Maria Harper (Pizarro) is a Filipino-American former NCAA Division I basketball player and longtime high school coach whose passion, intense nature, and commitment to working with youth have served her well.
Best known now as the mother of up-and-coming NBA talent Dylan Harper and former NBA standout Ron Harper Jr., Maria has been the humble yet mighty force behind the careers of her children as well as the basketball scene in New Jersey as a whole. Her viral moment at the 2025 NBA Draft highlighted a career made of determination, coaching, and unquestionable commitment to both family and the sport.
Maria Harper Biography | |
|---|---|
| Real Name: | Maria Harper Pizarro |
| Birth Date: | 1970s |
| Age (as of 2025): | 50s |
| Birthplace: | Batan, Philippines |
| Height: | – |
| Husband: | Ron Harper |
Early Life
Maria Harper is probably in her 50s, was born in the Philippines, in Bataan, and emigrated to the United States with her family when she was seven years old. She was raised in Paterson, New Jersey, where she was first introduced to basketball during her fifth grade.
The sport soon became an inseparable part of her identity, and she developed a competitive nature during her childhood. Her hard work paid off as she was awarded a scholarship to the University of New Orleans, where she played Division I basketball between 1993 and 1996.
A defensive hard-knocks and workhorse, Maria had a playing style that matched her no-excuses attitude, and she had the admiration of both her colleagues and coaches. It was during those early years on the basketball court that she developed into the leader she would turn out to be.
Maria Harper Career
Maria Harper, after completing her playing career at the University of New Orleans, came to coaching naturally. She began in Chicago and eventually went back to New Jersey, where she coached the girls’ varsity team at DePaul Catholic High School to numerous conference and county championships and a state sectional championship.
Maria Harper was superb in her coaching, and the community recognized her talents by awarding her with the title of Coach of the Year. Maria would later join Don Bosco Prep in 2019 as an assistant coach with the boys’ varsity team, where she coached both her sons.
She was known as a hard-nosed, no-nonsense tough with a motherly sense of intuition, a woman who had earned the respect of athletes and peers alike. Maria Harper is also the founder of the Ring City Basketball AAU program, which initially targeted girls and later her sons. She trained Dylan Harper at the age of 8 until the time he finished high school, and she was one of the reasons he became a top recruit.
Maria walked on stage with her son when he was chosen second overall in the 2025 NBA Draft by the San Antonio Spurs. Her dignified appearance immediately went viral, and she was widely acclaimed as the emotional core of the situation. In the case of Maria, it was the culmination of decades of dedication to her family and the sport.
Personal Life
Maria has been married in the past to Ron Harper Sr., a five-time NBA champion who played with the Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers. The two got married in 2005 and have three children: Ron Harper Jr., Dylan Harper, and a younger daughter known as Mia.
They chose to be separated in 2012. Maria has been devoted to her family and coaching since the divorce. No publicly known details of any existing romantic affairs exist, and she seems to have opted to focus her attention on the development of her children and her basketball career.
Social Media
Maria Harper maintains a low-key internet profile under the name @coachmariastacknj with only 360 followers. She is not very active on large social media sites, such as Instagram or Twitter. Nonetheless, she became a viral sensation at the 2025 NBA Draft, unexpectedly as she was poised and stylishly dressed next to her son Dylan.
There were many fans and media who wrote about her, commenting on how graceful she was and how strong she looked in such a big moment. But Maria herself was not active publicly online during or after the event. Her name is still getting built up by word of mouth through her community and the legacy she is creating as a coach and through her children.
Maria Harper Net Worth
The precise net worth of Maria Harper is not published. Her sources of income can be attributed to education and athletics, where she is a high school and youth basketball coach, and the pay associated with these two fields is generally low. She does not crave money and popularity, and nothing is publicly known about the financial benefits related to the rising careers of her sons.