THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 8, 1995 TAG: 9502080640
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
For Anne Donovan, Tuesday was a time for reveling in the past, basking in the present and hoping for the future.
The ex-Old Dominion University star, just the fifth women's player to be elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame, spent the day posing for pictures with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the six other members of the Class of '95.
She engaged in interview after interview, bouncing from print to television to, finally, a nationally syndicated radio program.
She talked about the two New Jersey state championships she won at Paramus Catholic High School. She described the two national championships she captured at ODU. She talked about her five-year professional career in Japan.
She talked about her hope for and involvement in what could be a more stable stab at a women's professional basketball league.
Donovan serves on the Board of Directors of USA Basketball, which oversees the U.S. women's Olympic team. Despite dogged resistance, Donovan has convinced the powers of that body to allow a women's Olympic ``Dream Team'' beginning next fall.
Ten players, fully salaried, will tour the U.S. and overseas for nearly one year, playing college teams here, Olympic-caliber teams overseas. Donovan says the NBA will keep a close watch on the project, and has expressed an interest in bankrolling a professional women's league.
The subject hasn't yet been addressed, but Donovan says she would love to be the league's first commissioner.
``I want to do something that will keep women's basketball growing,'' she said. ``I may be finished playing, but I'm not finished with the sport. There's a lot going on right now, a lot more to do. But it's coming.''
Some of Donovan's family drove to New York from their home in Ridgewood, N.J. They provided her with one of the program's loudest ovations when she was brought to the microphone to express her reaction to her latest achievement.
Whereas Abdul-Jabbar said he told his father he was happy to have been elected because ``I now don't have to go to any more dinners,'' Donovan replied that, ``My mom asked me, `Does this mean you won't be eating any more freebies?' ''
Not surprisingly, there was an abundance of good humor.
Donovan and the other electees laughed when former Soviet coach Alexsandr Gomelsky attempted to spin a basketball on his finger, Globetrotter-style.
She beamed when fellow electee and close friend Cheryl Miller stood behind the microphone and publicly proclaimed her gratitude and admiration for the three-time Olympian.
``I want to thank Anne Donovan for her years of support,'' said Miller, a former USC star and 1984 Olympic teammate of Donovan's. ``You're a tremendous athlete and a tremendous friend.''
Miller and Donovan are the only two members of this year's class who are contemporaries. Their proximity in age - at 33, Donovan is three years older than Miller - and their similar career experiences were frequent topics of conversation Tuesday.
Miller, now coaching at Southern Cal, recalled a U.S. National Team tryout she and Donovan attended in 1983, when they knew each other only by reputation.
``She walked by and I told the coaches that I would love to play with her,'' Miller said. ``Growing up, you'd never see many women that size run the floor the way she did, who had hands like she did.''
Donovan, who scored an ODU-record 2,719 points, grabbed 1,976 rebounds and blocked an NCAA-record 801 shots, developed a friendship with Miller. But it wasn't easy at first.
``Cheryl and I were such different players, such totally different players,'' Donovan said. ``She was so flamboyant, always seeking the limelight. I shied away from it.
``But when we got on the court, we found out early that opposites attract. We became fast friends, a bond that's never been broken.''
Miller, who finished her college career with 3,018 points, second-most in women's basketball history, teamed with Donovan on the 1984 Olympic team that won a gold medal. Donovan tried to lure Miller back for another shot at gold in '88, but Miller had to abandon those plans when she suffered a serious knee injury.
``That's the sad part of her career, that it ended early because of the injury,'' Donovan said. ``She's someone I admire on and off the court. She came along at a time we needed someone to generate spectator support. And she did it by her flamboyancy, by the way she played. She gave us someone to pay attention to.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ODU's Anne Donovan, second from right in back row, says, ``I want to
do something that will keep women's basketball growing.''
by CNB