Nancy Lieberman is proving she can be successful in a man's world -- the world of the NBA. She's been named the first female coach in the National Basketball Association for the NBA Development League expansion team, the Texas Legends.
But to talk to her, you'd never know that she's especially different. She's been doing things the same way since she was first inspired as a 9-year-old by boxing great Muhammad Ali.
"When I was 9 he was on TV and said, 'I am the greatest of all time,'" she recalls. "There was no Title IX, no ESPN. He gave me this vision."
Twelve years later, as a nationally ranked college basketball player on scholarship and the youngest Olympic basketball medalist, she met Ali at the New York Stock Exchange. She was speechless so her mom broke the ice. "He says, 'Come here kid, your mom says that you're good,'" she recalled. "I couldn't even look him in the eye. I said, 'I'm not good or nothing, I'm the greatest,' and he says, 'Give me a hug, there's two 'greatest' in the room.'"
They've stayed in touch and Ali plans to attend opening night in November when Lieberman, 51, takes the court at the Dr. Pepper Arena in Frisco, Texas. There's still work to do -- she's scouting players both domestically and abroad and building a coaching staff.
