Women's Basketball Has Never Been Bigger. Ann Meyers Drysdale Is a Major Reason Why

In 1980, Ann Meyers Drysdale—who had already established herself as one of the best female basketball players on earth—made NBA history by briefly joining the Indiana Pacers, becoming the first and only woman to sign as a player in the Association.

It was the latest peak for a hooper whose career included earning the first Division I athletic scholarship for a woman in NCAA history, at UCLA; becoming the first player to be drafted into the WBPL (an early women’s professional basketball league in the United States); and being among the first women to be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Bill Russell might have said it best when he described her as “one of the best players ever…I said ‘ever.’”

She didn’t stop there. Eventually, Meyers Drysdale became the first woman to serve as a commentator for the Indiana Pacers. She has also served as vice president for the Phoenix Suns and general manager and VP for the same city’s Mercury, where she bagged three WNBA championships. Currently, she serves as a commentator for both teams.

Due in part to her pioneering efforts, today’s women are getting their due on courts across the nation. The 2023 NCAA Women’s National Championship—reaching 9.9 million viewers, the most in its history—is proof. With that monumental tournament in the rearview and the 2023 WNBA Draft completed, we called up Meyers Drysdale to talk about her groundbreaking career.

What was the media coverage like for women in sports during the 60s, 70s and early 80s—before the NCAA’s gender integration?

For a while, the only coverage was Wyomia Tyus [an Olympian track runner] and women in the Olympics. Billie Jean King really changed the landscape for all of us—women in general, not just sports, but business, everything. Title IX passed in 72. Billy Jean played in 74. The Women's Sports Foundation started around 1975. So many things were happening in those mid-70s: civil rights, women's rights, abortion rights. It was a time of change for so many things.

Were you able to get involved in any social movements at the time?

I was in high school in ‘72 when Title IX passed. I was in junior high in the ‘60s during the Vietnam War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Kennedy’s assassination. I had three older brothers, so the Vietnam War was very much on my mind. None of my brothers went though. My oldest brother had pins in his foot, so they wouldn’t take him. Another had a baby and was playing football at Cal, so they wouldn't take him. My other brother was transitioning from high school to college, he came the closest. He was 6'6" in high school. He had a high draft number and they told him to come in and we thought they would take him. But a doctor told him he’s too tall. So none of my brothers ended up going to Vietnam. And I was so involved in sports and so young in junior high at the time just trying to find myself.

It was such a momentous period in U.S. history, and your generation was able to directly impact and benefit from those shifts. How did Title IX shape your basketball career, and what does it mean for today’s young women hoopers?

My parents wouldn’t have been able to afford UCLA for me. My sister Patty missed [Title IX], so she ended up playing at Fullerton, which was much cheaper. I was the first woman [in U.S. history] to receive an NCAA scholarship. That was for UCLA. In the 70s, Title IX was a bill to increase equality, leading to quality pay, particularly for roles like teachers which had large numbers of women in the profession. But even 50-plus years later in the workforce, women still only make 82 cents to the dollar than a man makes, and women of color make 20 cents less than that. That’s kind of what Title IX was for—equal pay and equal opportunities. Imagine a pie. The money in sports, before Title IX, was a pie which half was men’s football and half was men’s basketball. Those sports brought in the money. They would then distribute that to other men’s teams—soccer, water polo, volleyball, sports that didn’t bring in as much money. 

Title IX is the calling card for women in sports but it wasn’t intended to be that. Even young women today don’t know what Title IX is, even though it’s a law that also helps to prevent sexual harassment and abuse that goes on campuses. Now, the NIL has changed things completely. Corporations can hire [student athletes] to represent their companies and social media makes influencers now. Haley and Hanna Cavinder—the media just usually refers to them as “twins”—they’re at Miami, and they’re making millions. Why would you ever leave college? Caitlin Clark being in the Midwest, there are commercials regionally and nationally about her. Coaches and players are getting commercials now, that used to be against the rules. The horse has left the barn. The students are now making the money and they don’t have to give the NCAA anything. 

You were the first overall draft pick in the first major professional women’s basketball league. Tell us about your experience with the WBL.

There were talks in women's basketball at the time that a pro league was coming, but it would change your status for the Olympics. Nowadays, if you want to go pro in the WNBA, you can still play in the Olympics. Back then, though, you had to stay amateur. 1976 was the first time for women in basketball at the Olympics. By ‘78 I was a senior at UCLA and the No.1 draft pick [for the Houston Angels]. Wow, I mean, an opportunity to turn pro? I’m also playing track and volleyball at that time, I’d even won a title in ‘75 and ‘78 in track. But I’m the No. 1 pick in the WBL, and I still had to finish a few quarters to get my degree, and I wanted to stay amateur to be in the Olympics. I’m the captain of the ‘79 PanAm team and win the World Championships in Korea. We’re playing in different USA competitions. I’m still in school and go to Russia for a series of games. And when I’m back I have a call for the Indiana Pacers to try out for the NBA. I’m like, who is this? It was Sam Nassi, the then-new owner of the Pacers.

You’re the first and only woman in history to get a call from an NBA team to try out. How did that transpire?

Around the time the Pacers called, I was training for the University Games and wanted to be on the 1980 Olympics team. It was a dilemma. I had been playing basketball my whole life. I get up there and thought I had made my decision to play, but around that time, President Jimmy Carter was thinking of boycotting the Olympics. He had not made his decision yet. The NBA felt like an opportunity for me. So I decided to leave the USA team, and about a week later, Carter made the decision to boycott. I was heartbroken for all the Olympians who had been training. As an amateur athlete in this country, it’s hard to sustain that level of training for multiple Olympics. That’s when I signed a personal service contract with the Indiana Pacers [at age 24]. My brother, Mark, was a personal injury attorney and he oversaw the process. Bob Leonard was the coach at the time and came out from Indianapolis to try to talk me out of it. He thought it was embarrassing to have a girl on the team. He was old school and felt like it was a circus. 

I had no clue. I had been playing against guys and my brothers in the offseason my whole life, what’s the big deal? When my older brother, David, was at UCLA as a senior and I was a freshman, the articles written about us were all positive—how we were a pair of All-American siblings. We’d play pick up at the [Pauley] Pavilion. [David Meyers would eventually get drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks with the No. 2 overall pick.] But I had no idea what a press conference was. When I finally decided I was going to sign with Indiana, my brother, Mark, initially wanted a two-year contract, but we signed a one-year deal worth $50,000. At that time, as a female woman coming out of college, where else would I make that money? The minimum salary in the NBA was $145,000. So they were trying to make $50,000 sound like it’s breaking the bank, but I was being underpaid. Perfect example of inequity.

So what happened from there?

I forfeited my amateur status. Two days of tryouts. I had been playing against men my whole life. It was more pressure for them than it was for me. If you made a shot, it’s like, “A girl beat you.” If they blocked my shot it’s like, “Oh, it’s just a girl.” But the media was very attacking, very negative. Saying things like “You're too slow,” “What are you doing?” “You’re going to get hurt.” I was taken aback by how much I was attacked. I never turned on TV or read the newspaper, magazines, or listened to the radio. 

Looking back on it, do you feel like the Indiana Pacers gave you a fair chance, or did it seem like a publicity stunt?

You’d have to ask Sam Nassi, though he’s no longer alive now. My brother, David, was playing for the Bucks by then, so I knew a lot of NBA guys, but it was like, should I actually do this? Was it publicity on their part? I’m sure that was a part of it. That was the first year of the 3-point shot in the NBA, too. I was undrafted, signed as a free agent. As an athlete I’m thinking, I’m gonna play. But my brother Mark was thinking about the long-term thing: what if I don’t make it? Whether I made the team or not, I would be with them to do public relations and broadcasting. I had done a few UCLA games in ‘79 as a broadcaster and that was parlayed into my contract with the Pacers, so I did about a dozen games with them. I was young at the time, and I still wanted to play. I was still working out. I was with the Pacers for maybe two and a half months, and I just wanted to play. The WPL was going on, too. I loved my opportunity with the Pacers but I just wasn’t ready for all the PR and speaking. They released me from my contract, and I returned to the WPL [to play for the New Jersey Gems].

WNBA players deal with significantly more barriers than their NBA counterparts — often having to play overseas. The recent imprisonment of Brittney Griner might be the clearest example of that inequity. How was that for you, as a member of the Phoenix Mercury, and how is she doing?

We wanted to bring her back. Every broadcast we talked about her. Brittney had been playing in Russia and China for a while; it wasn’t her first year playing overseas. She’s not the only one; Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi—they also played in Russia. Lots of players go overseas—Turkey, France, Monte Negro. They’re often getting their citizenship in other places, too. You can only have two U.S. players on most international rosters so they get their citizenship to play in those leagues sometimes. Brittney, in particular, had been playing USA basketball at the time and was going back to Russia to make good money for a few games. I don’t know the full details, but I know it was a great opportunity for her. And she got caught with, you know, something that, in this country, would be nothing. It’s difficult listening to people around the country talk about her: how she’s gay, how she doesn’t respect this country and the flag. I was stunned. She’s one of the kindest, sweetest human beings I’ve known, and she’s a two-time Olympian who represents and plays for this country. When all this came out about Brittney, some people were saying to just leave her there, good riddance. It was sad. Brittney and her wife are now working to help people who have been incarcerated in other countries, and she has a foundation to help homeless people in Phoenix. She does stuff on her own to help others. You gotta make a stand for people to notice. The WNBA has a history of players like her taking action. Just look at Maya Moore of the Minnesota Lynx [a league MVP who left the WNBA in order to pursue activism and helped to release a wrongly accused man from prison].

How does the issue of equal representation and pay translate into a professional setting like the WNBA?

The WNBA has a player’s union, which is strong and vocal. They take matters seriously. Look at Black Lives Matter in WNBA, that was huge. You also had figures like Megan Rapinoe in soccer speaking out, but you need continued support. The WNBA is a four-month league and the players are very recognized. The majority of them are involved with NBA players and they know each other now. Having that support is huge. We need people in the men’s world to be supportive. Fathers raising daughters, husbands supporting wives. That’s all important towards a larger attitude change in our society. That women can play sports and be the breadwinner and have a family also. I think that’s very important. The fact that the WNBA—yes, the salaries are not the same as the NBA—but 27 years in, the WNBA is much farther ahead than where the NBA was 27 years in. Players have paid maternity leave now. They’re working on trying to get charter flights. There are positive things that women have done on behalf of women. In the early days of the WNBA there was no union. Those players were just excited to be playing in the U.S. And remember, the WNBA is not the first women’s league. The WBL, or WPBL as some say, [Women's Professional Basketball League] was in 78. I was the first pick. It was short lived but it was a starting point for the WNBA.

There is no WMLB, WNFL, or WNHL. Yet we have the WNBA—a revolutionary, outspoken league. What is it about basketball that feels so egalitarian, so equalizing?

Basketball, as well as soccer, are just so international. With basketball, it doesn’t matter who you are, you can play it anywhere by yourself. That’s an advantage. You can just roll up a ball of tape and use a trash can, there’s your basketball game. Baseball and football, you need teams, equipment. But basketball is pure imagination. The imagination with basketball to create different scenarios in your head: You’re down one, you’re being guarded by someone, you need to make free throws to win it. That’s all in your head. You can interact with that. Or you can go play pick up outside, “girl” or boy. If you need another player you can get a kid or a 40-year-old. It’s an interaction of different entities. It also gives you — especially as a fan but even as a player — an emotional high and emotional low so quickly like no other sport. It’s not just fast paced, but things [emotionally] change very quickly in basketball. You can score a basket and you’re up two. Then a team inbounds and jacks up a prayer and you lose. In football, baseball, soccer? You can’t have that. There is time in between everything. Longer pauses. You don’t really have that in basketball. The stakes are so high and can change so instantly. Just a simple tip-in can alter a game’s outcome. I think people love that.