Greetings my peeps and welcome to the All Things Basketball Podcast with your boy GD.
In this episode this is my birthday special episode.
I'll be doing a play of spotlight on the great Am Meyers Drysdale so just sit back,
relax and enjoy the show.
Okay guys so we are back once again your boy GD with the All Things Basketball Podcast.
So this episode is going to be my special birthday episode.
I always do special birthday episode.
I did one last year.
I covered the late great Bob Lanier.
This year I wanted to do something a little different.
I was watching the WNBA.
I watched that weekend all the games that I was able to watch and I was able to catch
Brittany Griner's home game in Phoenix.
It was her first game back in Phoenix amongst the home crowd.
Of course they gave her love and she got love also when she played in LA on that Friday.
A lot of people came out for that.
But this was her home game so you know a lot of people in that building was happy to see
her back on the home court.
And this one particular person who has very close ties with the Phoenix Mercury.
In fact she's the color analyst for the Phoenix Mercury and her name is synonymous with women's
basketball.
We know her as Ann Myers but her name now is Ann Myers Drysdale.
So let's talk about her guys.
Ann Myers Drysdale.
She was born March 26, 1955 in San Diego, California.
She grew to be 5'9", 134 pounds.
She was a guard but she knows something.
She could play multiple positions.
She was that good.
And her full name at birth was Ann Elizabeth Myers.
Her parents were Bob Myers who played, he played guard in his day at the University of
Marquette and then as a pro he played in Milwaukee for a team called the Shooting Stars.
So not NBA but another pro league nonetheless.
And then her mother was Patricia.
Amongst her siblings 11 children guys.
So a lot of them took up athletics as well.
So Ann was number 6 amongst the 11 children.
It was 5 boys and 6 girls.
Her older brother Dave.
He was a former basketball player at UCLA.
In fact he was all American.
I'll give a little bit more of that later but he was a three time NCAA champ coached
by the legendary John Wooden.
And then later he would be drafted into the NBA and he would play professionally for the
Milwaukee Bucks.
And she had an older sister named Patty.
Patty was the oldest of the children.
And Patty, she was quite the athlete herself.
Former basketball player, volleyball, softball also.
She played at Fulton Junior College and then later at Cal State Fulton.
It was there where her 1970 team won the AIAW national championship.
This was a predecessor to the NCAA tournaments and those championships.
She also played AAU ball on the same team with Ann.
So Ann was younger of course and her older sister Patty was on the team.
She went on to coach at Pepperdine University as well.
And she coached there for seven seasons, compiling a 46 and 70 record and let her team to three
AIAW tournament appearances.
So Patty, someone that Ann really looked up to as well as her brother Dave of course.
She was the first star of the family if you will.
So Ann, growing up in such an ultra competitive household that prepared Ann for the success
she would later enjoy.
She started playing basketball at the tender age of four years old guys.
Talk about starting early.
Wow.
She even broke her ankle trying to keep up with her older brother Dave as they were
doing drills in the house and so forth.
She broke her ankle.
But nonetheless Ann persevered and we fast forward to her high school days.
Initially she attended Connolly High School in Anaheim, California but would move on to
Sonora High School and that was in La Habra, California.
And she went to that school because they felt that she was able to flourish better in a
more competitive environment which Sonora High School provided.
Ann was a seven letter player in sports like basketball, softball, field hockey, tennis,
badminton, track and field.
I mean she did everything but clean up the gym and did.
And while playing as a basketball player the team compiled an 80 and five record during
her playing days.
And she accumulated up to 13 MVPs in a variety of high school sports.
So talk about somebody covering the whole gamut and was able to do that.
She became the first high school student to play internationally for a U.S. national team
when she was named to the team while they were qualifying for the 1975 Feebo World Cup.
And then later this 1975 Pan Am Games.
So Ann went to UCLA on a full scholarship.
She's the first woman to do so.
And I actually have excerpt of why she chose UCLA.
And this is what was said.
This is Ann.
Ann didn't even sink in.
For me it was like you're kidding.
I can go and get an education at UCLA so I didn't really understand the impact that
it would have in years later.
I didn't understand the impact of what getting a scholarship would mean and what going to
UCLA would mean.
She was also asked in an interview why UCLA.
Kenny Washington was the woman's basketball coach at UCLA.
And my brother David and Kenny were roommates when they were playing at UCLA.
So it kind of fell into place.
So when David and Kenny came home one weekend Kenny said how'd you like to go to UCLA.
We'll give you a scholarship.
I was God smacked really.
I had no words for it to be a senior in high school and have no idea what you're going
to do.
And then to be able to go to such a university like that where my brother was was pretty awe-inspiring.
So needless to say Ann was excited about the opportunity.
So she goes to UCLA on the full scholarship for the four years.
And of course UCLA is the same college as her brother Dave attended.
She was coached by Kenny Washington as we said a former UCLA player who played with
her brother Dave.
After her freshman year she was named All-American and at the same time her brother Dave as a
senior was also named All-American.
So they became the first brother and sister combination to do this at UCLA.
And then this feat wasn't duplicated at UCLA until just this past season where Jaime Jocquez
Jr. and his sister Gabrielle were both named All-Americans.
Him for basketball and her for basketball as well.
And would go on to have a Stella playing career at UCLA.
She would be later coached by Billy Moore.
Her last two seasons in fact.
And in her senior year is when Ann would reach the pinnacle.
UCLA ends up winning the AIAW championship in her senior season and they won it over
Maryland 90 to 74.
And on that team with her was Denise Curry another All-American in her right.
Also in Ann's senior year she was the first player male or female to record a quadruple
double.
It was in a game on February 18th 1978 and she did it against Stephen F. Austin University.
This was a stat line guys.
20 points 14 rebounds 10 assists and 10 steals.
Wow.
Talk about coming up big time.
And it just that.
She finished her career at UCLA with a 17.4 point average.
Also 8.4 rebounds 5.6 assists and 4.2 steals.
And upon graduation and held 12 of the 13 major school career records.
And quite the player I must say.
Internationally starting with the 1975 she played the Pan Ann games.
Also she played in 1975 the Feeble World Cup.
Then she would go on to play for the 1976 Olympic qualifying team in that tournament.
And then later she would play in the 1976 Olympics.
And that was the first well let me hold off on that.
Then she would go on in 1977.
She played in the World University games.
Then in 1979 she would go on to play for the Pan Ann games.
She played in that the Feeble World Cup in 1979.
Also the Sparta Cade.
She played in that also.
And in the R. Williams Jones Cup.
So in total and accumulated four gold medals and three silver medals.
So pretty awesome stuff.
And of course it includes the first women's US team to play in the Olympics ever.
And that was in 1976.
In fact that team is going to be honored at the Naysmith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
this September because the entire team was inducted.
And that team was coached by actually Ann's college coach Billy Moore.
And on that team was Lucy Harris.
I did a player spotlight on her last year.
Also Nancy Lieberman was on that team.
Patricia Roberts, Cindy Brogdon and a host of others.
Including Pat Head who we would know later as Pat Summit.
The great coach of Tennessee.
And Ann was a starter on this team.
So pretty prolific stuff guys that's for sure.
Okay so with Ann's career done at UCLA she was still competing internationally.
She was the first woman player to be drafted by a pro team in the women's professional
basketball league which was known as the WBL at the time.
She was drafted by the Houston Angels in 1978 but she never played for that team because
at the time if you signed a pro contract that means you could not compete in international
play.
So Ann knew that so she held off on competing as far as in that pro league.
So that's when she go on to those several tournaments in 1979.
And she did play in the league it was in 1979-80 season which was a rookie season.
She ended up being named Co-MVP along with Molly Bolin.
And she actually played for the New Jersey gyms at the time.
Now Ann was able to compete in the WBL that season that I mentioned because in preparing
for the 1980 Olympics in the midst of that she got a call from Indiana Pacers owner at
the time Sam Nassie who offered her a contract and a chance to try out for the Indiana Pacers.
The owner at the time felt with the three point shot being introduced to the NBA that
she would be a perfect fit for the team as far as three point shooting goes.
But in order for Ann to accept signing the contract which was $50,000 at the time she'd
have to give up her amateur eligibility which meant she would be missing the 1980 Olympics.
Ann thought about it she sought the council family and helping her make this all important
decision and her family gave their full-throated support and guidance to her.
Of course you had your naysayers, those that expressed their dismay with her doing this.
One of those people being the Indiana Pacers head coach at the time Slick Leonard who wasn't
thrilled at all that his new owner put him in that position where he had to try out Ann
for the team.
And also the media at the time thought it was all a publicity stunt by the Indiana Pacers.
So you had your naysayers there.
And this would not be of course the first time that Ann has had to compete with boys
or men as she did so while playing in high school.
She was on the boys summer league and this was between her junior and senior year in
high school and she had a real chance to make it to the boys varsity team.
But much like this instance here you had your naysayers and those that kind of tried to
talk her out of doing so.
And they were successful with that and that I think kind of prepared her for this moment.
And then also Ann would later compete against men and female athletes across all sports
in a TV series called the superstars but she did this after this tryout by the way.
She did it from 1980 through 1983.
She was a three time women's champ in this series and there were times also where she
had to compete against men including Ronaldo, Nehemiah, the track star, also another track
star Edwin Moses, basketball great Rick Barry and also in this competition were men like
Mark Spitz the famous swimmer also OJ Simpson.
We know him from football, Joe Frazier the boxer of course legendary boxer and Mark
Astinall of New York Jets fame in football.
So she would be competing amongst those athletes there as well as female athletes like Nancy
Lieberman her teammate on that 1976 Olympic team as well as Lynette Woodard another basketball
great in many of a female athletes across the spectrum of sports.
But let's double back to the tryout.
So Ann went about this tryout like she does everything else in competition given her
very all she was preparing herself physically mentally and psychologically.
She did six to eight hours of workouts each day leading up to the tryouts and the tryouts
consisted of three days with them having to do two a days which meant two practices in
a day and these tryouts occurred in September of 1979.
So Ann understood the assignment and she did very well in these tryouts so much so it
impressed the coach slick Leonard although in the final analysis she didn't make the
roster she did impress all who witnessed those tryouts including coach Leonard who said he
was proud of what she was able to do during these tryouts.
So Ann Myers she makes her mark in NBA history and sports history with this tryout and the
tryout actually did open a new door for Ann the world of sports broadcasting.
What happened was her brother Mark who was an attorney at the time negotiated her contract
with the Indiana Pacers and he made it into a personal service contract which means that
if she didn't make the team she would still be part of the organization in other capacities
such as public relations and also broadcasting.
This would open a huge door for Ann she would then become the first female color commentator
in the NBA and this was also around the time ESPN first launched their channel as the first
all sports network so her coming into the broadcasting business coincided with ESPN's
birth so Ann would go on to a illustrious broadcasting career one that spans over four
decades including covering the NBA the Indiana Pacers of course we know of and most recently
the Phoenix Suns she did color commentary for them from 2012 to 2018.
The WNBA she was the lead analyst when the league first began and she did that from 1997
to 2002 and most recently she now does color commentary for the Phoenix Mercury.
Also she would be an announcer during the 1984 Olympics also for ESPN she would work
there doing both men's and women's NCAA basketball and she's been with them since 1983.
She also did the Goodwill games she did in 1986 1990 and 1994 she's also done NCAA women's
softball and also volleyball and now to her obtaining the surname Drysdale Ann met her
future husband Don Drysdale. Don Drysdale the former LA Dodger and Hall of Fame pitcher
they met while Ann was competing in the superstar series the ABC series and that was during
1980 they started out as friends and then it later blossomed into a full-fledged relationship
and then the two would marry November 1st 1986 thus becoming the first Hall of Fame couple
in their given sport to marry and once again making history of course with her marriage
and the marriage was only for over six and a half years Don unfortunately passed away
July 3rd 1993 from a heart attack and that occurred in Montreal Canada and he was age
56 and actually that occurred 20 days before his birthday they had three children together
Don Jr Darren and daughter Drew who was born in March of 1993 just months before Don's
passing and Myers Drysdale she has an autobiography I love the title of it you let some girl beat
you the story of and Myers Drysdale and that came out on May 15th 2012 she was the author
and co-author of the book was Johnny Ravina and the forward was written by Julius Irving
so Julius Irving had a high amount of respect for and Myers and her game so guys that is
and Myers career in a nutshell let us talk about her accolades shall we four time Kodak
all American at UCLA she won the Honda Sports Award and that was given to the most outstanding
woman's college basketball player and that was in 1978 also in 1978 she got the broader
recovery for most outstanding woman athlete in collegiate sports so she was inducted into
the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame in 1985 she was inducted into the UCLA
Athletics Hall of Fame as the first woman to do so and that was in 1988 her number 15
Jersey retired along with teammate Denise Curry as well as UCLA men's basketball greats
Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Bill Walton and this happened in 1990 the criteria for getting
your jersey retired you have to have been a three time all American she was inducted
into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993 she is the first woman to compete
in the Celebrity Golf Association Championship that was in 1994 her player Jersey was retired
at her alma mater Sonora High School in 1995 she was inducted into the National High School
Hall of Fame in 1995 as well she was presented with the Mel Greenberg Media Award and this
is given by the women's college basketball association and this occurred in 1999 and
this award goes to a member of the media who has best displayed a commitment to women's
basketball and to advancing the role of the media in the women's game so she got that
award most recently who received that award Holly Roll from ESPN and was also inducted
as a charter member into the women's basketball Hall of Fame also in 1999 she was named as
a wooden all time all American by the wooden award in conjunction with the LA Athletic
Club and this was in 2001 and so fittingly so because she spent a lot of time with John
Wooden John Wooden being have coached her brother so and had access to John Wooden was
able to get those pearls of wisdom from him so and also received a NCAA Silver Anniversary
Award on the 25th anniversary of her UCLA team winning their national championship joining
William Norris Karima Dujabar and Bill Walton as the only UCLA athletes to receive this
prestigious award and was also inducted into inaugural class of the FIBA Hall of Fame as
one of three recipients who were US citizens the other two being coach Dean Smith of course
the University of North Carolina and Bill Russell when he played for the University
of San Francisco and was a sports ambassador for the Special Olympics the Southern California
Division and she did that for over 30 years she's been involved in that organization and
also she is a board member of the Lot Impact Trophy and this is given to college footballs
defensive impact player of the year and this award is named after pro great Ronnie Lott
so who says UCLA doesn't get along with USC so they did in this regard so that is her accolades
that's all her accolades there a couple of quotes that I have from her and then I'm going to close
it out this is Ann talking about the WNBA of which she's been such a part of that what I say about
the WNBA the passion not only that the fans have for the teams but the players in playing the game
you'll find watching them play that you'll get caught up and appreciate the passion they have
for their work so that's Ann talking about the league that she covers and that is the WNBA this
is regarding her tryout we'll give you that quote and then we'll close it out it was the best decision
I have ever made in my life when I was in high school I played on the boys summer league team
between my junior and senior year in high school which I mentioned earlier I had planned on playing
on the boys varsity team during the regular school season but a lot of things were said
when you're in high school emotions are changing and you're physically changing so you care about
what people say so even though I had played on the summer league team as much as I wanted to play
on the boys varsity team I let people talk me out of it after UCLA all of a sudden I get a call from
the Indiana Pacers Sam Nassie who's the new owner and lives in California he said how would you like
a tryout my brother Dave was already playing for the Bucks and I looked back five years before that
and said well people talk me out of it one time I'm not going to let them talk me out of it a
second time I thought it was an opportunity of a lifetime it was not an easy decision for me but
once I made the decision I thought I'm just going to put everything into it I know physically
mentally and emotionally it was the best I was ever prepared to play the game of basketball
I probably worked out six to eight hours a day just trying to train for this one opportunity
certainly publicity was involved and I don't deny that but I was never one that went out and
started and then well I'll read this last one and this is about her getting a fair shot in that
tryout with the Pacers it was difficult for a slick Leonard who was the coach because he came from
a generation where women were in the home raising a family and not out on the basketball court with
a bunch of guys I'm sure he was put in a very difficult position but I was 24 years old and
focused on me and nothing else and trying to do the best that I could did I get a fair shake I would
have liked to have gone on to the next round of the free agent rookie camp I went through the three
day process we have two practices a day so we had six practices and then I was basically let go even
though it was a personal service contract where I was working for the organization when slick told me
hey you did great we love that you came out here but we're going to move on I was not happy I was
hurt I was broken I thought I had played well enough to go on to the next level but it opened so
many doors and gave me the opportunity to meet Don and my life changed so that pretty much tells
the story there and like I said that opened up an opportunity for her to meet her future husband
when she went on to compete in the superstar series so all right with that said that is it
so and my is drive they'll we salute you we thank you for all of you done for the game of basketball
especially women's basketball I first started watching college basketball any of the big games
especially on ESPN that was the voice I heard and she knew what she was talking about she was
very well versed in the game and I definitely appreciated my time watching women's basketball
with her doing the color commentary that's for sure and much like today you have now Rebecca Lobo
who's fantastic in the booth think of her I think uh Sarah Kustaf she does next game but she also
covers some WNBA as well and there's others as well that I can name but and my set the standard
when it comes to women doing color commentary in the booth for basketball so and my stride stale
we salute you we appreciate you all that you've given to the game and so on and so forth and may
you continue to do so and be a bright light on the women's game of basketball as you always have
done with that thousand watt smile that you have as well we appreciate you all right guys so that's
going to do it for me this is my birthday special edition episode guys you know where to find me
all things basketball with gd.com I'm on all the platforms so on so forth youtube all those places
so all right guys and you can support me through anchor buy me a coffee all that's on my website so
go there guys all right so that's it for me I'll come back conference finals are wrapping up just
about so I'll give you a full breakdown of that I still have to break down the next season I'll do
that as well and few news items that's out there that has to be addressed I'll jump on those as well
all right guys that's it all right so I thank you once again for listening and we'll talk soon
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