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Seattle Storm rookie Katie Gearlds will make her professional debut Saturday night in her home state (Indiana), in the arena (Conseco Fieldhouse) where she led Purdue to the Big Ten Championship in March and her high school team to a state title in 2003.

The schedule reads Seattle Storm at Indiana Fever, but the story line can be described in two words: Katie's Back, for one night anyway.

"We signed her up as a 5-year-old to play at the YMCA and I just couldn’t believe how much better she was than the other kids. I said, 'There’s something special about this kid.'" Courtesy Purdue Athletic Department

Sharon and Tony Gearlds will be among the many familiar faces in the crowd, watching their youngest of three daughters log her first official minutes of professional basketball. Asked to estimate the number of games they have seen and/or missed throughout Katie's playing career, Sharon Gearlds answered, "A whole lot and not very many. One or both of us have seen probably 95 to 98 percent of her games."

In Indiana, Katie Gearlds is a household name. She was named Miss Basketball in 2003 after leading Beech Grove to the state championship. At Purdue, she was a two-time All-Big Ten first-team selection and ranks fourth all-time in scoring with 1,974 points. At the trucking company where Tony has worked the past 26 years, work stopped on draft day; co-workers gathered around the TV, watching a replay of Katie defeating Oregon's Aaron Brooks in the State Farm College Three-Point Shootout before the Storm selected her with the seventh pick of the WNBA draft.

"You don't ever get used to it," Tony Gearlds said of the noteriety his daughter has gained over the years. "We watched the draft on TV ... Your chest just kind of expands. It's a pretty awesome feeling."

Storm.wnba.com caught up with the Gearlds following the whirlwind that was March and April. The reality that the third of their four children was moving some 2,250 miles away was just beginning to set in:

Draft day. Share with me your emotions as you hear Katie’s name being called:
Sharon: Boy, that’s far away. I guess it’s another stage you go through, all part of growing up.

Tony: It’s pretty surreal. You’re just sitting there, your daughter’s name is being called and she’s a professional basketball player. It’s unbelievable.

Who introduced Katie to basketball?
Sharon: Both of us. We had an older daughter who was playing and I was coaching her, and Katie just started to come with me when she was 5 or 6.

What were the first signs you had a special athlete in the house?
Tony: I remember thinking that the first time I ever watched her play. We signed her up as a 5-year-old to play at the YMCA and I just couldn’t believe how much better she was than the other kids. I said, 'There’s something special about this kid.' I didn’t think she’d ever be a professional athlete, but she turned herself into one.

Sharon: We did not have a (basketball) goal in our yard until she was in high school. When she was little, she would be out in the garage in the coldest of days dribbling the basketball. That was her thing; she didn’t come in. We had a 6-foot hoop in the garage and she would be out there doing her Michael Jordan moves.

Every great shooter in the game’s history has a story about getting keys to a gym or sneaking out while others are in bed to work on their shots. Do you recall any such thing with Katie? Sharon: When she was in high school, she was the only kid in the school who had a key to the gym. I don’t know that the principal knew she had a key, but she did and she used it.

I read where she beat Tony in a game of H-O-R-S-E when she was 10. Mom suggests Katie might have been nine? Which was it?
Sharon: I think that was more of a joke, but she might have given him a run.

Tony: I think she was probably 18. No, she was 11 or 12 when she beat me. I was having a bad day (laughs).

What letter was Katie up to in the game?
Tony: She might have had an ‘R.’ Maybe. I don't remember.

How well do you remember that day? Do you remember the shot that knocked you out?
Tony: No, I don’t remember that day. It was probably a free throw. She would shoot free throws and then go back to the three-point range. It could have been a left-handed layup, knowing her. She was always getting me on shots that should be easy.

Was there an immediate rematch?
Tony: No. I had to go cut the lawn, or something like that.

KATIE'S HOMECOMING

Katie Gearlds will make her pro debut with Saturday's preseason game agaisnt the Fever, a special homecoming for the Indiana native.

Has success come easy for Katie?
Sharon: She’s worked at her game, definitely. I think it helps that she has natural ability, but she’s worked very hard.

Tony: I won’t say easy. She’s worked hard for everything she’s gotten. She’s always been the best athlete of her age group in Beech Grove. She played baseball against the boys and she pitched, and she’d strike them out. A lot of them would cry because a girl would strike them out.

What one word best describes your daughter?
Sharon: Focused. She always had fun with what she was doing. I think it helped that she played other sports growing up (baseball, softball, golf); she had a little variety besides just basketball. All in all, she always had a dream. She was always focused to make that dream come true.

Tony: Sweet. She’s my sweet little girl.

What would Storm fans be surprised to know about Katie?
Sharon: She’s a very giving person. She enjoys being around the young kids. She always makes time for them. I know there’s time when she just wants to be home, but she doesn’t show it.

Tony: She does a good Elvis Presley impression. I got her back now.