Janet Geif, the mother of the girl who would become the most decorated women's basketball player in the history of the U.S. Naval Academy, recalled how worried she was some 15 years ago, when her daughter was drawing scant interest from Division I recruiters.
Jade Geif was a 6-foot junior center at Lakeville (Minn.) South High School, on her way to scoring more than 1,000 career points after beginning her varsity years as an eighth grader. Geif also was holding her own as an AAU post player.
"I saw how Jade was overshadowed by some of the other big AAU girls. Part of it was she was a strong defensive player and loved to make good passes and set great picks, but she wasn't that aggressive [to score] on offense," Janet Geif said. "She was so unselfish, just like she was as my shyest child, always looking to make someone else happy."
"I thought that kept her in the [recruiting] shadows [as a result]. I believed things would work out, because Jade was the hardest worker on the court. But it was sad that others apparently didn't see that. I knew it would crush her if she didn't get [an offer] from a good Division I school."
Jade Geif recalled those circumstances differently. She felt puzzled but not panicked in the least about her situation, with her senior year a few months ahead.
"I wasn't really nervous about [the lack of recruiting attention]," recalled Geif, who had been contacted by some lower division colleges that expressed no serious interest. "I expected to go somewhere, but I just had to wait while I figured out where. I knew I wanted to leave Minnesota. I did not want to go to a college everybody else [in her graduating class] was going to."
The jersey number 21, which for the past month has hung from the rafters at Navy's Alumni Hall, is a constant reminder of how well it ultimately worked out for Geif and the Midshipmen basketball program.
As the third women's basketball player to have her number retired in the program's 32-season, Division I history, Geif generated a host of superlatives that show how the Midshipmen produced an unparalleled run of success from 2010 through 2014.
No Navy women's player besides Geif has piled up 1,500 career points and 1,000 career rebounds. Among the many more male players in school history, only NBA Hall of Famer David Robinson and Vernon Butler eclipsed those milestones.
Becky Dowling Calder and Courtney Davidson O'Brien are the other two Navy women's players to have their numbers retired.
"[Having my number retired] can be a little overwhelming sometimes when I think about it," Geif said. "It's allowed me to reflect on some of the great moments we had as a team, from the smallest to the biggest."
Geif owns numerous places in the Navy and Patriot League record books.
She is the school's best-ever rebounder, with 1,033, and its sixth-best scorer with 1,501 points. Geif ranks second all-time in career field-goal percentage (.519). Her inside game, as a shooter, screen-setter, passer and rebounder at both ends of the floor, lit the fuse for the Navy offense over four full seasons as a starter.
Geif's durability was as remarkable as her consistency. She started a school-record 128 games, never missed a game, came off the bench only once. She ranks second all-time in minutes played (3,937).
But it was where Geif led the Midshipmen that will forever elevate her stature. After earning the starting job at center soon after surviving plebe summer in 2010, Geif, with help from senior leaders Angela Myers and Cassie Considine, lifted the Mids to their first Patriot League title and first-ever trip to the NCAA tournament. Geif was named Patriot League Rookie of the Year in 2011.
Navy would repeat that postseason feat for two more consecutive seasons, during which Geif's Class of 2014 teammates, which included Alix Membreno, Kara Pollinger and Audrey Bauer – each joined the school's 1,000-point scoring club – combined to carry the Mids.
Navy fell in the Patriot League tournament as the top seed in her senior year, but went to the WNIT.
Navy went 83-46 overall in Geif's four years.
"From the get-go, [Geif's] knowledge of the game was so strong. She had confidence and mental toughness, made such good decisions and was so unselfish. I don't think she ever got called for setting an illegal screen," said Geif's coach at Navy, Stefanie Pemper.
"She just wanted to win. Right from the jump, our team wanted more than individual accolades. The name on the front of the jersey was always most important to Jade. She knew we couldn't win with talent alone."
"Jade was consistent and smart and always humble. She came through in so many critical moments, even though she was undersized [at center] a lot of the time," Membreno said. "She had that extra grit a lot of good players don't have. She was all heart, all committed. It was hard not to follow her."
"Yes, we had me and Kara and Audrey [who could score] outside the paint, but it all started with the rock-solid foundation that was Jade – such great footwork and strength and so many offensive rebounds and put-backs and great kickout passes."
Geif earned All-Patriot League honors in all four years, and was selected to the first team in her last two years. She is the only player in league history to make the All-Tournament team four times and one of four players to win two tournament MVP awards.
Geif also was the recipient of the 2014 Vice Admiral Lawrence Sword for Women, one of the highest honors presented by the Naval Academy Athletic Association. In addition, she was part of the Patriot League's Silver Anniversary team.
"On many nights, there were no adjustments [by an opponent] that could stop her. Basketball at that level clicked immediately with Jade," said Kara Pollinger, a three-year starter at point guard. "My outside shooting improved a lot because Jade's ball screens allowed me to get so many open looks at the basket. We could always go to her [with the ball] if we were in a collective slump."
"She was as passionate about holding herself and others accountable as she was about trying to be the best player on the floor. A natural leader."
In the late spring of 2009, Pemper, then a second-year coach at Navy, sat in Indiana University's fabled Assembly Hall to watch some AAU games, where she got a good look at Geif in person. She was slender, smaller than numerous frontcourt prospects being pursued by power conferences, but deceptively strong with undeniable basketball skills and acumen.
Pemper came to the Geif household soon after that. Their relationship solidified. After her official visit to Navy that fall, Geif committed.
"Jade didn't look the part, like some of the thoroughbreds [at Assembly Hall that day]. She was skinny, didn't shoot threes. But she was a real player," Pemper said. "You've also got to be a different kind of woman to choose the Naval Academy, and that was Jade. When she said yes, I felt like we got a good one – not knowing of course she was going to help us win so much."
After graduating, Geif spent five years of service in the U.S. Marine Corps, as an aviation supply officer at Beaufort Air Station and platoon commander at Parris Island Recruit Depot.
She is currently a civilian living in Beaufort, South Carolina, with her husband, Charles Bolton and their six-year-old daughter, Brantley. Geif works as an executive assistant for Tactical Baby Gear and is a local fire department volunteer.
"I remember struggling to get through plebe summer, then struggling to get in shape for a college basketball season. We didn't practice with a ball until not long before our first scrimmage. We ran a lot," Geif said. "I fit in right away with the basketball program. It was another home to me. It was family. There was no doubt from the beginning that I was where I belonged."
"We were all very different in terms of our personalities, but we bonded early and we had such confidence in each other, fed off each other," Geif said.
"Compared to anybody else I've ever had as a teammate, [Geif] was extremely unique," Pollinger said. "I think she was the main reason we developed a unique chemistry. We just worked so well together, on and off the court."
Janet Geif pointed to another trait that showed itself early in her daughter's life. Jade was extremely competitive in every type of game she played. When she would take on her brother, Nick, six years older, in games of one-on-one basketball in the family's driveway, it was basically impossible for Jade to win.
Janet Geif recalled sweltering summer days when her older daughter – Shannon is the youngest at age 28 – would come into the house after losing another game angry, face red, gulping water, refusing to stop playing.
"Nick refused to let her win, and Jade, who is still in middle school, refused to give up. You knew she was a fighter," Janet Geif said. 'I'd ask her if she should stop, and she'd say 'No!"
The family's ability to fight was put to a severe test, under tragic circumstances. When Jade Geif was 10, the most awful news imaginable came knocking at the family's door one morning.
Ronald Geif, Janet's hushand and the father of her three children, had died suddenly.
"That was a very rough time for a 10-year-old who was very close to her father," Janet Geif said. "I'm pretty sure that part of Jade's fight comes from wanting her dad to be proud of her."
"I definitely was a daddy's little girl. [His death] had a huge impact on me," Jade Geif said. "I think losing him that early shaped me in a lot of ways. So did seeing how my mom handled it with her grit and determination, continuing to raise three kids and work and run the house and spoil us. I always have him on my mind. That loss has affected who I am and how I think."
Geif feels similarly about the academy, which challenged her in ways she could not have anticipated and brought out the best in her in ways she could not have foreseen.
"Sports teaches us things about leadership at an earlier age. The academy challenged me academically, helped me gain confidence and figure out who I am as a person. There are countless things it taught me about leadership," she said.
"I came for the chance to play basketball, but I caught on to the rest of why I was there – to work with peers and subordinates, to hold myself and others to a high standard, to expect a lot more out of ourselves."
