She’s the One: Rawlston and Tina Charles

Words by Jesse Serwer

Father and daughter share a hug at last Thursday’s draft

Soca warriors know Rawlston Charles as the producer behind Charlie’s Records, which released music by Lord Kitchener, the Mighty Sparrow and the late Mighty Duke during its ’70s and ’80s heyday. Brooklyn dwellers know the Tobago-born Charles as the proprietor of Charlie’s Calypso City, the record shop that’s held down central Bed-Stuy (Fulton btw. Bedford and Nostrand) for nearly four decades. Charles has been in the news of late for another reason, though: His daughter, Tina Charles, was taken as the No. 1 overall pick in last week’s WNBA Draft. Selected just two days after leading the Connecticut Huskies to a second consecutive NCAA championship (not to mention their 78th straight win and an undefeated season), Tina, a 6-foot-4 center whose been called the Shaquille O’Neal of women’s hoops, will now join the Mohegan Indian tribe-owned Connecticut Sun (Yup, they play at the casino). As ESPN reports in this informative article, Tina first took to basketball while her father was watching another Caribbean-American, Patrick Ewing, get his ball on for the Knicks.