Thirty years ago, I called the first WNBA game with Hannah Storm for NBC.
It wasn’t long after that I saw a little boy walking near the beach wearing a No. 11 New York Liberty jersey, for the now legendary Teresa Weatherspoon.
I’d called a lot of games before that, since 1978, including the Olympics. But we knew we had something special with that first WNBA game, a nearly packed house and all these players who were back from Europe to play in their own league.
The energy in the Great Western Forum that day was incredible for the very first Sparks and Liberty game. Fans came and they loved it. It was important to NBC’s Chairman Dick Ebersol that women call that first game. We also had Lisa Lax as our producer.
That game is now part of the WNBA’s history, and it was so terrific to see it commemorated last weekend with Lisa Leslie and Rebecca Lobo. This is still a young league, but look how far it has come. The NBA was still having taped-delayed playoff games 30 years in and look how far the WNBA has come in that same stretch.
Soaring attendance and ratings, and WNBA team valuations soaring higher and higher. Look at the game on Sunday, Nneka Ogwumike hits a 3 to give the Sparks a 98-97 win over the Liberty. There were more than 18,000 people there to see it this time. The players delivered.
It’s only going to get better. That first game 30 years ago was the start. I’m so proud to be a part of it.
