Hall of Fame
Charlene Schuessler ’90BC was the first great player to come out of the Columbia women’s basketball team’s Div. I era. She arrived at Columbia in the fall of 1986 from Brea-Olinda High School in California – the first year Columbia women’s basketball competed as a full-fledged member of NCAA Div. I and the Ivy League – and left an indelible mark on the program.
After receiving recruiting calls and letters written via typewriter, Schuessler was invited on her first visit to campus accompanied by the mayor of her hometown. In the end, the unique combination of challenges and precedence is what Schuessler states was the formula that inspired and motivated her the most. She knew she would be among the first class of recruits that catapulted the Lions into NCAA Div. I and Ivy League competition, and wanted to attend a leading institution for women, Barnard College.
Upon Schuessler’s arrival, the Lions were coming off an unprecedented final season among the NCAA Div. III ranks that saw them go 21-6 and reach the NCAA Div. III Regionals. Schuessler and the incoming class was now tasked with taking on Div. I competition and paved the way for the future of Columbia women’s basketball.
In four seasons at Columbia, Schuessler scored 1,002 career points, tallied 456 assists and 169 steals. She became the first 1,000-point scorer of the program’s Div. I era, still holds the career assists record 28 years after graduation and ranks third in program history in career steals.
The two-year team captain also left her mark in the single-season record books, where she sits fifth and sixth all-time with 129 assists in 1989-90 and 126 assists in 1988-89. Schuessler became one of the program’s first great 3-point shooters with the inception of the 3-point line in the late 1980s, where she ranks fifth in single-season history and ranked as high as second nationally that season. Her 66 steals as a senior and 59 as a junior still rank No. 3 and No. 7, respectively.
Schuessler garnered All-Ivy League Honorable Mention status as a junior and was just the fourth All-Ivy selection in program history. That season, she tied the program’s single-game record for assists with 12 in a 67-65 victory over Hofstra. The mark she tied was that of her own, when she dished out a dozen assists in the 1987-88 season finale, a quadruple-overtime victory over Penn, 114-111, on Senior Night at Levien Gymnasium.
Schuessler’s senior season saw the Lions earn their first victory over Yale, 63-58, and end on a high note with a 62-49 victory over Princeton. Schuessler scored her 1,000th career point on that final weekend against Penn.
After graduation, Schuessler did what she says was decided for her at the age of 13. Growing up working as a scorekeeper for community service in her hometown, she met a woman who introduced her to the idea of playing basketball professionally in Europe. Many years later, she found out that woman was Hall of Fame veteran “Machine Gun” Molly Bolin, who was the first player signed to play in the WBL.
Schuessler signed to play professionally in Luxembourg, where she played for over 10 teams on official contracts, as well as numerous international all-star teams, and refereed FIBA division play for 25 seasons, 500-plus games in 15 countries. After her official retirement from the game in 2015, Schuessler is now the manager of international marketing for the MBA with internship program, and the coordinator of the US student exchange program for Sacred Heart University undergraduates arriving in Luxembourg for a semester abroad.
