Basketball Hall-of-Famer Ann Meyers Available for Interviews in Connection with Athletics Dinner

April 20, 2000

AMHERST, Mass. - Ann Meyers, the sports broadcaster and basketball Hall-of-Famer who signed with the Indiana Pacers in 1979, is available for interviews in connection with the UMass Salute to Athletics Dinner, scheduled for Wed. April 26 at the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel in Boston. Meyers, who plans to attend the event, is the aunt of UMass volleyball champion Jill Meyers, one of the student-athletes being honored at the event.

Ann Meyers was a member of the UCLA basketball team that captured the 1978 championship. She was also named Athlete of the Year and Outstanding Basketball Player at UCLA, and played in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. She was the No. 1 player drafted in the Women's Professional Basketball League in 1978, and signed as a free agent with the Indiana Pacers in 1979. Meyers went on to become a sports broadcast journalist, covering the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, and several NCAA Women's Basketball tournaments in the 1990s. She currently serves as a commentator for ESPN, covering the Women's NCAA Basketball Regionals and Final Four, and also covers the NBA and WNBA for NBC-TV.

Meyers has been named to several halls of fame, including the Women's Sports Hall of Fame, in which she was the first inductee, and the national Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield. She was married to the late Don Drysdale, the Hall of Fame pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

UMass honorees are also available for interviews: volleyball champion Jill Meyers, gymnast Jeff LaVallee, women's soccer coach Jim Rudy, and baseball coach Mike Stone.

NOTE: Meyers will be available for interviews at the event. Reporters may also arrange for phone interviews before the event. To schedule a phone interview, contact Anna Robbins of the UMass Alumni Office at 413/545-2317.

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