Ann Meyers

Ann Meyers Drysdale (born Ann Elizabeth Meyers; March 26, 1955) is an American retired pro basketball player and a sportscaster.

She was a standout player in high school, college, the Olympic Games, international tournaments, and at professional levels.

Meyers was the first player to be part of the U.S. national team while still in high school.

She was the first woman signed to a four-year college athletic scholarship, at UCLA.

Meyers was born on March 26, 1955, the sixth of Patricia and Bob Meyers' 11 children.

Her father played guard for Marquette University, then for the Shooting Stars, a professional team in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

One of her brothers, Dave, was an All-American at UCLA and went on to play for the Milwaukee Bucks.

Meyers attended Cornelia Connelly High School and then later Sonora High School in La Habra, California, where she was able to engage in more competitive play.

As an all-around athlete, she lettered in seven sports, including in softball, badminton, field hockey, tennis, and basketball.

She earned thirteen Most Valuable Player awards in high school sports.

She led her basketball teams to an 80–5 record.

This was the first time since 1957 that the United States won a World Championship title.

In 1974, Meyers became the first high school student to play for the U.S. national team.

Meyers was a four-year athletic scholarship player for the UCLA Bruins women's basketball team (1974–1978), the first woman to be so honored at any university.

Meyers was a member of the US team that won the 1975 Pan American Games Gold medal.

While at UCLA (1976–1979), she became the first four-time All-American women's basketball player.

She played on the US Olympic basketball team that won a silver medal in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.

That team was led by Billie Moore, her own coach at UCLA.

In a game against Stephen F. Austin on February 18, 1978, she recorded the first quadruple-double in NCAA Division I basketball history, with 20 points, 14 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 steals.

Since then, only four Division I players, three female and one male, have done so.

On March 25, 1978, her UCLA Bruins team was the AIAW national champion: UCLA defeated Maryland, 90–74 at Pauley Pavilion.

She was the winner of the Honda Sports Award as outstanding women's college basketball player of the year, as well as the Broderick Cup for outstanding woman athlete of the year in 1978.

In July 1978, Meyers was selected first overall by the Houston Angels in the inaugural Women's Professional Basketball League draft.

She was also the first woman to sign a contract with a National Basketball Association team, the 1979 Indiana Pacers, for $50,000.

Meyers was president and general manager for the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury and a vice president for the NBA's Phoenix Suns.

She is a vice president for the Phoenix Mercury and a color analyst for the Phoenix Suns television broadcasts.

For over 26 years, she served as a network television sports analyst for TNT, ESPN, CBS, and NBC.

Meyers is a board member for the Lott IMPACT Trophy, which is named after Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive back Ronnie Lott, and is given annually to college football's Defensive IMPACT Player of the Year.

She was on the 1979 US team that won the 1979 FIBA World Championship for Women Gold medal.

She also won silver medals at the 1979 Pan American Games and 1977 World University Games.

Meyers was named to the team representing the US at the 1979 William Jones Cup competition in Taipei, Taiwan.

The USA team won all six games en route to the gold medal.

In 1979, Meyers made NBA history when she signed a $50,000 no-cut contract with NBA's Indiana Pacers.

She participated in three-day tryouts for the team, the first by any woman for the NBA, but eventually was not chosen for the final squad.

She became a color analyst for the team at a time when there were very few women in sportscasting.

She decided against signing with the Angels to keep her amateur status and be eligible for the 1980 Olympics.

In 1993, Meyers was one of the first women players inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, and in the inaugural class at the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999.

She was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2007 and into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.

As of 2008, she still holds UCLA career records for season steals (125), career steals (403), and career blocked shots (101).

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