Inside the WNBA’s inaugural game, 25 seasons later

Editor’s be aware: This story was initially revealed in 2016, for the twentieth anniversary of the WNBA’s inaugural sport, which was performed on June 21, 1997. The Los Angeles Sparks host the New York Liberty on Sunday (4 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN App) because the WNBA celebrates the anniversary of the league’s opening sport throughout this twenty fifth anniversary season.

Penny Toler grew up in Washington D.C., began faculty basketball in San Diego, transferred and have become a star at Lengthy Seashore State, after which went abroad to have an expert basketball profession. This was the late Nineteen Eighties, and no matter dream she had then of competing professionally in america was solely that. A dream.

So image how emotional it was for her in June 1997 to be in Inglewood, California, driving to the Nice Western Discussion board — longtime residence of the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers — and seeing … herself. A really massive model of herself, the truth is.

She had been instructed by then-Lakers proprietor Jerry Buss to anticipate a shock, however she by no means guessed it could be this. 5 large banners had been hanging on the aspect of the world, that includes gamers for the brand new WNBA group, the Los Angeles Sparks, additionally owned then by Buss. Toler was on one of many banners.

“Are you able to think about?” she mentioned, smiling on the reminiscence. “I used to be an older participant — had already carried out eight years abroad — and coming again to all this. I felt like a rock star, and hadn’t even performed a sport but.”

However shortly after, when she did take the ground for the Sparks, Toler would put herself within the historical past books. She scored the primary basket within the first WNBA sport — New York at Los Angeles — on June 21, 1997.

Within the second, the magnitude of these two factors didn’t actually register along with her. She was simply glad that after some nervous journeys down the courtroom by each groups, the ball had lastly gone within the basket. It was a baseline jumper off a move from Jamila Wideman. The type of shot Toler had hit extra instances than she may depend on courts throughout the globe.

However this one was extraordinarily vital. She would play three seasons within the WNBA, then turn out to be the group’s common supervisor, a place she held till 2019. And he or she’ll all the time be linked to the beginning of the league.

“I might need solely slept two or three hours the night time earlier than, due to the thrill,” Toler mentioned. “I used to be simply hoping to not be drained at tipoff. However I believe my power got here on as a result of I knew one thing unimaginable was occurring proper now.”

Battle of the coasts

It made sense that the WNBA would launch the eight-team league by that includes its two largest markets. The Saturday afternoon sport was televised by NBC, and the president of the brand new league, Val Ackerman, tossed up a ceremonial bounce ball between Los Angeles’ Lisa Leslie and New York’s Kym Hampton.

Not every part went in accordance with plan. Jeffrey Osborne was speculated to sing the nationwide anthem, however he didn’t arrive on time.

“He was caught in site visitors,” Ackerman mentioned. “In order that created some chaos at the start. They’d to make use of a recording of the anthem.

“However one other factor I bear in mind is the followers being so excited and passionate. Some individuals had been even crying. And likewise, I do not forget that the gamers appeared very nervous. It was not a well-played sport. However we had a monster score for the sport, so clearly the promoting and promotion had gotten by way of, as a result of the viewership was very excessive.”

Ackerman after which fellow NBA govt Rick Welts had been available, as was Buss. Welts, now president/chief of operations for the Golden State Warriors, has vivid recollections of the primary WNBA sport, too.

“All of it was like one large introduction celebration for a brand-new league,” Welts mentioned. “It was hopefully an emblem of the change that was happening in our society because it pertains to the function of ladies and alternatives for them.”

Rebecca Lobo, a 1995 UConn grad and 1996 Olympic gold medalist who performed for the Liberty, had her personal revelation on the bus trip from the airport to the group’s lodge. She noticed a billboard alongside the freeway with an image of herself and Leslie, together with the “We Received Subsequent” slogan promoting the upcoming sport. Lobo considered what number of hundreds of individuals had been driving by that billboard.

Then, on the courtroom on the Nice Western Discussion board on sport day, Lobo flashed again to her recollections of rising up an NBA fan.

“I didn’t understand it on the time. However wanting again on it, it’s an honor I like to have. There can solely be one first basket.”

Penny Toler on hitting the historic first subject purpose in WNBA historical past

“All these video games I’d watched as a child, the Celtics-Lakers video games, it was in that constructing, on that courtroom,” mentioned Lobo, who completed the primary sport with 16 factors and 6 rebounds. “It was that very same type of ambiance by way of a variety of followers there, TV cameras proper there. It felt massive.

“The sport itself I bear in mind us successful, which was necessary. However there was simply a lot round it that’s even an even bigger reminiscence to me than a number of the issues that occurred on the courtroom.”

Just one first

Lobo’s Liberty teammate Teresa Weatherspoon was practically eight years older than her, and like Toler had performed a very long time abroad earlier than the WNBA launched.

“We had been scared to dying. That’s simply being trustworthy,” mentioned Weatherspoon, who had 10 assists within the opener. “The night time earlier than the sport, we had been all speaking about how afraid we had been. Not afraid to play the sport, however we needed to do nicely as a result of it was televised.

“I bear in mind being on the bus [going to the game], and all of us had been taking a look at one another like, ‘It’s time.’ It was actually right here for us to have the ability to carry out in America, and we’re beginning out in L.A. What a spot to start out: East Coast, West Coast. East Coast wins.”

“We had been scared to dying. That’s simply being trustworthy. The night time earlier than the sport, we had been all speaking about how afraid we had been. Not afraid to play the sport, however we needed to do nicely as a result of it was televised.”

Teresa Weatherspoon on enjoying within the first WNBA sport

Certainly, the truth that the Liberty received 67-57 was foremost on Toler’s thoughts when the sport ended. She was disenchanted to launch the Sparks’ franchise with a loss, particularly at residence, the place 14,284 followers had attended. Amongst them had been director/actress Penny Marshall and Lakers legend Magic Johnson, who’s now a part of the group that owns the Sparks.

Leslie had 16 factors, on 6-of-17 taking pictures, and 14 rebounds. New York shot 43.3 % from the sector, and the Sparks a dismal 30.9. The groups mixed for 44 turnovers. As everybody concerned readily acknowledges, it showcased neither group at its finest. However all issues thought-about, nobody ought to have anticipated it could.

The underside line, although: The WNBA was off the bottom. The ABL, the ladies’s professional league that will final simply two full years, had completed its first season earlier in 1997. Now it was the WNBA’s flip, and it was the league that will final.

When reporters started asking Toler about scoring the primary basket, and she or he had to consider it for a second. Actually? I did that?

She later requested teammate Daedra Charles, who had missed an earlier shot, if she had realized its potential significance.

“I mentioned to Daedra, ‘Have been you attempting to make the primary basket?’ She mentioned, ‘I positive was!’ ” Toler mentioned. “In order that’s my humorous reminiscence of the primary shot. I didn’t understand it on the time. However wanting again on it, it’s an honor I like to have. There can solely be one first basket.”