Among the women’s inductees at this year’s Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony was an entire team – the trailblazing USA Basketball women’s Olympic team from the 1996 Games in Atlanta.
Of course, that team laid the groundwork for today’s WNBA. It also began a streak of consecutive gold medals won by national teams that continues to this day.
That team included Teresa Edwards, Venus Lacy, Dawn Staley, Lisa Leslie, Sheryl Swoopes, Ruthie Bolton, Carla McGhee, Rebecca Lobo, Katy Steding, Katrina McClain and Jennifer Azzi.
Nikki McCray-Penson, who passed away three years ago, was also part of that national team.
Even though she may not have been present, McCray-Penson was certainly present in spirit. Her son, Thomas Nixon-Penson represented his late mother.
The coaching staff of that team also took to the stage – that included Marianne Washington, Ceal Barry and head coach Tara VanDerveer. The late Nancy Darsch was also remembered and her niece, Sara, was in Springfield in Nancy’s honor.
Edwards spoke first and mentioned that, at first, there was not much of an idea as to what the women of that team were getting into but recollected how things gradually progressed to where they got to in Atlanta.
Let me tell you something. This is the greatest team I’ve ever played on. I will put us up against anyone.
–Teresa Edwards, USA Basketball 1996 Women’s National Team
Edwards was inducted individually in 2011.
Of course, committing to wear a uniform with the letters U, S and A on it is not something that merely begins and ends with an Olympics or a FIBA World Cup. It took a long-term commitment from every player on that team as well as every coach on the staff – particularly the head coach.
It was very demanding, but they have 30-year friendships. And it’s really special.
–Tara VanDerveer, USA Basketball 1996 Women’s National Team head coach
Swoopes was already inducted in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame back in 2016 individually. She recalled that one of the elements to that team that made it special was representing her country on its own soil.
The preliminaries of that 1996 Olympic tournament were held at Morehouse College while the knockout stages occurred at the old Georgia Dome.
Playing in Atlanta, that’s the one I really remember because it was my first. But the crowds were amazing. We fed off of the energy. We were just so excited to have an opportunity represent our country. And to put women’s basketball on the map. I think, so many times, when you think about the WNBA, people refer to this ’96 Olympic team and what we were able to do. So, the fact that we see huge crowds watching the W today is, I don’t think, a surprise to any of us because we had big crowds that came out and watched us play there.
–Sheryl Swoopes, USA Basketball 1996 Women’s National Team
The crowning achievement of that team was, of course, the gold medal game in early August of 1996 when Team USA defeated Brazil by a final score of 111-87. Leslie led the Stars and Stripes with 29 points and six rebounds. Edwards also dished out 10 assists in that contest.
Leslie remembers a story leading up to those Olympics of when the team was in Russia and it was trailing at the half by 30. She remembered Coach VanDerveer mentioning that the team should not be overwhelmed at the score and should simply chip away.
Team USA would chip away – en route to a victory.
Moments in the trenches when you’re down with your teammates and you look at each other and you decide you’re not going to lose. That game always stuck in my head and my heart because I knew with these women we were not going to be denied playing in front of the USA with 35,000 fans chanting ‘USA.’ We wanted to hear our national anthem when that game ended.
–Lisa Leslie, USA Basketball 1996 Women’s National Team
Lobo was then asked what made the 1996 team special. One thing that stuck out was how the 1996 team trained for an entire year in the build-up to the Atlanta Olympics.
We’d be on the road about three weeks and then we’d get a couple days at home with our family then we’d be on the road for three weeks. And we went all over the U.S. and played against college teams. We went all over the world – Siberia in February (of 1996). We were in China, we were in Australia and this group just really came together and bonded.
–Rebecca Lobo, USA Basketball 1996 Women’s National Team
Anything that shows itself on the court is, of course, a byproduct of what happens in practice. At times, a team’s toughest competition can be itself.
Staley – who was a 2013 inductee – was asked if the practices for Atlanta 1996 may have been tougher than any of the contests that took place at the Olympics.
Those practices were, indeed, competitive as Staley recalled – even in terms of scorekeeping and officiating. But she looks at them from a perspective of how the team persevered through those, at times, tumultuous moments and how it led to a WNBA that is celebrating its 30th season.
It was some of the most incredible experiences, friendships, competition…It made us mentally tough to handle anything that any of our careers were challenged by. That experience alone 30 years ago, I still remember it to this day.
–Dawn Staley, USA Basketball 1996 Women’s National Team
To close their portion of the Hall of Fame ceremony, Leslie had more words of gratitude for VanDerveer and that her making those on the team compete against each other at times enabled them to be an even tougher squad.
We lifted weights every single day and … if you didn’t play a certain number of minutes, you had to … get on the treadmill and you had to do your treadmill and StairMaster for 20 minutes. So, what she built in us was a way to be able to survive. We are competitors, we are amazing businesswomen because of our experience with Tara VanDerveer and our USA Women’s Basketball coaching staff.
–Lisa Leslie, USA Basketball 1996 Women’s National Team
…People don’t understand how important sisterhood is and how great coaching is because I can also tell you when you have a great coach, you realize when you don’t.
–Lisa Leslie, USA Basketball 1996 Women’s National Team
