Snoopy

[Eggcentric@xxxxxxx]

Thought you might enjoy reading the following.

Back in 1979, UCLA's 4-time All-American ANNE MEYERS was signed  
to a $50,000 no cut contract by the Indiana Pacers.  Never played in an 
NBA game, but went on to be a pretty decent golfer and marry Dodger
great Don Drysdale.  When their first child was born, she had a baby 
seat installed in her golf cart.

Sorry, Michael DiZio, but Celt news is a bit thin right now. As soon as
we trade AW, KB, and our 2006 second rounder for Kidd, Jefferson, and 
Martin, things will automatically heat up.

Egg

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ANNE MEYERS DRYSDALE is 200 yards from the hole on the par-5 18th at 
her home course, SeaCliff Country Club in Huntington Beach, Calif. She 
debates for a second whether to go for the water-guarded green before 
deciding to play it safe with a 5-iron. What else would you expect from 
the former basketball great but a lay-up?

Truth be told, laying up goes against the aggressive nature of this women's 
sports pioneer who led UCLA to the 1978 Association of Intercollegiate 
Athletics for Women (AIAW) title.

"I think the fact that I was an aggressive player in basketball, I'm 
aggressive on the course," she says after the round. "When I get on the 
golf course, like on 18, why not go for it? But you've got to play the 
percentages, too. It's taught me to think. I was a pretty good thinker on 
the court. I could see things. I try to bring that to the golf course and 
play within my game."

With 200-yard drives and crisp iron shots, Meyers Drysdale brings a lot 
of talent to the course. She struggles with her short game, though, 
especially her putting. On longer putts, she'll look at the hole during the 
stroke because, she figures, "You don't look at the ball when you're 
shooting free throws."

Introduced to the game by her late husband, Don Drysdale, the Hall of 
Fame pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, she now carries a 9 handicap 
that reflects her nature. "I love the competition within myself," she says. 
"The motivation is to try to beat other golfers, but it's you and the 
course. I miss basketball tremendously, but golf is a sport that I can 
continue to play and still be competitive."

A busy schedule that includes broadcasting WNBA and college basketball 
games doesn't allow Meyers Drysdale, 45, much time to enjoy 
tournaments. And with three children, ages 13, 10 and 7, she's lucky if 
she gets out once a week. But her enthusiasm on the course is palpable. 
Meyers Drysdale's personality is bubbly, and her deep-set blue eyes light 
up when she talks about her best round (a 76) or her days playing with Don.

They lived in Rancho Mirage, Calif., near Palm Springs, and belonged to
The Club at Morningside. When their oldest, Don Jr. (DJ), was born, they 
had a baby seat installed in their golf cart. "She and Don had a lot of good 
times together on the course," says her sister, Patty. "They had a lot of 
things in common, but golf was a huge one." 

Though Don was full of advice, Ann wasn't always an eager recipient. "He 
had played golf a lot longer than I had, so he was trying to teach me," 
she says. "But being an athlete and being competitive, I was like, 'When 
you shoot par, then you can tell me what to do.' "

Growing up in Wheaton, Ill., and La Habra, Calif., as the middle of 11 
children, Meyers Drysdale never thought of golf as a sport, even though 
her idol was Babe Didrikson Zaharias. "As a kid I thought, 'You're not an 
athlete hitting a little white ball,' " she says. "I read a book on her when 
I was in fourth grade. She'd been in the Olympics and that was my dream."

Meyers Drysdale made the Junior Olympics in eighth grade and played 
seven sports in high school. In 1974, she became the first high school 
student to play on the women's national basketball team and became the 
first woman to receive a full athletic scholarship to UCLA. (She was also 
on the volleyball and track teams.) Two years later, she achieved her 
Olympic dream when she led the first U.S. women's basketball team to 
a silver medal.

"What an experience to be in the Olympic Village," she recalls. "A lot of 
Americans were there because they were in Montreal. My mom came up 
and some family members. It was an exciting time."

So was becoming the only woman to compete in television's Men's 
Superstars competition after winning the women's title in 1980-82, 
and the only woman to sign (as a free agent) with an NBA team (the 
Indiana Pacers) in 1979.

"Obviously, it was a publicity stunt," Meyers Drysdale says. "But I never 
looked at it that way. I thought, 'What an opportunity of a lifetime, one 
that most men don't get.' Because I was a first, a lot of people didn't 
know how to deal with it. There was the old school who thought women 
just stayed home and raised the family. I was disappointed big time 
that I didn't make it. Everything they asked, I felt I had achieved."

Her spirits were lifted by meeting Drysdale, 19 years her senior, that 
same year at the Women's Superstars event. He was announcing and she 
did not know his background. "I didn't really follow baseball that much," 
she says. "When I met him I thought he was Don Meredith. He knew how 
he felt about me right off the bat. When we started seeing each other, 
he introduced me to golf and I fell in love with it. I couldn't get enough 
of it."

By the mid 1980s, she owned a 6 handicap. "And I thought, 'If I really 
work at this game, I could get good and go on the tour,' " says Meyers 
Drysdale, who became the first female to play on the Celebrity Players 
Tour. "But you know what? You've got to work really hard to get there 
and once you get there, there's no guarantees you're going to win."

A broadcasting career and kids took priority over her LPGA dream, and 
when Don died of a heart attack in 1993 at age 56, golf didn't seem so 
important. "I lost about 15 pounds," she says. "I literally lost two clubs. 
Normally I hit a 5 (-iron) 150, 160 yards. I would have to hit a 3. I lost 
the love of my life and it's still tough. Everything shut down. I would say 
for two years after Don died I couldn't tell you what I did."

Her desire to play remains strong, especially with family members like 
her long-hitting sister, Patty. "We'll go to a public course and we'll hit 
from the white tees, and the guys are going, 'Oh, we've got to play behind 
a bunch of girls,' and then they see us hit, and they're like, 'Oh, can we 
meet you at the 19th hole?' " Ann says with a laugh.

"So many good things have happened to me because I was introduced to 
the game. I talk to a lot of young women and tell them, 'You've got to 
pick up golf.' I think it will behoove them for the future to carry on 
that competitiveness on the course." 

- TOM CUNNEFF