Beyond the Court
By making her first gift to UIC during Give a Spark, former women’s basketball star Sara E. Wynes stays dedicated to helping her team.
By Citlali Dominguez BA ’26
The last time Sara E. Wynes BA ’98 was on the University of Illinois Chicago’s campus, it was her 20th wedding anniversary. Both she and her husband are former Flames, playing for the women’s basketball and hockey teams, respectively. They chose Tufano’s in Little Italy for dinner because it’s where they held their rehearsal dinner.
“We loved it so much when we were student athletes,” Wynes says. “So we went there for our anniversary, saw Pearl Jam at Wrigley and walked on campus a little bit for nostalgia.”
More than romantic dinners or walks through the quad, Wynes’s most cherished memories at UIC revolve around her time with her teammates. Now, after making her first gift to support student athletes during Give a Spark, UIC’s new annual giving day, Wynes is reflecting on her journey from standout college athlete to prominent family lawyer.
Wynes was courted by several schools during her college hunt but chose UIC because of the feeling of community the players and coaches gave her during the recruitment process. Needless to say, she was met with a warm welcome when she arrived in 1994 with a full athletic scholarship.
“I felt like we were instantly family and there was no other place for me,” Wynes recalls. “We had so much fun. It really didn’t matter what we were doing, whether we were practicing having a team meal, watching films, lifting weights.”
Still, being a UIC athlete meant Wynes’s schedule was always jam-packed. The team would be at practice by 6 a.m., head to class right after and prepare for their second practice after school. With a demanding schedule, and a university where commuters are the majority of the population, the team became a sisterhood.
“It felt like our own village,” she says. “Anything we did, we did together. Some girls came from backgrounds very different from mine; some didn’t have a father figure present, so my dad became the ‘team dad’ and helped form the Hoop Phi Booster Club with other spirited team parents. The diversity and working together — and supporting each other — I’ll never forget.”
A full-circle moment came when a student, who Wynes had won the Illinois state championship with at Glenbrook South High School in Glenview, Illinois, where Wynes grew up, wound up coming to UIC four years later as a freshman when Wynes was a senior.
Wynes graduated from UIC with a Bachelor’s in exercise physiology, and worked in her field for about a year and a half before transitioning to law school at the University of Denver. Her late uncle, a well-known lawyer in Washington, D.C., motivated her pivot to pursuing a career in law. She still lives in the Rocky Mountains with her family and runs a solo family law practice primarily representing dependent and neglected children. Wynes expressed gratitude for her full athletic scholarship at UIC, since she was able to enter law school without any prior loan debt.
It was actually Wynes’s former team captain, Penny Armstrong, a UIC women’s Basketball hall of famer, who pitched the idea of contributing to Give a Spark.
“She was our captain my freshman year, I think,” Wynes says. “She's kind of still the captain. She gets us all together, she gets to exchange contact information, she arranges games for everybody to go to.”
Armstrong reached out to her about the importance of supporting the next generation of female athletes and introduced Wynes to Paige Pender, director of basketball operations for the women’s team. Pender explained that UIC is trying to raise donations for the Women’s Basketball Excellence Fund, which helps provide scholarships, nutrition, strength and conditioning resources, and sports medicine to support the student-athlete experience.
Wynes donated while she was still on the call.
“Put yourself back in time and think about your experience,” Wynes says, encouraging others to give.
“If it was a bad experience, you should contribute in order to be that change for the next generations,” she says. “And If it was a good experience like mine, you should want to pay it forward. If everyone gives even just a little bit, it serves so many students.”
“That was really cool,” says Wynes. “My mom still talks to her mom a bit and I’ve been in touch with her through email.”
The whole team still keeps in touch — through social media, but also through holiday cards and attending each other’s weddings.
“
If everyone gives even just a little bit, it serves so many students.”
Beyond the Court
By making her first gift to UIC during Give a Spark, former women’s basketball star Sara E. Wynes stays dedicated to helping her team.
By Citlali Dominguez BA ’26
The last time Sara E. Wynes BA ’98 was on the University of Illinois Chicago’s campus, it was her 20th wedding anniversary. Both she and her husband are former Flames, playing for the women’s basketball and hockey teams, respectively. They chose Tufano’s in Little Italy for dinner because it’s where they held their rehearsal dinner.
“We loved it so much when we were student athletes,” Wynes says. “So we went there for our anniversary, saw Pearl Jam at Wrigley and walked on campus a little bit for nostalgia.”
More than romantic dinners or walks through the quad, Wynes’s most cherished memories at UIC revolve around her time with her teammates. Now, after making her first gift to support student athletes during Give a Spark, UIC’s new annual giving day, Wynes is reflecting on her journey from standout college athlete to prominent family lawyer.
Wynes was courted by several schools during her college hunt but chose UIC because of the feeling of community the players and coaches gave her during the recruitment process. Needless to say, she was met with a warm welcome when she arrived in 1994 with a full athletic scholarship.
“I felt like we were instantly family and there was no other place for me,” Wynes recalls. “We had so much fun. It really didn’t matter what we were doing, whether we were practicing having a team meal, watching films, lifting weights.”
Still, being a UIC athlete meant Wynes’s schedule was always jam-packed. The team would be at practice by 6 a.m., head to class right after and prepare for their second practice after school. With a demanding schedule, and a university where commuters are the majority of the population, the team became a sisterhood.
“It felt like our own village,” she says. “Anything we did, we did together. Some girls came from backgrounds very different from mine; some didn’t have a father figure present, so my dad became the ‘team dad’ and helped form the Hoop Phi Booster Club with other spirited team parents. The diversity and working together — and supporting each other — I’ll never forget.”
A full-circle moment came when a student, who Wynes had won the Illinois state championship with at Glenbrook South High School in Glenview, Illinois, where Wynes grew up, wound up coming to UIC four years later as a freshman when Wynes was a senior.
“That was really cool,” says Wynes. “My mom still talks to her mom a bit and I’ve been in touch with her through email.”
The whole team still keeps in touch — through social media, but also through holiday cards and attending each other’s weddings.
Wynes graduated from UIC with a Bachelor’s in exercise physiology, and worked in her field for about a year and a half before transitioning to law school at the University of Denver. Her late uncle, a well-known lawyer in Washington, D.C., motivated her pivot to pursuing a career in law. She still lives in the Rocky Mountains with her family and runs a solo family law practice primarily representing dependent and neglected children. Wynes expressed gratitude for her full athletic scholarship at UIC, since she was able to enter law school without any prior loan debt.
It was actually Wynes’s former team captain, Penny Armstrong, a UIC women’s Basketball hall of famer, who pitched the idea of contributing to Give a Spark.
“
If everyone gives even just a little bit, it serves so many students.”
“She was our captain my freshman year, I think,” Wynes says. “She's kind of still the captain. She gets us all together, she gets to exchange contact information, she arranges games for everybody to go to.”
Armstrong reached out to her about the importance of supporting the next generation of female athletes and introduced Wynes to Paige Pender, director of basketball operations for the women’s team. Pender explained that UIC is trying to raise donations for the Women’s Basketball Excellence Fund, which helps provide scholarships, nutrition, strength and conditioning resources, and sports medicine to support the student-athlete experience.
Wynes donated while she was still on the call.
“Put yourself back in time and think about your experience,” Wynes says, encouraging others to give.
“If it was a bad experience, you should contribute in order to be that change for the next generations,” she says. “And If it was a good experience like mine, you should want to pay it forward. If everyone gives even just a little bit, it serves so many students.”
