You Let Some Girl Beat You?: The Story of Ann Meyers Drysdale

252 Pages·2012·3.38 MB·English

by  Ann Meyers Drysdale

Biography & Autobiography | Sports
You Let Some GIRL Beat You?
BY ANN MEYERS DRYSDALE WITH JONI RAVENNA y
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ANN MEYERS DRYSDALE is still the only woman ever to sign a no cut contract with the NBA. l
TIME Magazine recently called her one of “The Top Ten Female Sports Pioneers of All Time.” The e
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first 4-time All American ever, man or woman; Ann won a silver medal in the ‘76 Olympics before s
bringing UCLA women their one and only Championship. The only woman ever invited to o
compete in ABC’s Men’s Superstars, today Ann is the only female VP on the operation side of the m
NBA and an award-wining broadcaster who has worked for over thirty years with nearly every e
major television network G
But her meteoric rise wasn’t without controversy. The press skewered her ‘79 NBA Pacers bid, I
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while  the first Professional Women’s Basketball League accused her of “shamming herself” and
slighting her sisters. Ann simply wanted to play basketball. And she wanted to play with the best. L

The first girl to play in an all-boy after school sports program, Ann later tried out for the boys’ b
high school basketball team while parents screamed, “You’re letting some girl beat you?” and e
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classmates questioned her sexuality; but Ann refused to be held down. From becoming the
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first female to get a full athletic scholarship to a Division I school, to her historic NBA bid, Ann’s
memoirs never let up, yet her athletic career is only half the story. She would endure the loss y
of a brother and a sister, and the untimely death of the only man she ever loved, Dodger great, o
Don Drysdale, leaving her with three young children to raise. Still, through it all, she continued u
to break ground. ?
Ann Meyers Drysdale
A
Ann Meyers Drysdale remains active in basketball and golf, and can be N
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seen participating in Celebrity Golf tournaments for charity and doing

commentary for the major networks. Ms. Meyers Drysdale is VP of the M
WNBA Phoenix Mercury and NBA Phoenix Suns. E
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www.annmeyersdrysdale.com E
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Joni Ravenna S

D
Joni Ravenna is an award-winning playwright and an accomplished R
journalist and TV writer. She has interviewed such athletes and icons as Y
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Sugar Ray Leonard, Jim Brown, Elgin Baylor, Lindsay Davenport, Sean D
Connery, Sean Astin and Brad Pitt, to name a few. Of them all, she says A
she finds Ann Meyers Drysdale to be the most inspiring. Ravenna lives L
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in Southern California with her husband, Attorney Mitchell Sussman and
their two daughters.
Personal journeys with social relevance
www.behlerpublications.com
Cover design: www.pearcreative.ca
Advance Praise for Ann Meyers Drysdale

“A stunning portrayal of one of today’s legendary women’s
basketball treasures. Ann Meyers Drysdale provides a candid
look at the courage, faith, and determination that it takes to be a
champion on the court and in life.”
~ Alana M. Glass, Esq., Forbes.com SportsMoney Contributor

“A fascinating and inspiring story, and so relevant today! Many
of the obstacles Ann Meyers Drysdale overcame decades ago are
still alive and well and her courageous story can help us all to
triumph.”
~ Vera Tweed, Newsmax Contributor

“Annie was one of the greatest players ever. I didn’t say male or
female, I said ever.”
~ Bill Russell, Celtics great

“Ann always stayed one step ahead of the competition in terms
of preparation. It made her strong on the courts and it’s what
makes her so strong as an executive today.”
~ Julius Erving

“She was the only woman to sign a no-cut contract with the
NBA. She was mad good and she had so much heart, that it
didn’t matter what size she was.”
~ Jamaal Wilkes

“She’s a legend.”
~ Robin Roberts, host Good Morning America

“She’s a modern-day Babe Didrikson Zaharias.”
~ Jim Brown, Hall of Fame running back

To my sons, DJ (Don Jr.) and Darren,
and my daughter, Drew,
Who Inspire Me Every Day

In Loving Memory of My Love,
my late husband, Don Drysdale

To my Mom, Pat Meyers,
and all my siblings and relatives
who have ALWAYS
been there for me.

The Story of Ann Meeyers Drysdale

by
AAnn Meyers Drrysdale

With
Joni Ravennna

Foreeword by Juliuus Erving

California
USA
Behler Publications
California

You Let Some GIRL Beat You?: The Story of Ann Meyers Drysdale
A Behler Publications Book

Copyright © 2012 by Ann Meyers Drysdale

Cover design by Yvonne Parks - www.pearcreative.ca.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or
by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any
information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher,
except where permitted by law.

Some of the names have been changed and some conversations have been condensed in
order to retain the flow of the narrative.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Meyers Drysdale, Ann.
You let some GIRL beat you? : the story of Ann Meyers Drysdale / Ann Meyers
Drysdale with Joni Ravenna ; foreword by Julius Erving.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-933016-78-8 (pbk.) -- ISBN 1-933016-78-7 (paperback) 1. Meyers
Drysdale, Ann. 2. Basketball players--United States--Biography. 3. Women basketball
players--United States--Biography. I. Ravenna, Joni. II. Title.
GV884.M48A3 2012
796.323092--dc23
[B]
2012008330

FIRST PRINTING

ISBN 13: 9781933016-78-8
e-book ISBN 9781933016-87-0

Published by Behler Publications, LLC
Lake Forest, California
www.behlerpublications.com

Manufactured in the United States of America
Table of Contents

Foreword by Julius Erving

1. A Woman in A Man’s World, 1
2. Chasing What I Loved, 16
3. The Man Who Was Not Intimidated, 24
4. Let The Race Begin, 31
5. You Let Some GIRL Beat You?, 38
6. Learning to Harness the Fire Within, 47
7. UCLA & That Old Nemesis: Change, 58
8. The Olympics – A Dream Come True, 66
9. “Precious Medals”, 78
10. The Championship, At Last, 86
11. A League of Our Own, 94
12. The Right Strategy Equals Success, 114
13. Burning Up the Courts Like Lava, 120
14. Waiting It Out, 129
15. Gal’s Got Game, 143
16. My Big Broadcasting Break, 153
17. Goodwill Toward All, 162
18. Juggling It All – Life With Don and Our Children, 167
19. Any Other: Loss, 178
20. Fly Me to the Moon, 189
21. Moving On, 196
22. A Single Mother, 208
23. The Road to the Boardroom is Through the
Locker Room, 217
24. Where We Go From Here, 228

Acknowledgments, 234

Awards/Halls of Fame, 232

FOREWORD BY JULIUS ERVING

Annie and I met at the Dewars Sport Celebrity Classic at the
Riviera Hotel in the 70s, where we were both asked to compete. I had
followed her career at UCLA, and of course, I was also familiar her
brother, David Meyers, because he’d been playing in the NBA for the
Milwaukee Bucks.
I knew Annie had come from this amazing family of athletes,
but there was something about her that drew both me and my wife at
the time, Turquoise, to her. She was a sweetheart, but there was also
this fire that burned in her.
Annie had grown up one of eleven kids, and I imagine she did
what she could to earn her parents’ attention the way I once collected
coke bottles in the projects just so I could have some pocket change.
That weekend in the 70s at the Dewars charity event, Turq and I
both adopted Annie as our own, but for different reasons. Turq
wanted to get her into makeup and purses. She took Annie out
shopping, hoping to ‘girlie’ her up. But Annie wanted to hang out
with me to play ball . . . any kind of ball—softball, basketball and
tennis.
Playing pickup basketball with the guys, I’d always want Annie
on my team because I knew that she had the I.Q., the physical talent,
and the drive to win.
When you play pick-up basketball, if you want to stay on the
court you have to win game after game after game. Sometimes one
wrong play means the difference between winning and losing, but
with Annie, there was very little losing.
When I was growing up in the projects, there were two girls
who I played regularly with up through 8th grade; Debra Chow and
Juanita Hayden, so I was unfazed by playing hoops with girls. Either
you could play or you couldn’t. I expected Annie to get knocked
down and to get back up. I also expected her to set picks, hit her
shots, and to be able to drive to the basket and take the contact. The
only time I became a little bit protective was when we had some of