THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 6, 1996 TAG: 9603060693
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BOB MOLINARO
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
When she's in Dallas, which isn't often this time of year, Nancy Lieberman-Cline rarely misses an opportunity to lace up the sneakers and pound the boards at her health club.
``Five o'clock. Boom! There we go. We play ball,'' she said.
Nancy and the guys play ball. It always has been this way, though now some of the regulars include members of the Dallas Cowboys. Recently, Deion Sanders even joined the fun.
``That's why he's not playing baseball this year,'' she said with a smile. ``He wanted to get in our games.''
She sat in the lobby of the Norfolk Omni Hotel Tuesday afternoon. Later, she would speak at the banquet kicking off the Colonial Athletic Association women's tournament.
``I'm 37 years old,'' she said. ``There is nothing that makes me happier and more at peace than to be on the basketball court.''
The same sort of peace came over her with her recent election to the Basketball Hall of Fame. Nobody seemed like more of a slam-dunk. Yet ``Lady Magic'' was a nervous wreck while waiting to hear word.
``If anybody says they're 100 percent confident that they are going into the Hall of Fame, they're full of crap,'' she said, laughing.
So now Lieberman-Cline joins Anne Donovan, making Old Dominion University the only women's program with two Hall of Fame players.
It's odd that Lieberman-Cline follows Donovan into the Hall, for almost all of ODU's initial success - its first two national championships, its taste of recognition - flowed from the talent and charisma of the 5-foot-10 point guard.
Lieberman-Cline was the most talented player of her generation, maybe of all time. When people said she played like a man, she accepted this not only as a great compliment but as a statement of fact.
Just as crucial to the development of her sport, she was women's basketball's first recognizable celebrity.
Over the years, she has used her status shrewdly, for financial gain, and to get a foothold in cable television. She's at home in a board room or in front of a camera, but the basketball court is where her needs are best met, even now.
As a poor kid in Far Rockaway, N.Y., she grew up ``playing with guys in the street.'' She has never stopped competing against the guys, mostly because she's had to.
After leaving ODU, she sharpened her skills in NBA summer leagues. But when a women's pro league folded in the '80s, Lieberman-Cline sat at home thinking, ``Why don't I have a place to play?''
So she jumped at the opportunity to be the first woman in a men's pro league, the United States Basketball League. For two seasons, she played against Spud Webb, Manute Bol and Craig Ehlo.
``The first time's a publicity stunt,'' she pointed out. ``The second time's a career.''
Her career has not been without its misadventures. Like the year she was the only female member of the Washington Generals, foils of the Harlem Globetrotters. In six months, her team lost 200 games in a row.
``It was presented to me as basketball with a show business element to it,'' she said. ``It was actually the opposite.''
Lieberman took something good away from the experience - her husband, Tim Cline, a teammate on the Generals. The couple have a 19-month-old future power forward, Tim Jr., T.J.
Lieberman-Cline sometimes wonders if T.J. will know what kind of player his mother was. Remarkably, there is scant video of Nancy's college days.
Of one thing, however, Lieberman-Cline is certain. Her ODU teams ``were so much ahead of our time. We were so big and athletic. Very comfortably, we could have competed in this era.''
And what about ``Lady Magic?'' At 37, could she compete with the MTV generation?
``I could go out today and play for Old Dominion and be good,'' she said. ``Because I'm a player.''
If you don't believe her, ask Deion. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
MOTOYA NAKAMURA/The Virginian-Pilot
Nancy Lieberman-Cline, 37, says her ODU teams ``were so much ahead
of our time. We were so big and athletic. Very comfortably, we could
have competed in this era.'' And what about her? ``I could go out
today and play for Old Dominion and be good,'' she says. ``Because
I'm a player.''
by CNB