From the 'Plano [Texas] Courier-Star' online site, here's an article
on Basketball Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman. Nancy, a native of
Brooklyn NY, has lived in the Dallas area since 1980.

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http://www.planostar.com/articles/2008/01/12/plano_star-
courier/sports/sports_000017.txt


TAKE IT OR LIEBERMAN
By Kevin Hageland, Staff Writer
Saturday, January 12, 2008


Basketball Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman has plenty of
accomplishments to be proud of.

From her HOF status to being a two-time Olympian, as well as playing
and coaching in the WNBA, a strong case can be made that Lieberman is
the most recognized figure in the history of women's basketball.

But two of the endeavors Lieberman is most proud of had and continue
to have a strong impact on the Plano community.

Lieberman has been running basketball camps and clinics for the last
25 years, including stops at Collin College and the Willow Bend
Shopping Center in 2007, and a trio of her students are currently
making a difference in the District 9-5A basketball races.

Lieberman worked with the children of former Dallas Cowboys Jim
Jeffcoat and Tony Hill, perhaps better known to 9-5A foes as Plano
West sophomores Jim and Jacqueline Jeffcoat and Plano East senior
Anthony Hill. Despite the multitude of people Lieberman has come in
contact with over the years, she still recalls the Plano-based trio.

"Of course I remember those players," she said. "Especially the
Jeffcoats, they were amazing."

Lieberman also held the 5th annual Piggy Skins Classic at West the
day before Thanksgiving last year and will be back in Plano in July
to hold a four-day camp at Collin College (more details and complete
schedules can be found at: nancylieberman.com).

Currently, Lieberman serves as an analyst for ESPN as well as the
NBA's and WNBA's developmental leagues; but it is the basketball
camps that she appears most proud of.

"I always have parents come up to me and ask, 'Why do you still do
it,'" Lieberman said. "For me, it's a joy to help kids get better
than they ever thought they could be.

"I want to inspire vision in people and basketball is the platform
I've been given to do that. We teach kids in a team environment and
show them what it takes to win."

Lieberman joked about dating herself when she said that she has now
taught several second generation youngsters at her clinics.

"I had 11-12-year-old kids I taught that are now married with kids of
their own coming to the camps," she said.

Part of the reason Lieberman does the camps is because the charity of
others is what helped propel Lieberman's career to the eventual
heights it reached. Lieberman is a native of Queens and began to gain
notoriety while attending Far Rockaway High School.

Lieberman said money was pooled for her in 1974 so she could attend
her first Team USA tryout.

"That was so important because I grew up in a single-parent home and
we weren't rich," Lieberman said. "I really wish I knew who gave that
money so I could thank them."

From there, Lieberman won a silver medal with Team USA at the 1976
Olympics in Montreal and captured back-to-back Association of
Intercollegiate Athletics of Women National Championships with Old
Dominion in 1979 and 1980. The Nancy Lieberman Award is now given
each year to the top female point guard in Division I basketball.

Lieberman parlayed her amateur success into a multitude of
professional basketball accomplishments to the point that she was
elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1996 and the Women's
Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999.

And while talent was a huge part of her triumphs, it may have been
that charitable push in 1974 that made all the ensuing achievements
possible. And perhaps because of that, Lieberman has been quick to
try and give back to her community as well.

In addition to running basketball camps and clinics in the Dallas,
Detroit and Phoenix areas, Lieberman was the local chairperson in
Plano for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation's "Race for the
Cure."

"I did that for two years and that group in Plano is very driven,
organized and detailed," Lieberman said. "These people get it; they
know what needs to be done and how to beat a disease."

And though Lieberman's time on the hardwood has passed, she still
gets lauded for her contributions to the sport.

"The other day Juwan Howard came up to me and said, 'Thanks for
everything you've done for basketball," Lieberman said. "And I
thought, 'Wow, Juwan Howard knows who I am.'"

When she isn't working, Lieberman, who has been in and around the
Metroplex for 27 years, tries to spend what little free time she has
with her son, TJ.

"I have a great son and I love what I do," Lieberman said. "It is a
neat place to be."

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Steven
Sacramento, CA