Coaches, Players and Management Talk about Cynthia Cooper
The following is a collection of quotes from WNBA coaches, players and management regarding Cynthia Cooper's induction into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame.
WNBA President Donna Orender
It is still very often that no matter where I go I will still have fans and people who want to talk about the league bring up the name Cynthia Cooper. And I think that�s because Cynthia Cooper was a player who defined a league by her very presence. Her dominating spirit and competitiveness on the court as well as just her open and fun-loving personality off the court, winning four championships, receiving all the accolades that she did, Cynthia Cooper really helped firmly place the WNBA on good, solid footing.
Former WNBA President Val Ackerman
Cynthia did the league a great service by agreeing to be an ambassador for our Breast Health Awareness cause following the death of her mother to breast cancer, which I know is an incredible tragedy for her. Some people may not have wanted to articulate how they felt gong through that experience, but Cynthia stepped up and she became a spokesperson for the league on that cause. She brought her own story to it and her own passion about the need for early detection and efforts to try and stop the marc of this terrible disease, and we really owe her a debt of gratitude to that because it was clearly not no small thing for her to have experienced it personally. On many levels she was there for the league.
Angel McCoughtry, Atlanta Dream
I remember watching her when I was a little girl and saying, �Wow. If I can be like that one day.� She�s been a great inspiration in my life and I�m glad to see she�s been an inspiration to my little sisters and younger girls under me so they can see that and say, �Hey, we have the same opportunities men have.�
Allison Hightower, Connecticut Sun
She�s one of my favorite players, especially when she was in the WNBA, she was my favorite player. She did so much for the game. She shot the ball well, she drove to the basket well, she passed the ball well - she did it all.
DeMya Walker, Connecticut Sun
When you watched Coop play it was like, man, the things she could do with the ball. Sometimes she would go slow, sometimes she would go fast but it was always the same result. She was just an amazing player. It�s hard to put into words, but I loved watching her play. I didn�t much like playing against her though because she always kind of made us look bad.
Shameka Christon, Chicago Sky
She has meant so much to basketball in so many ways. I used to call her the female Michael Jordan of the league. I know she played overseas for some number of years, and it showed because whenever she played in the WNBA she played like an American style but she also had a European style, and when you have both, like she did, and I think for the men right now Kobe is that player, he has a little bit of European as well as American style, it�s so tough to guard somebody like that.
Tamika Catchings, Indiana Fever
Even when you say the name or I think about the name, just all the things that she was able to accomplish overseas, here with the Houston Comets and even doing now as a coach. The lady is phenomenal.
Katie Douglas, Indiana Fever
I got the chance to play against her a couple of times while she was closing out her career and she was still phenomenal at the tail end of her career and if I can do that same thing that would be terrific.
Kym Hampton, formerly of the New York Liberty
She was one of the few players that made the opposing teams forget about their teams/individual strong points. It seemed that all anyone could think about was �How To Stop Coop (and company).� She is one of those people that sets her sight on something and gets it. Notice, I didn�t say goes after it. I said GETS IT! I feel like I�ve lost so many big games to her. She has this incredible ability to switch to this other gear and take over the game. It is a drive, a knowing, that nothing or no one can keep her from scoring and winning the game.
Taj McWilliams-Franklin, New York Liberty
Cynthia Cooper has just been amazing for the league. I�ve known Cynthia Cooper quite a while and I can�t tell you how awesome it was to see her playing and to be a founding member of the WNBA after so many years overseas. She played in Italy a number of years and I went to Italy and played there for a number of years and I always heard them talk about, �Man. I remember when Cynthia Cooper scored this, or when she did that.� And just to watch her take the women�s game on her shoulder at a time when � I mean, we had Lisa Leslie, we had Sheryl Swoopes � nobody really knew about Cynthia Cooper because she had been overseas for so long. So it was kind of muddled. I wasn�t even in the WNBA and I watched the Finals because I wanted to see what she did next.
Cappie Pondexter, New York Liberty
She�s the one that kind of started the whole �roof on fire� thing. Something that the league grabbed on to. She was awesome for the league and an awesome player too. I had an opportunity to get to know her when I was younger so she�s a great person. She did a lot for the league.
President and General Manager Ann Meyers Drysdale, Phoenix Mercury
Like Jerry West is the image for the NBA, they should have Cynthia Cooper's image for the WNBA.
Diana Taurasi, Phoenix Mercury
From growing up and watching basketball, I missed the Nancy period [and] the Ann Meyers period. I just missed the Cheryl Miller period. So from seeing a basketball player do great things I�ve never seen anyone better than her at the highest level to keep doing it. Someone that when she played, whether it was on TV or in a game of insignificance, she was going out there and trying to dominate whoever she was playing against. And that�s why she is by far the best WNBA player to ever lace it up.
Coach Jennifer Gillom, Los Angeles Sparks
Cynthia was probably, when she started in the WNBA, was at her peak. A lot of people didn�t remember her from her college years and even some overseas. When she came into this league at the age that we came in, we were all at our peak game and she definitely demonstrated that night in and night out and showed the world that, �Hey, you don�t have to be a young athlete all the time to compete at this level.� And she was a great example for all of us at that age.
Candace Parker, Los Angeles Sparks
She had a tremendous impact on me when I was a kid. I remember watching her No. 14 raise the roof for all their championships that they won and just the tremendous passion that she played with. And for it to be the first time that a professional league in any sport has been successful as the WNBA has and to have her be the face of it was breathtaking watching her play when I was a kid.
Tina Thompson, Los Angeles Sparks
I was one of a few players that played in the WNBA in 1997 that were college players. So I was part of the first actual college draft. There were so many veteran players in the WNBA. Being that we were a very veteran league then, I didn�t foresee most of those players playing for a long time in the WNBA because they already had an extensive professional career playing overseas. I was much younger. Cynthia Cooper and I used to joke all the time about her actually playing professional basketball longer than I had played basketball, period, in my life up to that point in 1997.
Becky Hammon, San Antonio Silver Stars
Probably the toughest one-on-one person to defend that our league has seen. She does everything. She has such tremendous touch, and I think that�s what amazes me. She wasn�t overpowering you with strength or quickness, she would just outsmart you. Tough shots: floaters, runners, three-point shots, to the basket � she pretty much did everything.
General Manager Dan Hughes, San Antonio Silver Stars
When I interviewed to come into the league as an assistant at Charlotte in 1998, I was asked to do a scouting report on the Houston Comets. Really wanting the job, I studied the tape over and over but no matter what strategy I came up with at the end of the day I felt Cynthia Cooper�s play would overcome the strategy. I was sure I would not get the job because I did not have an answer to Coop. Luckily I survived and found out that all of us opposing WNBA coaches had no answer for this Hall of Famer .
Michelle Snow, San Antonio Silver Stars
The best ever. The hardest working ever. Cynthia Cooper is one of my absolutely favorite players for several reasons. I�ve actually had the chance to workout with her, I�ve actually had the chance to play with her. This young lady is one of the hardest working ladies I�ve ever seen.
Coach Brian Agler, Seattle Storm
One of the greatest offensive players and winners the game has ever known. Her body control and balance made her virtually unstoppable.
Swin Cash, Seattle Storm
If you look at her body of work and the time period that she not only came out of college and played overseas and then to come into the WNBA and have success as well, where many people on the national scene didn�t really know her name, she�s just been tremendous.
Lauren Jackson, Seattle Storm
She was a wonderful pioneer for the sport and the WNBA. A true legend of the game.
Chante Black, Tulsa Shock
She was a pioneer. Everyone when you think back to the WNBA talks about Cynthia Cooper and the type of player that she was on and off the court. She really set and laid a great foundation for this organization.
Alana Beard, Washington Mystics
I have always admired Cynthia Cooper�s fire and her pursuit of excellence. The Hall of Fame is composed of legends and CC is and will forever be considered a legend of the game.
Lindsey Harding, Washington Mystics
I�m from Houston. I grew up watching Cynthia Cooper. That�s what made me want to play basketball. I didn�t think about basketball. I ran track. And my dad got season tickets, went to the Comets game and until I graduated and went to college my family was a season ticket holder. And she was my role model. I didn�t have all these male figures, it was the women that I wanted to be.
Katie Smith, Washington Mystics
Coop is a great player. Somebody who not only got a glimpse of some it because of the WNBA, it wasn�t like that was her whole career, but she did so many more things before people saw it. But what she did during that short amount of time with the WNBA was huge. She was consistently putting up points and just getting the job done for her team.
WNBA President Donna Orender
|
It is still very often that no matter where I go I will still have fans and people who want to talk about the league bring up the name Cynthia Cooper. And I think that�s because Cynthia Cooper was a player who defined a league by her very presence. Her dominating spirit and competitiveness on the court as well as just her open and fun-loving personality off the court, winning four championships, receiving all the accolades that she did, Cynthia Cooper really helped firmly place the WNBA on good, solid footing.
Former WNBA President Val Ackerman
|
Cynthia did the league a great service by agreeing to be an ambassador for our Breast Health Awareness cause following the death of her mother to breast cancer, which I know is an incredible tragedy for her. Some people may not have wanted to articulate how they felt gong through that experience, but Cynthia stepped up and she became a spokesperson for the league on that cause. She brought her own story to it and her own passion about the need for early detection and efforts to try and stop the marc of this terrible disease, and we really owe her a debt of gratitude to that because it was clearly not no small thing for her to have experienced it personally. On many levels she was there for the league.
Angel McCoughtry, Atlanta Dream
|
I remember watching her when I was a little girl and saying, �Wow. If I can be like that one day.� She�s been a great inspiration in my life and I�m glad to see she�s been an inspiration to my little sisters and younger girls under me so they can see that and say, �Hey, we have the same opportunities men have.�
Allison Hightower, Connecticut Sun
|
She�s one of my favorite players, especially when she was in the WNBA, she was my favorite player. She did so much for the game. She shot the ball well, she drove to the basket well, she passed the ball well - she did it all.
DeMya Walker, Connecticut Sun
|
When you watched Coop play it was like, man, the things she could do with the ball. Sometimes she would go slow, sometimes she would go fast but it was always the same result. She was just an amazing player. It�s hard to put into words, but I loved watching her play. I didn�t much like playing against her though because she always kind of made us look bad.
Shameka Christon, Chicago Sky
|
She has meant so much to basketball in so many ways. I used to call her the female Michael Jordan of the league. I know she played overseas for some number of years, and it showed because whenever she played in the WNBA she played like an American style but she also had a European style, and when you have both, like she did, and I think for the men right now Kobe is that player, he has a little bit of European as well as American style, it�s so tough to guard somebody like that.
Tamika Catchings, Indiana Fever
|
Even when you say the name or I think about the name, just all the things that she was able to accomplish overseas, here with the Houston Comets and even doing now as a coach. The lady is phenomenal.
Katie Douglas, Indiana Fever
|
I got the chance to play against her a couple of times while she was closing out her career and she was still phenomenal at the tail end of her career and if I can do that same thing that would be terrific.
Kym Hampton, formerly of the New York Liberty
|
She was one of the few players that made the opposing teams forget about their teams/individual strong points. It seemed that all anyone could think about was �How To Stop Coop (and company).� She is one of those people that sets her sight on something and gets it. Notice, I didn�t say goes after it. I said GETS IT! I feel like I�ve lost so many big games to her. She has this incredible ability to switch to this other gear and take over the game. It is a drive, a knowing, that nothing or no one can keep her from scoring and winning the game.
Taj McWilliams-Franklin, New York Liberty
|
Cynthia Cooper has just been amazing for the league. I�ve known Cynthia Cooper quite a while and I can�t tell you how awesome it was to see her playing and to be a founding member of the WNBA after so many years overseas. She played in Italy a number of years and I went to Italy and played there for a number of years and I always heard them talk about, �Man. I remember when Cynthia Cooper scored this, or when she did that.� And just to watch her take the women�s game on her shoulder at a time when � I mean, we had Lisa Leslie, we had Sheryl Swoopes � nobody really knew about Cynthia Cooper because she had been overseas for so long. So it was kind of muddled. I wasn�t even in the WNBA and I watched the Finals because I wanted to see what she did next.
Cappie Pondexter, New York Liberty
|
She�s the one that kind of started the whole �roof on fire� thing. Something that the league grabbed on to. She was awesome for the league and an awesome player too. I had an opportunity to get to know her when I was younger so she�s a great person. She did a lot for the league.
President and General Manager Ann Meyers Drysdale, Phoenix Mercury
|
Like Jerry West is the image for the NBA, they should have Cynthia Cooper's image for the WNBA.
Diana Taurasi, Phoenix Mercury
|
From growing up and watching basketball, I missed the Nancy period [and] the Ann Meyers period. I just missed the Cheryl Miller period. So from seeing a basketball player do great things I�ve never seen anyone better than her at the highest level to keep doing it. Someone that when she played, whether it was on TV or in a game of insignificance, she was going out there and trying to dominate whoever she was playing against. And that�s why she is by far the best WNBA player to ever lace it up.
Coach Jennifer Gillom, Los Angeles Sparks
|
Cynthia was probably, when she started in the WNBA, was at her peak. A lot of people didn�t remember her from her college years and even some overseas. When she came into this league at the age that we came in, we were all at our peak game and she definitely demonstrated that night in and night out and showed the world that, �Hey, you don�t have to be a young athlete all the time to compete at this level.� And she was a great example for all of us at that age.
Candace Parker, Los Angeles Sparks
|
She had a tremendous impact on me when I was a kid. I remember watching her No. 14 raise the roof for all their championships that they won and just the tremendous passion that she played with. And for it to be the first time that a professional league in any sport has been successful as the WNBA has and to have her be the face of it was breathtaking watching her play when I was a kid.
Tina Thompson, Los Angeles Sparks
|
I was one of a few players that played in the WNBA in 1997 that were college players. So I was part of the first actual college draft. There were so many veteran players in the WNBA. Being that we were a very veteran league then, I didn�t foresee most of those players playing for a long time in the WNBA because they already had an extensive professional career playing overseas. I was much younger. Cynthia Cooper and I used to joke all the time about her actually playing professional basketball longer than I had played basketball, period, in my life up to that point in 1997.
Becky Hammon, San Antonio Silver Stars
|
Probably the toughest one-on-one person to defend that our league has seen. She does everything. She has such tremendous touch, and I think that�s what amazes me. She wasn�t overpowering you with strength or quickness, she would just outsmart you. Tough shots: floaters, runners, three-point shots, to the basket � she pretty much did everything.
General Manager Dan Hughes, San Antonio Silver Stars
|
When I interviewed to come into the league as an assistant at Charlotte in 1998, I was asked to do a scouting report on the Houston Comets. Really wanting the job, I studied the tape over and over but no matter what strategy I came up with at the end of the day I felt Cynthia Cooper�s play would overcome the strategy. I was sure I would not get the job because I did not have an answer to Coop. Luckily I survived and found out that all of us opposing WNBA coaches had no answer for this Hall of Famer .
Michelle Snow, San Antonio Silver Stars
|
The best ever. The hardest working ever. Cynthia Cooper is one of my absolutely favorite players for several reasons. I�ve actually had the chance to workout with her, I�ve actually had the chance to play with her. This young lady is one of the hardest working ladies I�ve ever seen.
Coach Brian Agler, Seattle Storm
|
One of the greatest offensive players and winners the game has ever known. Her body control and balance made her virtually unstoppable.
Swin Cash, Seattle Storm
|
If you look at her body of work and the time period that she not only came out of college and played overseas and then to come into the WNBA and have success as well, where many people on the national scene didn�t really know her name, she�s just been tremendous.
Lauren Jackson, Seattle Storm
|
She was a wonderful pioneer for the sport and the WNBA. A true legend of the game.
Chante Black, Tulsa Shock
|
She was a pioneer. Everyone when you think back to the WNBA talks about Cynthia Cooper and the type of player that she was on and off the court. She really set and laid a great foundation for this organization.
Alana Beard, Washington Mystics
|
I have always admired Cynthia Cooper�s fire and her pursuit of excellence. The Hall of Fame is composed of legends and CC is and will forever be considered a legend of the game.
Lindsey Harding, Washington Mystics
|
I�m from Houston. I grew up watching Cynthia Cooper. That�s what made me want to play basketball. I didn�t think about basketball. I ran track. And my dad got season tickets, went to the Comets game and until I graduated and went to college my family was a season ticket holder. And she was my role model. I didn�t have all these male figures, it was the women that I wanted to be.
Katie Smith, Washington Mystics
|
Coop is a great player. Somebody who not only got a glimpse of some it because of the WNBA, it wasn�t like that was her whole career, but she did so many more things before people saw it. But what she did during that short amount of time with the WNBA was huge. She was consistently putting up points and just getting the job done for her team.