Becky Hammon coached the WNBA's Las Vegas Aces to their first ever title - (WNBA photo)

Bill Russell is seen here in the green uniform guarding Wilt Chamberlain. They had some of the NBA's most classic battles. Russell sadly passed away Sunday at the age of 88 - (US Library of Congress image) ALL TIME NBA 1st TEAM - BREAKING IT DOWN

SPORTS NOTES - WNBA's LAS VEGAS ACES WILD

James Loving/National Radio Text Service

Becky Hammon coached the WNBA's Las Vegas Aces to their first ever title. Since she was undrafted out of college by a pro club she went on to have an eight year WNBA career. In her quest for best she became the NBA's first ever female assistant and head coach. Following the Aces success it was shocking to find that their General Manger was Natalie Williams. For more…. Read on… - NBA's ALL TIME BEST PLAYERS 1st and 2nd TEAMS

Thursday October 6, 2022

HOW WILD IS THIS?

In their world of firsts many things stand out. The WNBA's Las Vegas Aces won their first ever WNBA title with their first year coach Becky Hammon. Hammon's road to success was a result of perseverance; as she was undrafted and went on to have an eight year WNBA career.

Hammon is full of firsts. The 45-year-old Hammon became the first female assistant NBA coach with the San Antonio Spurs under Greg Popovich. When Pop was kicked out of a game she became the NBA's first female head coach.

Hammon has also earned the respect of many NBA players throughout the league. One of basketball's most prolific scorers, Pau Gasol wrote an open letter about female coaches with an emphasis on Hammon; he said, "I've played with some of the best players of this generation … and I've played under two of the sharpest minds in the history of sports, in Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich. And I'm telling you: Becky Hammon can coach. I'm not saying she can coach pretty well. I'm not saying she can coach enough to get by. I'm not saying she can coach almost at the level of the NBA's male coaches. I'm saying: Becky Hammon can coach NBA basketball. Period."

Hammon was honored as the 2022 coach of the year becoming the first former WNBA player to win the award in her debut season.

One of the attributes of coaching is how to utilize your talent. As a result of her decision making on how to maximize the team's talents several players won WNBA honors. A'ja Wilson was the MVP, Defensive Player of the Year and a first-team All-WNBA performer, along with Aces guard Kelsey Plum. Aces guard Jackie Young was Most Improved Player of the Year.

What shocked me was former UCLA athletic standout Natalie Williams became the team's general manager. Here's why it shocked me.

UCLA was our assigned school to cover for an account of mine Sports Page USA. The assignment complimented another one of our accounts, the NCAA show College Sports USA.

I would venture to say that in the four years that she attended the school I interviewed her every year since she was a four-year letter-winner in both basketball and volleyball, and is the first woman to earn All-America honors in both basketball and volleyball in the same year. She also led UCLA to NCAA volleyball titles in 1990 and 1991.

The last time I interviewed her was when she became a pro basketball player for the Portland Power.

Her career highlights include:

4× WNBA All-Star (1999-2001, 2003)

3× All-WNBA First Team (1999-2001)

2× All-ABL First Team (1997, 1998)

ABL MVP (1998)

Pac-10 Player of the Year (1994)

3× First-team All-Pac-10 (1992-1994)

Women's Basketball Hall of Fame

Medals

Women's basketball Representing United States

Olympic Games Gold medal - first place 2000 Sydney Team competition

World Cup

Gold medal - first place 1998 Germany Team competition

Gold medal - first place 2002 China Team competition

Jones Cup Gold medal - first place 1996 Team competition

It's weird… I've often wondered what happened to her. Somehow I feel proud in watching her grow up. It's as if she was my daughter. The problem is she now 51 and I'm holding the line at 29. GO ACES…

NATIONAL RADIO PUBLISHED IN 5 LANGUAGES

National Radio text is published in five languages, Thai, French, Russian, Khmer (Cambodian language) and English, Any of our foreign language material and our Roman Wanderaugh columns is legally available ONLY on our National Radio site. Our sports, entertainment and feature programming has been broadcast on over 1000 radio stations