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Remembrances of David Stern pour in from around the WNBA

CHICAGO - FEBRUARY 8: National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern speaks to the media about the new WNBA Chicago Expansion Team during the WNBA press conference at the UIC Pavillion on February 8, 2005 in Chicago, Illinois. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory copyright notice: Copyright 2005 NBAE (Photo by Randy Belice/NBAE via Getty Images)
CHICAGO - FEBRUARY 8: National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern speaks to the media about the new WNBA Chicago Expansion Team during the WNBA press conference at the UIC Pavillion on February 8, 2005 in Chicago, Illinois. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory copyright notice: Copyright 2005 NBAE (Photo by Randy Belice/NBAE via Getty Images)

A vital figure remembered

It took the hard work of a lot of women to get a professional women’s basketball league going in the U.S. Generations of them, in fact. It also took the leadership of one very important man. That man, NBA Commissioner Emeritus David Stern, was remembered by those around the league upon his death from a brain hemorrhage on Jan. 1, 2020. Stern was 77 years old.

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Stern was integral in getting the WNBA established back in 1996. He wasn’t just involved in getting the high-level administrative tasks done, though. Stern took it upon himself to make sure the league could get top talent from around the world at a time when the American Basketball League had signed most of the talent from the Team USA roster that won a gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Former Sacramento Monarchs star Ticha Penicheiro and her agent told the story of how the sweet passing of the Portuguese point guard out of Old Dominion ended up in the WNBA.

Penicheiro added that as they walked out of the office, Brandt turned to her and said, “David Stern just took time out of his day to meet with you! Wow!”

Broadcasters, coaches and fellow commissioners spoke of how much they learned from Stern. Chicago Sky head coach James Wade praised the candor of the former commissioner who helped grow both men’s and women’s basketball in the U.S.

In a joint statement released by the Phoenix Mercury and Phoenix Suns, the two franchises remembered how important Stern was the basketball in the state of Arizona, a place where professional basketball was the only pro sport around for decades.

“David saw the potential for our sport to be an agent of positive change around the globe,” the statement read, “ultimately propelling the NBA to become one of the most prosperous and influential, as well as diverse professional sports leagues in the world with the creation of the WNBA.”

Perhaps the most poignant and succinct praise came from four-time WNBA champion Lindsay Whalen.

That gift he left to so many young women will live on.

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