th championship, one of many history-making moves to come.
The recent South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame inductee had an illustrious basketball career. As a forward at Harvard, she was the first player in any sport to be named Ivy League Player of the Year three times. Her records remain among the best. More than 25 years later, fans still replay the 1998 NCAA Women’s Tournament in their minds, when she led 16th-seeded Harvard to a stunning upset over top-seeded Stanford. She was a first-round pick in the WNBA Draft that same year (5th overall). She went on to play for the Los Angeles Sparks, Charlotte Sting, Indiana Fever and overseas.
Despite the debate at this point, women’s basketball greats are not new. They’ve always been there. Yes, Caitlin Clark is an incredible prodigy. She didn’t invent the game of basketball. What’s crazy is that she’s been used by outside forces to denigrate the league as a whole and black women in particular.
“The women I know in this industry, regardless of skin color, are overprepared. They’ve been through combat. They have the highest level of perseverance and emotional intelligence,” Allison says. “I think that’s what makes us such great teammates. But I think about the fact that we’re prepared to be here. We deserve to be here.”
And here we have Allison Feaster, another Boston legend. Three years after retiring as a player, she joined the Celtics as director of player development in September 2019.
“It’s one of the most storied franchises in sports history,” Allison told me at halftime not long ago at TD Garden, “and when I first got here, Danny Ainge was the president, Brad Stevens was the head coach, and the rest of the front office were great leaders and teachers to learn from. That’s why I chose this organization and this organization chose me.”
She’s a key part of what has made the Celtics a winning team, and that magic can’t just be contained on the court; it has to permeate the entire organization.
“Allison is a tremendous person and leader,” said Stevens, who is now the Celtics’ president of basketball operations. “She cares deeply about the people on our team and is always striving to improve. We often say the Celtics are about teamwork, toughness and gratitude, and Allison embodies all of that.”
An MVP off the court, Allison is always making big plays, and one day she might be at the State Capitol with Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca, team president Rich Gotham, and their star players. Jaylen Brown claims Working to advocate for reform in the juvenile justice system. Speaking about health equity on behalf of Boston Celtics United. Working with my teammates in administration at practices and games to make sure everyone has what they need.
“We’re here to make this organization winning from top to bottom,” Allison said. “We’re always looking for areas to improve. We support our players, our staff and our organization and strive to be the best stewards we can be in this community.”
She’s one of only a handful of Black women working in executive roles in the NBA. Even with the support, women, especially women of color, face bias and obstacles in a male-dominated culture. And the Celtics have a strong female bond.
Community Engagement Director Kash Cannon says it’s the camaraderie that’s kept her going. A lifelong Celtics fan and Providence native, she joined the organization in 2019. She helps provide direct perinatal care to mothers and babies thanks to Curbside Care, a collaboration between the Celtics and Boston Medical Center.
“Allison has protected me and so many others from day one,” Cannon said. “She makes sure we’re taken care of. She’s an example of who you can be and where you can get to. I want to walk the path that she walks because I want to inspire others the way that she has inspired me.”
It was an interview with Allison that led Candace Williams to become the organization’s director of mental health, health and wellness. The match in the team’s legend and vision is what first attracted the Huntsville, Texas, New England native, and Allison helped seal the deal two years ago.
“Seeing a Black woman in a leadership position like her really helped me envision my transition into an organization that values the voices of women, especially Black women,” Williams says.
The rise in Black women within the organization isn’t a surprise at all, if you ask Ashley Battle, a scout and assistant general manager for the G League’s Maine Celtics, a 2021 recruit who also previously played for the New York Liberty and the University of Connecticut.
“The Celtics have been pioneers of diversity throughout NBA history,” she said, “We had the league’s first African-American coach, Bill Russell, and we had many players who fought for justice and rights within the Black community, and we still do today.”
These women are often working together to help create change in their communities. Sometimes they mentor young students, other times they build networks for women in the industry. It all comes back to the game. The ball is life.
These women love their sport, especially Allison. Even when she loses or gets depressed, she remains calm and dedicated. Two years ago, when former coach Ime Udoka was accused of a scandalous affair, the internet lost its mind and moral compass in an attempt to expose the woman. Many women in the organization were implicated, but Allison was the target of the trolls’ hate. She was not involved. And the ill will didn’t last long.
She described it then and now as “tough.” The support from her peers and loved ones, and watching her daughter build a basketball legacy (Google Sarah Strong(No. 1 women’s college basketball recruit in the 2024 class) got her through that season.
The hurdles are vastly different, but they fall in the exact same vein as America’s impulse to humiliate and demean powerful Black women. We’ve seen the wrecking ball swung at everyone from Serena Williams and Simone Biles to Sha’Carey Richardson and Angel Reese.
“I have the experience of being a black woman raised by black women, and while we’re not all the same, we have a lot of strong commonalities between us. It’s not always easy,” Allison says. “What I want for our future is peace. I want acceptance. I think at its most basic, it’s about being noticed, not worshipped, but acknowledging that things are a little different for certain groups in this world. So first and foremost, I want peace.”
And despite the storm, she re-signed with the Celtics and made Boston her home.
“This game has given me so much, so for me, it’s an honor to be able to contribute to this organization, to be able to contribute to this community and to represent so many people who find themselves in me,” she said. “My life is a beautiful resistance because I get to do what I love. I get to plant seeds of empowerment. I get to plant seeds of confidence and inspiration.”
With her quiet strength and big smile, Allison never flinches. She leads with dignity, grace and connection. She played forward all of her college years and then guard. Guard-forward. That’s the rare player who can play multiple positions on offense and defense. She continues to push forward to be what her team and her team need her to be.
Sometimes the swingman is a woman.
![The Celtics may be a men's team, but the women cheering them on are what's helping them win.](https://bostonglobe-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/3BhJEUaqEhbqO3r0_DaGQ6FgYd0=/960x0/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/bostonglobe/473SOBO42BAD5OORMB5QOCNW2U.jpg)
Contact Jeneé Osterheldt at jenee.osterheldt@globe.com Follow her nice to meet you And on Instagram Follow.