Homegrown star who played for Inglewood (Calif.), USC, and the L.A. Sparks is immortalized with life-sized statue at Crypto.com Arena, where she helped her team win back-to-back WNBA titles.
LOS ANGELES — The WNBA has had several key pillars throughout its 30 year history, but few, if any, had an impact on the sport that could rival Lisa Leslie. The Los Angeles Sparks gave Leslie arguably the highest honor a franchise can bestow on one of its legends on Sunday, unveiling a statute at Star Plaza outside of Crypto.com Arena that forever immortalizes her iconic career.
From being named first-team All-WNBA as a rookie during the league’s inaugural 1997 season, to winning back to back titles with the Sparks in 2001 and 2002, to becoming the first woman to dunk in a WNBA game, Leslie was unquestionably the face of the league as it established itself in the American conscience. She’s the first Sparks player to ever be honored with a statue, joining Lakers legends Kareem Adbul-Jabbar, Elgin Baylor, Kobe Bryant, Chick Hearn, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Pat Riley and Jerry West in the Plaza.
Honoring A Legend
Leslie’s statue unveiling was a who’s who of basketball royalty, with Magic Johnson himself headlining a fleet of former Lakers that also included her former Sparks coach Michael Cooper, Byron Scott and James Worthy. Candace Parker and Chiney Ogwumike were among other notable Sparks icons in attendance. Johnson was one of a handful of friends and family in attendance who spoke before the audience, commemorating Leslie’s groundbreaking run in Los Angeles in a way that only Magic can.
View this post on Instagram
“The history making is what I’m really impressed with,” Johnson said. “First of all, the first woman to dunk. Then the first woman to score 3,000 points. But she said that’s not enough. I’ve got to get to 6,000 and be the first one to 6,000. She started the 6,000 club.
“Then, Coop was her coach, Coop pushed her. He said, ‘Lisa, you just really got to dominate and leave no doubt’. So she said, ‘I’m going to be the MVP of the season. I’m going to be the MVP of the All-Star Game, and in the same season, I’m going to be the MVP of the Finals. It’s great to know that she is so respected across the NBA, the WNBA, the city of Los Angeles, and across the country.”
From Coach To Player
Cooper, who coached Leslie from 1999-2004, told a story about how he nicknamed Leslie “Smooth” the first time he met her. Cooper and Leslie easily rank among the most iconic player-coach pairings in the WNBA’s first 30 years, as both served a vital role during the Sparks early 2000s peak.
“I gave her the nickname ‘Smooth’ when I first met her because her game was so smooth the way that she played,” Cooper said. “So, from now on you’ll be called ‘Smooth’. During the season I used to call her Lisa. She wouldn’t answer me. She’d turn away and look. I’d say, okay, ‘Smooth’, and she would answer me.
“So ‘Smooth’, it’s an honor to be here today to celebrate a true Los Angeles basketball legend and someone I’m proud to call a friend. I’ve been very fortunate to be part of some incredible moments in Los Angeles basketball. I’ve experienced the Showtime Lakers, championships, and the opportunity to coach some amazing men and women. But coaching the Los Angeles Sparks and watching ‘Smooth’ build her legacy was something truly special.”
A Transcendent Force
Leslie became such an iconic figure in WNBA history not only because of her incredible play on the court, but because of her transcendent style and the fact that she was unapologetically herself. Those qualities also pushed her popularity to a level that transcended the sport as a whole and allowed her to carve a substantial role in American pop culture. Those same qualities are also exemplified in her statue, which Leslie is affectionately calling “The First Lady”, one of the other prominent nicknames she earned in her career, as it stands alone in Sparks lore amongst Lakers icons. For now.
View this post on Instagram
“I wanted to make sure that this statue was a perfect blend of fearlessness and the competitor that I was and I am and I’ll always be,” Leslie said. “But also the blend of, I wore my ribbons. I had my nails polished, which y’all can’t see, but the girl got her polish on. Because I never wanted the boys or the men to think that I was a boy. I wanted to play hard like them, but I wanted them to know that I respected myself and that I was a lady. I wanted for little girls to see my ribbons when I played because I wanted them to be able to see themselves in me.
“The reason why I always wore ribbons is because I really admired the volleyball players. Remember, volleyball players wear ribbons. And they also wear short, what we call booty shorts now, but they wear short shorts. So I wanted to have my shorts shorter than most of my teammates, and everybody gave me a hard time because my shorts were so short. But I thought my legs were beautiful, so I wanted my stuff to be a little bit shorter and a little bit tighter and a little bit closer, you know. Because you’re growing any day. In a moment, you got to be a lady. So hence “The First Lady. That’s what I named her because I have an opportunity to be amongst legends here.”
Magnificent Beginnings
Leslie’s beginnings as a serious hooper were magnificent, but young girls players in the late 1980s didn’t much the glowing attention today’s elite players get, not even a girl as talented as the four-year standout at Morningside (Inglewood, Calif.), a high school that is now closed and houses students from Inglewood High School. In eighth grade, she played on a boys team because there was no girls team and it helped her to become a dominant high school player.
Young Lisa was getting recruiting letters in ninth-grade, could get over the rim and dunk in tenth-grade, and by eleventh grade was a certified star. In fact she played for Team USA at the FIBA Junior World Championship (now known as the FIBA 19U World Cup) and the 16-year old junior was the only high school player on the team made up of collegians. She still averaged 13.3 ppg and 11.7 rpg.
She became a legend and a household name as a senior for something she did NOT do, which was play the second half of a league high school game. It’s what she did in the first half that was legendary and that legend has only grown bigger as time passes. Leslie, against South Torrance scored 101 points in 16 minutes of play. Yes, 101 in the first half.
At the time, people were confused why there wasn’t a second half and it was controversial because it wasn’t played. That controversy somewhat overshadowed the accomplishment and today people can’t believe she did scored that many points without a second half. CLICK HERE to read more about this incredible story from February of 1990.
Leslie’s Breakthrough Moment
Here’s some crazy facts about the 101-point game that had Leslie traveling to appear on “Good Morning America” and the “Pat Sajack Show” the week after. There were no reporters or media at the Morningside home game. That’s because the game got moved from a Thursday to Wednesday because of a wrestling meet and no one asked head coach Frank Scott about it. Remember, this was before the Internet and cell phones.
Had someone asked coach Scott, he was have tipped the media off about the game switch and/or that Leslie attempt and trying to break the national record of 105 points Cheryl Miller scored for Poly (Riverside, Calif.) in 1982. It was known she was gunning for the record, but it wasn’t clear which game that was going to be at. The next day, she did 19 interviews with local and national media. In was the NEXT game that was a media circus, as Sports Illustrated was following Leslie and set up strobe lights to get quality shots of her for a feature in its weekly magazine. She even got a proclamation from the California State Senate. It was such a unique feat, but Scott said at the time he’d never led another star player do it.
It’s easy to forget with all the hoopla and controversy, that a player like Leslie only comes around once in a decade or generation.
The post Lisa Leslie Statue Unveiled at Crypto.com Arena appeared first on Ballislife.com.