Ann Meyers Drysdale wins honor
INDIANAPOLIS — Women’s basketball trailblazer Ann Meyers Drysdale has been named the 2024 Kobe & Gigi Advocacy Award winner, the WNBA announced Sunday.
The Kobe & Gigi Advocacy Award debuted in 2022, honoring the late Hall of Fame basketball player Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gigi, who died in 2020. Bryant was a strong advocate for girls and women’s basketball throughout his life, and Gigi was a budding basketball player.
“Annie has been a force inspiring young girls on and off the court – something she, Gianna and Kobe shared and cared about deeply. I’m happy Annie is receiving this award in Kobe and Gianna’s memory – she is so deserving,” Vanessa Bryant, Kobe Bryant’s wife and chair of the Mamba and Mambacita Sports Foundation, said in a release.
The award aims to honor someone in the basketball space for their continued advocacy for girls and women’s basketball around the country. Meyers Drysdale is the first woman to win the award — Chris Paul received the honor in 2021, while Pau Gasol won in 2022.
“Having been around the WNBA since its inception, I am truly humbled to accept the 2024 Kobe & Gigi Bryant WNBA Advocacy Award and to be viewed as an advocate for girls and women in sports,” Meyers Drysdale said in a statement. “I first met Kobe when his dad was coaching the Los Angeles Sparks, and I was on the Sparks’ broadcast team. I knew then how much passion Kobe had for the game of basketball and how that devotion ran in the family. It was a full-circle moment for me when Kobe led his daughters to the sport, and we all saw the support he gave to girls and women in the game.”
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Meyers Drysdale has long broken barriers as a woman in the basketball space, and the Indiana Pacers were in the middle of the action. She was the first woman to receive an athletic scholarship in 1974, attending UCLA as a member of the basketball, volleyball, and track & field teams.
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She was a basketball All-American each of her four years on the Bruins and was drafted by the Houston Angels, a Women’s Professional Basketball League team, in 1978, but decided not to join the team to keep her amateur status for Olympic and world competition. From 1975-79, she won three gold and three silver medals with the U.S. National Team.
She was the first woman in NBA history to sign an NBA contract, inking a deal with the Indiana Pacers for $50,000 in 1979. She was not chosen for the team after a three-day tryout, but that opportunity parlayed into one for color commentating — she became the first woman to broadcast an NBA game.
“Annie Meyers Drysdale is a pioneer who has had a profound impact on our game and influenced generations of athletes,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a statement. “She has worked tirelessly to elevate girls and women’s basketball during her decorated career as a player, executive and broadcaster. Presenting this advocacy award to such an inspiring leader is a wonderful way to honor the legacy of Kobe and Gigi Bryant, especially as we recognize the 45th year anniversary of Annie being the first woman to sign an NBA contract.”
Meyers Drysdale has been around the WNBA since it was founded in 1997, whether in a broadcasting or front office role. She was the general manager of the Phoenix Mercury from 2007-11, leading the franchise to two championships in ‘07 and ‘09. Since then, she’s been a longtime vice president for both the Mercury and the Phoenix Suns, winning another championship with the Mercury in 2014. Still today, she is a color commentator for Phoenix Suns and Mercury broadcasts.
The legendary player, broadcaster, and executive has two women’s college basketball awards named after her — the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award is awarded to the best shooting guard in the nation, and the USBWA named its national player of the year award after her, as well.
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