Cindy Dallas is a competitor. She wants you to remember her as a basketball player who has no regrets and always played with everything she had. She wants you to remember number 55 when you think of Illinois women's basketball. And the sixth-year senior will not be forgotten if she accomplishes one of her goals for the season -- to become the all-time leading rebounder in Illinois history. Dallas currently has 895 career rebounds, 38 away from etching her name atop the records books.

But the road to this milestone was not a short journey. It has led her through two undergraduate majors in English and history, and a masters in educational policy studies, three anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) surgeries, two arthroscopies, and hours upon hours of rehabilitation.

In the summer of 1998, as an incoming college freshman, Dallas was keeping her basketball skills sharp playing a game of pick-up when she tore her ACL. Given the epidemic of ACL tears in women's athletics, particularly basketball and soccer, Dallas' injury was something that comes with the territory of competing. She endured the rigorous rehabilitation schedule and five months later, in the third game of her freshman season against San Diego State, she tore the same ACL. On the sidelines for the rest of her inaugural season, the 18-year-old became discouraged and depressed, dealing not only with homesickness but also the frustration that accompanies a season-ending injury and the grueling rehab schedule that follows.

"I was away from home," Dallas recalls, "I missed my boyfriend and my parents. I think it was more of a physical thing than mental."

Dallas rehabbed three to five hours a day and observed the game from the sidelines. Being around the game and recognizing the tradition of Assembly Hall and Illinois basketball drove her to push through each exercise for strengthening and increasing flexibility in her knee.

"I had a lot of days when I questioned whether basketball was worth it," she said. "Then I would see my teammates playing and winning and think, `maybe I could do that better, but I won't know if I sit here and don't do anything.'"

Then one game into the 1999-2000 season, Dallas tore the same ACL for a third time.

"[After the third tear], I began thinking God doesn't want me to play," she said. Even my father didn't want me to play; I thought maybe it wasn't meant to be. But I thought, `one more try and if it doesn't work this time, then I'll give up.'"

After the NCAA granted her a second redshirt season, Dallas was a junior in the classroom but had only played in four games in her first two years in Champaign. But it didn't take Dallas long to put all the injuries behind her and focus on just playing the game.

"The feeling I get when I play basketball; playing at the Assembly Hall is worth it," she said. "If there was any pain before the game started, I don't feel it anymore. I just like to compete and entertain people."

In fact, Dallas claims to be a feisty competitor from the time she was old enough to play cards with her father, and sports were a logical progression.

"I just like to entertain people and basketball kept me out of trouble," she added. "A lot of people in my grade school got into drugs, or got pregnant, but basketball kept me on the straight and narrow."

Growing up as an only child in Pittsburgh, Dallas embraced athletics, playing volleyball, softball, track and field and basketball in high school. Her father always encouraged her to get involved with sports, and her mother was supportive by attending all of Cindy's games.

Although Dallas and her father, George, always had a special relationship, that bond deepened her sophomore year in high school when he was hospitalized for 11 months because only one chamber of his heart was functioning. Dallas would visit him in the hospital everyday before and after practice.

"My dad was a drug addict for as long as I can remember, but he was a great dad when he was around" Dallas said. "Whenever I was discouraged, he kept me calm and helped me keep a level head."

Today, Dallas is reminded of her father, who passed away in May 2001, every time she steps on the court as she has the phrase "FMP 5-2-01" written in orange on her right shoe.

"It stands for "for my pops," Dallas explains. "I look down at my shoes as words of wisdom. I learned a lot from him."

Through the physical adversity and hardships growing up one of the things Dallas stresses is not to let others dictate how you feel. "Don't let people tell you what you can't do or make you feel small," she said. "Only small people can make you feel small. If you try hard enough, you can overcome anything."