Tori Tyson doesn’t do anything half-heartedly. In a month dedicated to women’s history, Tyson has already broken multiple barriers, and she doesn’t show signs of stopping.
On March 1, she was named the head coach of the Texas Smoke, the newly-minted Women’s Professional Fastpitch (WPF) franchise. As the current head softball coach at Howard University, Tyson has cemented herself as the first coach of a professional softball team to come from a historically Black college or university (HBCU). Less than a week later on March 7, Tyson once again led the Bison to new frontiers as the first HBCU team to play a scheduled game against then–No. 2 UCLA on the Bruins’ home field at Easton Stadium.
The path that led her to this point in her career started long ago, tracing back to her childhood. Her father, Marty Tyson, is a widely respected travel softball coach, having founded the Corona Angels organization in southern California in 1998. Tyson and all three of her sisters—Dena, Domonique and Dawna—competed for the Angels, which ultimately springboarded them into their next moves.
