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Ann Meyers Drysdale’s legacy: A basketball trailblazer driven by competition – The Athletic
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Ann Meyers Drysdale still remembers making her way to Hinkle Fieldhouse at Butler University. The car consisted of Drysdale and three male basketball players.
This wasn’t an ordinary car ride. Drysdale felt intimidated. This was new territory for the young American.
The Indiana Pacers were holding three-day tryouts to fill roster spots. Drysdale made history simply with her presence, as she was the first woman chosen to participate in tryouts for an NBA team. In 1979, she signed a $50,000, no-cut contract (an agreement that allows for opportunities within the organization for a specified period of time) with the Pacers — another first for a woman.
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Drysdale believed she belonged, that she could make the team. When the Pacers informed Drysdale she didn’t make the final roster, she was upset.
As she reminisces more than 40 years later about what happened, Drysdale isn’t one to gloat about accomplishments. She doesn’t like the attention. Drysdale does, however, recognize her place in women’s basketball. She was the first player to make the U.S. national team while still in high school. She was a gold medalist at the 1975 Pan American Games and the 1979 FIBA World Championship, and she helped Team USA win silver at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Drysdale attended UCLA and became the first American woman with a four-year athletic scholarship.
Off the court, Drysdale is an accomplished broadcaster, calling the WNBA, NBA and Olympics as a color analyst. She served as the general manager of the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury before becoming vice president, a role she still holds.
The success of today’s mainstays in American women’s basketball — Dawn Staley, Sue Bird, Breanna Stewart, Diana Taurasi, A’ja Wilson — was made possible by the pioneers who came before them. Chief among those trailblazers is Drysdale.
“Doors opened for a reason for me,” Drysdale said. “I’ve been in the right place at the right time.”
Drysdale grew up in a sports family. Her father, Bob, was a shooting guard at Marquette before playing professionally for the Milwaukee Shooting Stars, an independent team from the 1940s. Sports was the language that bonded Bob, his wife, Patricia, and their 11 children.
Drysdale was the sixth child born into the family, often going to her siblings’ sports competitions and sitting around the TV to watch the Olympics. She recalls watching track and field champions Wilma Rudolph and Wyomia Tyus, and reading a book in fourth grade on multi-sport athlete Babe Didrikson Zaharias. Drysdale’s dream was to become an Olympian like them.
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“Those were the first days of TV and showing the Olympics,” Drysdale said. “The only women who really were shown as athletes were the Olympians.”
While attending Sonora High School in La Habra, Calif., Drysdale was a standout athlete. Success followed her in softball, badminton, field hockey, tennis and track and field, in addition to basketball. She won 13 MVP awards in high school for various sports.
“My parents supported their daughters and sons playing sports,” Drysdale said. “With that support system in such a large family, no matter what was happening at school or outside the family, I felt that it was OK to do sports.”
But Drysdale gravitated most toward basketball. She watched her brother Dave thrive on the court, both as an All-American at UCLA and eventually with the Milwaukee Bucks. Drysdale reveled in competition, and believed she could succeed in the sport too.
Drysdale played AAU women’s basketball as a 14-year-old. She also played on the boys’ varsity summer league team between her junior and senior year of high school. As someone used to playing against guys, AAU provided Drysdale an opportunity to compete against women. It helped her become the first woman to make the U.S. national team as a high school student.
Juliene Simpson played against Drysdale in AAU, and remembers Drysdale’s aggressiveness on the court. On defense, Simpson said Drysdale “always had your back.” She’d come up with steals, rebound the ball and take it down the floor. Offensively, Simpson marveled at Drysdale’s use of the backboard with her bank shot. It was what her brother did at UCLA.
“She only knew one speed,” Simpson said. “Beyond being determined, there was this passion and drive to want to be better. You saw the growth and how she became the most dominant player.”
The 1976 Montreal Games were the first Olympics to include women’s basketball. The path to getting the USA women’s basketball team to the Olympics was far from easy.
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To make the team, players had to compete in an Olympic trial event. Four regions — East, West, South and Midwest — held tryouts for the Olympic team. Drysdale participated in the West qualifier, which included more than 300 people in Sacramento, Calif. Once the coaches made cuts down to 30, there was a final tryout in Warrensburg, Mo. Drysdale called the final tryout “competitive.”
Coaches cut the roster from 30 to 15 and three alternates, and Drysdale made her first Olympic team. The difficulty, however, didn’t stop there. For starters, the qualifying tournament took place in Hamilton, Ontario, two weeks before the Olympics. The team stayed in dorms at the University of Rochester. Players trained three times a day and stayed in a residence that was undergoing renovations.
After beating Bulgaria to qualify for the Olympics, the Americans endured more adverse conditions in Montreal. Their living quarters were cramped, with twelve players staying in one apartment. Drysdale didn’t let these challenges deter her. The adversity along the way was just part of the team’s journey to winning silver — the country’s first Olympic medal in women’s basketball.
Every player had an integral role to play. Coming from a large family helped Drysdale jell with teammates from different backgrounds. Off the court, Drysdale was quiet, not wanting to be the center of attention. But on the court, she was a vocal presence.
“She was chatty on the court,” said Gail Marquis, one of Drysdale’s teammates. “She was encouraging as we were trying to get our bonds together. She led by example.”
“I don’t think I’ve heard Annie talk negatively about anybody,” said Trish Roberts, another of Drysdale’s Olympic teammates. “All the accomplishments she’s had, she’s never looked down on people. She treats me now just as well as when we were teammates.”
Drysdale knows how to make challenging decisions. Her intense self-belief guided her during critical junctures.
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During the 1977-78 season, Drysdale posted career-high numbers as a senior at UCLA. She averaged 18.6 points, 9.6 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game and helped UCLA win the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) national title over Maryland — four seasons before the NCAA offered women’s championships.
And Drysdale put up quality numbers all while making her teammates look better.
Denise Curry, an Olympic gold medalist and Hall of Famer, was a freshman at UCLA during Drysdale’s senior year. Curry led the team in scoring with 20.3 points per game.
“She made me look good left and right,” Curry said. “She was our unquestioned leader. When somebody like that looks out for you and encourages you, it really means a lot.”
As the first four-time All-American in collegiate women’s basketball, Drysdale garnered attention in professional circles. In 1979, the Houston Angels selected Drysdale with the first pick in the inaugural Women’s Professional Basketball League (WBL) Draft. The opportunity to play pro basketball was a chance for Drysdale to follow in the footsteps of her older brother.
But Drysdale turned down the opportunity to play for the Angels. She wanted to remain an amateur to compete for Team USA.
While training for the 1979 World University Games, Drysdale received a call from the Pacers. She had trained for this opportunity her whole life. There was no way she’d turn down the offer.
“Am I supposed to say no?” Drysdale said.
By signing the contract, Drysdale couldn’t compete on the Olympic team. But Team USA never competed at the 1980 Olympics, due to a global boycott. Drysdale felt confident she made the right decision.
Bobby Leonard came out to California. The Pacers head coach tried talking Drysdale out of participating in the 1979 NBA rookie camp.
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Drysdale understood it was a difficult situation for Leonard and many people in the Pacers office. She remembers the term “girl” getting tossed around a lot.
“He (Leonard) played in the NBA at a time when women should be in the home,” Drysdale said. “‘What is our new owner doing trying to make a mockery out of us with a ‘girl’ trying out?’”
Drysdale believed in herself. She didn’t do this for the publicity. Someone gave her a chance to do something she loved, and she wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity.
In the first few rookie camp practices, Drysdale sensed an uneasiness among her male counterparts. She recognized it was a no-win situation for them. If they made a shot on Drysdale, “it’s only a girl,” she said. But if Drysdale beat the guys, they heard, “You let a girl beat you?”
Eventually, Pacers assistant coach Jack McCloskey called the team together. According to Drysdale, McCloskey said, “She’s looking to get a job just like all of you.” If the male players were “protecting and feeling sorry” for Drysdale, McCloskey said their chances of getting on the team decreased. This eased the tension of camp.
Drysdale was used to playing pickup games in playgrounds and gyms against guys. Being physical, setting screens, cutting to the basket, hitting the deck hard … it all wasn’t new to her. When male players came down for rebounds, Drysdale popped the ball out of their hands, ending potential fast breaks.
Listed at 5 foot 9, she was at a physical disadvantage compared to her male peers. But her basketball knowledge was sound. After practice, McCloskey commented that Drysdale knew more about game fundamentals than several of the male players trying out at camp.
“She played hard and never gave an inch,” said Pacers guard Johnny Davis, who played alongside Drysdale during that camp.
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After the sixth practice, Leonard called Drysdale into a classroom. She was sitting at a desk when he delivered the news.
“You were great, but we’re going to have to let you go,” Drysdale recalled Leonard telling her.
It wasn’t easy for Drysdale, who wanted to advance to the next stage of the tryouts. Yet, years later, Drysdale doesn’t see it as a failure. It was a decision that served as a launching pad for her post-basketball career.
“It opened up a whole new world for me,” she said.
Following her release from the Pacers, Drysdale was the WBL co-MVP with the New Jersey Gems during the 1979-80 season. Away from the court, she became the first woman to broadcast a men’s basketball game, providing color commentary for the Pacers.
Broadcasting those games propelled Drysdale to a prosperous career of calling several sports (men’s and women’s basketball, softball, tennis, volleyball and soccer) for various networks (ESPN, NBC, ABC and CBS). She’s worked alongside multiple high-profile broadcasters and has delivered commentary for several landmark sporting events, including the NCAA Tournament, the WNBA Finals and the Summer Olympics. One of her most memorable games was Game 2 of the 1999 WNBA Finals alongside Mike Breen, where the New York Liberty’s Teresa Weatherspoon hit “The Shot,” a 50-foot, buzzer-beating basket against the Houston Comets.
THE SHOT. 🙌
On this day in 1999, Teresa Weatherspoon heaved a 50-foot shot at the buzzer to win Game 2 of the #WNBA Finals!#CountIt pic.twitter.com/S56dq3nd5v
— WNBA (@WNBA) September 4, 2021
In the basketball executive boardroom, Drysdale ascended to general manager of the Phoenix Mercury from 2007 to 2011. Beyond the broadcasting and business success, Drysdale met her husband, Don, a Hall of Fame pitcher for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers. The couple had three kids before Don died of a heart attack in 1993.
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Drysdale remains with the Mercury as a vice president. She also is a color analyst for the Mercury and the NBA’s Phoenix Suns.
In August, the 1976 Team USA women’s Olympic basketball team was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame — a deserved recognition for a team that changed women’s sports.
Drysdale remains a focal point of that team. She stays connected to several of her teammates, including Curry, who asked Drysdale to be one of her presenters during her Hall of Fame induction.
Drysdale believes her competitiveness makes her an asset as an executive. She enjoys making decisions and the process of piecing together a team. While she may not always be right, Drysdale appreciates people in the boardroom who respect her opinion.
This year was a watershed moment for women’s basketball. The NCAA women’s championship game between LSU and Iowa saw almost 10 million people tune in. There was the WNBA Finals, where the Las Vegas Aces won their second straight title against the Liberty in a matchup of superteams.
The success of women’s basketball today and its future growth can be traced back to Drysdale. For everything she did on and off the court, prosperity seemed to follow.
Drysdale doesn’t look back and ask, “What if?” She remains the woman in that car en route to Hinkle Fieldhouse — someone who believes in herself as she does what she loves.
“I am where I am,” Drysdale said, “because I’m supposed to be.”
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(Illustration: John Bradford / The Athletic; photos: Barry Gossage and Steve Kagan / Getty Images)
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Lukas Weese is a Staff Editor of News at The Athletic. Before The Athletic, Lukas was a freelance sports journalist, working as an associate editor at Sportsnet, an OHL reporter for the Toronto Star and had bylines in outlets such as ESPN’s Andscape, USA Today, Complex, Yahoo Sports, GOLF Magazine, Just Women’s Sports and Raptors Republic. Lukas also does freelance play-by-play broadcasting. Follow Lukas on Twitter @Weesesports