Summer Reading Recommendation: You Let Some GIRL Beat You? by Ann Meyers Drysdale

If you are casting about for a good summer read, you may want to check out You Let Some GIRL Beat You?  The Story of Ann Meyers Drysdale

 

Meyers Drysdale grew up in a family of 11 children where playing sports and competing were as essential a part of life as breathing air.  With an uncommon talent and high aspirations, she was sought out by coaches at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), where she became one of the first women to receive an athletic scholarship from a Division I institution in the years just after the passage of Title IX.

 

In an athletics program overflowing with accomplishments in the 1970s (the UCLA men’s basketball team was in the midst of their run which would eventually lead to 10 straight NCAA men’s basketball championships), it would be Meyers Drysdale alone who was named a four-time All-American, the only UCLA athlete, female or male, to be so recognized.  Legendary coach John Wooden, who coached Meyers Drysdale’s brother on the men’s team, became her mentor as well.  Together they formed an enduring bond.  Her term of affection for the great coach is “papa”.

 

A key figure in challenging many of the stereotypes that had long limited women’s opportunities in sport, Meyers Drysdale defied convention upon graduating from UCLA when she accepted a $150,000 free agent contract with the NBA’s Indiana Pacers. While the contract did not lead to a roster spot for Meyers Drysdale and was itself controversial at the time, she helped lay the foundation for women to play professional basketball in the United States.

 

In her new book, she writes about her upbringing, her life with L.A. Dodger and Hall of Famer Don Dyrsdale, her career as a sportscaster , and her current role as a vice-president in the NBA, working for the Phoenix Suns and champion WNBA franchise, the Phoenix Mercury.

 

If you are looking for an inspiring read that offers insight into how to face challenge and adversity, this might be the thing you’re looking for.

 

Kindest regards – Ellen
Ellen J. Staurowsky, Ed.D., Professor, Department of Sport Management, Drexel University