Ann Meyers Drysdale became the first player chosen in the Women’s Professional Basketball League in 1978 but elected to retain her amateur status so she could be eligible for the 1980 Olympics.
But one year later, she decided an opportunity to try out for the NBA’s Indiana Pacers was too attractive to pass up.
Although she was cut after six practices, she became a television analyst for the Pacers before signing with the WBL, earning co-Most Valuable Player honors and extending a life in basketball that included front-office work and her induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993.
“Failure is not fatal, success is not final,” Meyers Drysdale told students Tuesday at a packed Colangelo College of Business lobby as part of the T.W. Lewis Speaker Series. “It’s courage that counts.
“We all fail every day, whether it’s sports, whether it’s the classroom, or relationships or thoughts. Success isn’t final, either. You got the next day. Something else is going to happen for you to try again. You have to have the courage to go on.”
Meyers Drysdale, one of 11 children who often competed against her older brothers at playgrounds and against NBA players in summer games at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion, admitted it was a tough decision to pass up the Olympics. But the tryout with the Pacers was “an opportunity of a lifetime.”
“And I believed in myself. You have to believe in yourself in what you’re going to do. Whether you’re qualified or not, you have to believe you’re qualified.”
Throughout her 70-minute talk, moderated by Sports Business and Entertainment Chair Neda Barrie, Meyers Drysdale often compared the different mindsets of men and women in various sports. In golf, for instance, where men can face razzing from their groups for shanking a shot, women don’t want to be embarrassed.
“You have to have that attitude, whether it’s on the athletic field or business or relationships, you have to make it work,” Meyers Drysdale said. “You have to communicate. You have to want it.
“Even if you’re not qualified, go for it. Why not? Going into that interview, ‘I didn’t get the job, but now I know what I have to do. I have to prepare in a different way.’ You can’t give up. That’s what’s great about sports. We get beat all the time. We fail all the time. There’s another game to be played.”
In 2012, she authored “You Let Some Girl Beat You.”
“A phrase that still holds true today,” said Meyers Drysdale, who planned to play on the boys’ varsity high school basketball team entering her senior year but backed off when she sensed reservations from her male counterparts.
Then-Pacers owner Sam Nassi offered her the chance to try out for the Pacers, but coach Bobby “Slick” Leonard flew to California to talk her out of it. Meyers Drysdale credited her faith in her family, including her brother David, who already completed four seasons in the NBA, to accept the tryout and prove this was not a publicity stunt.
After two practices, Leonard used “salty language” after noticing the other players were playing tentatively. Meyers appreciated Leonard’s message, which relaxed the players.
Leonard told the 5-foot-9 Meyers Drysdale that she was better than half the players from a fundamentals standpoint but that she was getting cut. Before the tryouts, she signed a $50,000 personal services contract that assured her of a job with the organization had she not made the team. She felt hurt, although she transitioned to announcing until the opportunity to play in the WBL resurfaced.
She never received her full payment after leaving the Pacers, and the folding of the WBL cost her the balance of the three-year, $130,000 contract she signed in November 1979. Nevertheless, she resumed her broadcasting career before becoming an executive with the NBA's Suns and Women's National Basketball Association's Mercury.
While at UCLA, Meyers Drysdale absorbed three rules by legendary men’s basketball coach John Wooden.
- Be on time.
- Don’t be critical of your teammates.
- Don’t curse. “That’s a hard one today,” said Meyers Drysdale, adding that she hears foul language in business meetings involving men that is accepted.
“But when Coach Wooden says no cursing, it was a matter of keeping your emotions in check. When you’re cursing or upset, you lose control of making rational decisions.”
Meyers Drysdale graduated from UCLA with a degree in sociology, but classes in sports broadcasting paid off short term and long term.
ESPN started in 1979, and Meyers performed television work for the network as well as for Southern California-based Prime Ticket, where she announced men’s basketball, volleyball and softball games.
At the same time, she continued her athletic pursuits by participating and winning three of the four Women Superstars competitions. National Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Don Drysdale announced the event with Bob Uecker in 1980 and struck up a friendly conversation with Meyers. That led to a courtship, marriage in 1986 and three children – boys DJ (Don Jr.) and Darren and daughter Drew. DJ earned his MBA at GCU and works as a commercial risk advisor in Texas.
“I’m very proud of all three,” said Meyers Drysdale, whose husband passed away in 1993. “They played sports and enjoyed it through high school. It is always up to them.
“You make your own choices.”
Madison Schiffer, a sports management major, appreciated Meyers Drysdale citing her faith in getting through difficult times and how she elaborated during a question-and-answer session with students.
“Hearing the actual application in her life stood out,” Schiffer said.
Miranda Firari, a sports management major, could relate to Meyers’ experience playing with boys since she played baseball with boys with dreams of playing for the Milwaukee Brewers until high school.
“Honestly, her resiliency,” Firari said.
GCU News senior writer Mark Gonzales can be reached at [email protected]
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