Get Help

Have a little faith in you

Carlita Jones
August 8, 2014
Sometimes all it takes is for someone to have a little faith in you.

That is the philosophy of Carlita (Jones) Evans (’95), a native of Pittsburgh and unequivocally the greatest women’s basketball player in school history.

Evans takes that philosophy with her every day when she goes to work at Life’sWork, a not-for-profit charitable organization that helps assist people with disabilities or other barriers to employment achieve independence and dignity through productive employment opportunities.

“I’m the coordinator of our resources for people in the welfare-to-work program,” Evans said. “We hold workshops on helping people do resumes, job interviews and life skills.”

Evans said many people she encounters have the ability to make it but lack the confidence in themselves to do so. She sees herself as someone who can help instill that confidence in them. 

“It’s there in people,” Evans said. “You just need to give them the tools that can make them successful. You don’t do it for them, but you give them the tools they need to do it for themselves.”

That is something she learned from longtime Clarion women’s basketball coach Gie Parsons.

“Coach Gie had so much faith in me when I didn’t have it in myself. When I was a high school senior, I didn’t know what I was going to do. I figured I would just go to work, help support my family. But Coach Gie kept showing interest in me,” Evans said. “I didn’t have faith in myself, but she had faith in me. So I guess you could say I am paying it forward from what Coach Gie did for me.”

Carlita Jones EvansEvans’ want to help people didn’t start with Life’sWork or even with Coach Parsons. She said she has always had the desire to help people, and she did that as a district executive with the Boy Scouts of America from 1999 to 2008. She also does it as a basketball coach, first as the head coach at her alma mater, Peabody in the city of Pittsburgh, and now as an assistant coach at Winchester Thurston, a private school in Shadyside.  

“I’ve been attracted to helping people my entire life,” said Evans, who was a first-team All-American for the Golden Eagles and is the school’s all-time leading scorer (1,948 career points) and rebounder (1,258 career rebounds). “It’s naturally me. It’s been ingrained in me since elementary school. It’s been in my nature since I can remember to help people, to bring out the best in people.”

Evans has taken lessons she has learned in life and has used them to help others.

One of those lessons was how important school is.

While at Clarion, Evans excelled on the basketball court, helping the Golden Eagles to four PSAC West titles, two PSAC titles, four trips to the NCAA Division II playoffs and an appearance in the NCAA Division II Elite Eight in 1994. But she struggled at times in the classroom before graduating with a bachelor’s degree in general studies after “targeting” sociology.

“I struggled in class, but I made it,” Evans said. “Walking across that stage and getting that degree was a big deal to me. When I decided to coach basketball, I wanted to show my players how important school is and to help make it easier on them than it was on me. I wanted to show them what classes to take, when to take the SATs and how staying up with things in the classroom is important. I don’t have to do that as much at Winchester Thurston, which is a college preparatory high school, but that was a daily thing when I coached at Peabody.”    

Coaching basketball, which just seemed like a natural fit for Evans, who says basketball is life to her, has also given her the chance the last two years to come back to Clarion with her Winchester Thurston team in the PIAA playoffs. While the Bears lost both times, the experience was still a great one for Evans, who was introduced to the crowd prior to both games with a list of her achievements – of which many of her players weren’t even aware.

“When we first played (at Tippin) two years ago, our players didn’t know anything about what I had done in college,” Evans said. “That’s not something I talk about a lot. It was a long time ago. But when they got here and saw and heard what I had done, I think it added another level of respect for them. Now when we do drills or I tell them to do something in practice or in a game, they know the experiences I had and where I am coming from. They know I know what it takes to make it at the next level.”

Returning to Tippin Gym brought back a wave of great memories for Evans. 

“The memories really come back,” Evans said. “I remember hitting the game-winning shot as a freshman against Slippery Rock (a 78-77 Golden Eagle win Feb. 5, 1992, when Jones hit a five-foot jumper with three seconds left), the team meetings and practices. So many memories came back.”

Evans lives in Pittsburgh with her husband, Willie, and their two children, Willie Jr. and Nina Simone. More information on Life’sWork can be found at http://www.lifesworkwpa.org/.

 

 

Last Updated 1/11/21