Ann Meyers Drysdale (born Ann Elizabeth Meyers; March 26, 1955) is an American retired pro basketball player and a sportscaster. She was a standout player in high school, college, the Olympic Games, international tournaments, and at professional levels.
Meyers was the first player to be part of the U.S. national team while still in high school. She was the first woman signed to a four-year college athletic scholarship, at UCLA.[1] She was also the first woman to sign a contract with a National Basketball Association team, the 1979 Indiana Pacers, for $50,000.
Meyers was born on March 26, 1955, the sixth of Patricia and Bob Meyers' 11 children. Her father played guard for Marquette University, then for the Shooting Stars, a professional team in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. One of her brothers, Dave, was an All-American at UCLA and went on to play for the Milwaukee Bucks.[4]
Athletic accomplishments
High school
Meyers attended Cornelia Connelly High School and then later Sonora High School in La Habra, California, where she was able to engage in more competitive play. As an all-around athlete, she lettered in seven sports, including in softball, badminton, field hockey, tennis, and basketball.[5] She earned thirteen Most Valuable Player awards in high school sports. She led her basketball teams to an 80–5 record. In 1974, Meyers became the first high school student to play for the U.S. national team.[4]
College
Meyers was a four-year athletic scholarship player for the UCLA Bruins women's basketball team (1974–1978),[6] the first woman to be so honored at any university.[4] In a game against Stephen F. Austin on February 18, 1978, she recorded the first quadruple-double in NCAA Division I basketball history, with 20 points, 14 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 steals.[6][7] Since then, only four Division I players, three female and one male, have done so.[7] On March 25, 1978, her UCLA Bruins team was the AIAW national champion: UCLA defeated Maryland, 90–74 at Pauley Pavilion. While at UCLA (1976–1979), she became the first four-time All-American women's basketball player. She was the winner of the Honda Sports Award as outstanding women's college basketball player of the year, as well as the Broderick Cup for outstanding woman athlete of the year in 1978.[8][9] As of 2008, she still holds UCLA career records for season steals (125), career steals (403), and career blocked shots (101).[6]
Meyers was named to the team representing the US at the 1979 William Jones Cup competition in Taipei, Taiwan. The USA team won all six games en route to the gold medal.[11]
In 1979, Meyers made NBA history when she signed a $50,000 no-cut contract with NBA's Indiana Pacers.[4] She participated in three-day tryouts for the team, the first by any woman for the NBA, but eventually was not chosen for the final squad.[12] She became a color analyst for the team at a time when there were very few women in sportscasting.[13]
After her stint with the Pacers, Meyers finally joined the WBL and signed with the New Jersey Gems. Playing for the Gems, Meyers was the WPBL Co-MVP for the 1979–1980 season.[12] She wore jersey No.15 for the Gems.
Superstars
Meyers entered the inaugural Women Superstars competition in 1979, finishing fourth, but then went on to win the next three consecutive years: 1980, 1981, and 1982.[5]
Broadcasting career
Meyers has been the women's basketball analyst at the Summer Olympics since the NBC's coverage of the 2000 Sydney Olympics for NBC Sports. She was offered a job to broadcast the Chicago Bulls games in 1993, but she turned it down due to family considerations.[14]
She served as an analyst on ESPN's coverage of the WNBA and previously worked for NBC Sports full-time as its lead WNBA analyst from 1997 to 2002. Meyers also worked "Hoop-It-Up" telecasts in 1994 and 1995. Since 1983, she has served as an ESPN analyst for various events including both men's and women's NCAA basketball games.
She also worked as a color analyst for the Indiana Pacers making her the first woman to do game analysis for the team. In 2012, she joined the Phoenix Suns broadcast team as a color analyst.[15] On July 11, 2018, she announced her retirement from the Suns.
Meyers led the U.S. to a silver medal at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal as women's basketball made its Olympic debut, and returned eight years later as an announcer for ABC Sports at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. She has since covered a wide variety of sports for major networks in the U.S., including the 1986, 1990 and 1994 Goodwill Games, men's and women's college basketball, and NCAA softball and volleyball.
On November 1, 1986, she married former Los Angeles DodgerBaseball Hall of Fame pitcher Don Drysdale, and took the name Ann Meyers Drysdale. It was the first time that a married couple were members of their respective sports' Halls of Fame. They had three children: sons Don Jr. (DJ) and Darren, and daughter Drew.[17]
Meyers was widowed on July 3, 1993, when Drysdale died of a heart attack in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.[18]
Meyers is the sister of former NBA player Dave Meyers, who also played college basketball and was an All-American at UCLA, under coach John Wooden. He played four seasons for the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks.
She was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 1988 as the first woman inductee.
Her No.15 basketball jersey was one of the first four retired by UCLA. She was honored on February 3, 1990, in a ceremony in Pauley Pavilion, along with Denise Curry (#12), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (#33), and Bill Walton (#32). This was the key moment in the "Pauley at 25" celebration of twenty-five years of the arena. The primary criteria for being chosen was that all four players were three-time All-Americans.[6]
When she was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993, it was the first time where a married couple were members of their respective Halls of Fame.
In 1994, Meyers was the first woman ever to compete in the Celebrity Golf Association Championship.
On January 31, 1995, she attended a ceremony in the gym of her high school, Sonora High School, in La Habra, California, where her player jersey was officially retired, and hung in display[23]
In 2001, Meyers was honored as a Wooden All-Time All-American by the Wooden award.
She was a 2003 NCAA Silver Anniversary Awards recipient.[26][27] She joins William Naulls (1981), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1994), and Bill Walton (1999) as UCLA athletes who have been so honored on the 25th anniversary of a major athletic accomplishment.
In 2007, she was enshrined in the FIBA Hall of Fame as part of the inaugural class of 2007. She is 1 of 3 United States citizens, along with male player Bill Russell and coach Dean Smith so honored.
Ann has been involved with Special Olympics for more than 30 years and currently serves as a Sports Ambassador for Special Olympics Southern California.
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