THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 6, 1996 TAG: 9602060425
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
Nancy Lieberman-Cline, who led the Old Dominion Lady Monarchs to their first two national championships, will become the 11th woman inducted into in the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.
Lieberman-Cline, 37, will be inducted in ceremonies May 6 along with George Gervin, Gail Goodrich, David Thompson, George Yardley and the late Kresimir Cosic.
Lieberman-Cline, now a broadcaster for ESPN, ABC and Prime Sports, said she will ask former ODU teammate Anne Donovan to give her induction speech. Donovan, head women's basketball coach at East Carolina, was inducted into the Hall last May.
``I'd love it,'' Donovan said of Lieberman-Cline's invitation. ``It's been on my plate for the last year to make sure she gets in.''
Lieberman-Cline, a three-time All-American and winner of the Broderick Cup, awarded annually to the top woman's collegiate athlete in the nation, said this honor is probably her greatest.
``This has to be at the top of the list,'' she said from her home in Dallas, where she runs a sports marketing company, is married and is raising an 18-month-old son.
``The Olympics were pretty special, and ODU and the championships were pretty special. But this is really a result of all of that.''
Donovan said Lieberman-Cline was one of the biggest reasons she attended ODU.
``Her flair for the game, her pure enjoyment of it, I had never seen another player like that when I was in high school,'' Donovan said. ``She was so intense and demanding. Her passing and ball-handling skills were well before her time.''
Lieberman-Cline scored 2,430 points, grabbed 1,167 rebounds and dished out 961 assists at ODU from 1976-77 through 1979-80. She led the Lady Monarchs to consecutive national championships in 1979-80.
``As a player she took the game to a new level of excitement and skill that hadn't been displayed before,'' said Marianne Stanley, her coach on both national championship teams. ``Aside from that, Nancy put a face on the game, gave it a visibility in the kaleidoscope of sports in this country.''
At age 17, Lieberman-Cline, dubbed ``Lady Magic,'' was the youngest member of the 1976 Olympic team, which won a silver medal. She made history in 1986 when she became the first woman to play with a men's professional team, signing with the Springfield Fame of the USBL.
This is the first year her name was on the ballot, and she was pumped when the phone rang at 8:15 Monday morning with the good news.
``Anne Donovan told me the toughest day of your life is sitting by the phone, hoping it would ring by 10 in the morning. If it doesn't you're toast,'' Lieberman-Cline said. ``The first time being on the ballot makes it all the more special for me. You look at people like Lynn Swann, Phil Niekro and Don Sutton - they've never made it - and you just don't know. . . . You can never take anything for granted.''
ODU athletic director Jim Jarrett said it is a bonus that two of the 11 women in the Hall are from ODU. ``Obviously this is a real plum for Old Dominion,'' he said. ``It's a great tribute to the leadership and the role its coaches and athletes have played in the development of women's basketball.'' ILLUSTRATION: Nancy Lieberman-Cline led the Lady Monarchs to consecutive
national championships in 1979 and 1980.
VIRGINIAN-PILOT FILE
Nancy Lieberman-Cline led Old Dominion to two national titles, as
well as a women's NIT crown, in the late 1970s.
by CNB