Skeptics called it a $50,000 publicity stunt. Chauvinists jeered that women belonged in the home, not on the basketball court. Feminists cheered. And sports fans everywhere tuned in as Ann Meyers, 24, attended a preseason rookie camp for the Indiana Pacers in September, 1979.
When Meyers, a UCLA basketball star, signed a one-year $50,000 contract with the Pacers Sept. 5 of that year, she became the first-and only-woman to be signed by a National Basketball Association team. Her contract was a standard one, guaranteeing her a bonus if she made the team.
The 5-foot-9-inch Meyers and eight other hopefuls underwent a strenuous three-day tryout, but Meyers was cut from the roster Sept. 12. As she herself admitted, she was slower than the other players. She worked briefly as a radio commentator for the team, then signed a three-year contract with the now-defunct Women`s Basketball League.
Nine years after her celebrated tryout, Meyers, 33, remains as low-key as she was in 1979.
”I feel lucky and very grateful,” said Meyers, who in April was the first woman inducted into the UCLA Hall of Fame. ”I was given the chance of a lifetime that most men don`t get.”
But she is doubtful that the NBA will extend the offer to a woman again.
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”There`s so many variables involved-the owners, the coaches, the city itself,” she said. ”I don`t know if a team would be willing to take a chance with a woman.”
The NBA game is a very physical game, said Alex Sachare, director of information for the NBA in New York. ”Not to say that women can`t handle it,” he said, ”but with all the men out there, it would be awful tough for a woman to play with the NBA.”
The ideal female NBA player would be 6 feet tall or taller, fast and have a shrewd ”backcourt mentality,” Meyers said. She also would be able to handle men`s rougher blocking and guarding tactics. In addition, she would be able to deal with sitting on the bench occasionally and serving as a full-time role model and media celebrity.
Meyers, who played seven sports in high school and was a four-year All-American for UCLA, remains active in sports. Besides working as a freelance TV commentator, she holds workshops at basketball camps for boys and girls.
She also enjoys an occasional game of golf with husband Don Drysdale, a Hall-of-Fame pitcher and broadcaster for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The couple live in Rancho Mirage, Calif. They have a son, Donald Jr., 13 months.