Becky Hammon Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Speech

foreign [Music] growing up in Rapid City South Dakota on three and a half acres and black hills National Forest didn't provide Becky Hammond with an opportunity to connect with many other basketball loving girls their own age but that didn't matter she was a basketball player so she played with the boys now more often than not the only girl in the court was also the smallest player unfazed she used her size to her own Advantage becoming a ball handling wizard who could do whatever she wanted whenever she wanted a Trailblazer who followed her passion to become one of the all-time greats Becky Hammond's basketball Journey has never been about what she was not it was always been about what she is before she was a pioneering and celebrated head coach Becky Hammond was that same Fierce competitor as a player [Music] three-time All-America selection at Colorado State Hammond was undrafted out of college but signed with the New York Liberty in 1999. she soon displayed the traits that would become her Hallmark her intensity feel for the game and Leadership made her a team captain she was a great person to have in the locker room she was competitive and fiery and fun and unselfish and a gamer as well always hitting big shots Works her way down the lane knocked away [Music] she was laser focused on what she had to do to help us to win games she had that desire to be great every day the desire to conquer whatever challenge that was in front of her every day after arriving in San Antonio in 2007 her game only got better she led the league in assists and took the Stars to the WNBA finals in 2008. for the first time in franchise history San Antonio is headed for the final during her 16-year career Becky Hammond was a six-time All-Star and was named to the wnba's 15 20 and 25th year anniversary teams for life she's excelled and exceeded expectation she just wants to be good at anything she does [Music] [Applause] teammates from the WNBA top 20 at 20 chill swoops and Teresa Weatherspoon it's my pleasure to introduce Becky Hammond lucky for you guys I got family all over in Connecticut so it's a short drive so if they get wild and crazy I apologize in advance um just want to start off with some thank yous real quick the New York Liberty Carol blazikowski Richie adubato San Antonio Stars Dan Hughes so many people that have impacted my life in such a positive way um I I had a lot of thank yous and it took up 15 minutes so I I'm I think thank you everybody um Cheryl uh you know you you're up here because if you were the female Michael Jordan and uh yeah and I was we didn't have Role Models so I had posters of Michael Jordan all over my wall um spoon I picked you because you're someone who's been with me from the start you've been up here and from those first days of you and Vicki Johnson giving me in my 90s style bangs a Beatdown in Liberty training camp um to up here to the stage of basketball royalty thank you it's been a crazy ride um turns out I'm super grateful for those bumps and bruises you guys made me tough you guys gave me you made me tough and I'm even more thankful that Carol blazowski when she asked you who you guys liked you said that little white girl we hit her hard and she bounced back up I didn't know then but it turned out I was going to need a lot of bounce back to end up here on this stage tonight thank you to all the other uh people to go into this class I mean this is unbelievable to go in with all these spurs Tony how pop just I could go down the list I've been fans and attempted to stop some of you guys um didn't most times but we tried um but I had to write this speech over like I said because there were so many thank yous and it was necessary for me to get to this moment um the thank yous are endless to try to wrap up my 46 years of my existence in my 25 years of being either in a WNBA or NBA arena would nearly be impossible too many stories and friendships and Court battles to even count but to all my coaches teammates players peers um friends and family thank you [Applause] so I'm not going to give you the traditional basketball speech because quite frankly there's nothing traditional about me so to stand up here and tell a bunch of basketball junkies that I'm not going to give you basketball is scary because we are sick when it comes to basketball for me it's always been bigger than just basketball to me it's been about the people in The Journey growing up in South Dakota with my parents Marty and Bev my siblings Gene and Matt never in my wildest dreams could I have anticipated Landing here up on this stage in Springfield mom dad you're not here tonight they're in Africa doing God knows what hunting killing animals and taking pictures and all sorts of stuff but they couldn't be here tonight but I can't begin to express the gratitude for all the necessary tools you equip me with the values you instilled in me and the countless amounts of time and resources you guys have poured into me you four people who am I get to call family are the greatest foundational pieces of who I am and where I am today thank you [Applause] I grew up in the Black Hills of South Dakota and I had no idea my journey was going to be similar to all those backwood hikes we went on so many times up and down countless mountains down to riverbeds and creeks you learn to keep up or risk missing out on my dad's next adventure that he would take us on I'm thankful for my upbringing in South Dakota in the amount of times I heard from people you're the first person I ever met from a Dakota is now a point of pride but that upbringing was designed and orchestrated exactly how it was supposed to be literally I feel as though at times I was just snatched out of obscurity and put on this path that I could not have dreamed up on my own I had a poster growing up in my room and it was know your ABCs to accomplish your dreams and I read that poster almost daily dreaming about becoming a great basketball player and along with watching the Come Fly With Me video about 500 times which is VHS days you had to wait five minutes for that thing to rewind in order to watch it again I dedicated my life to the game of basketball I grew up being absolutely sure of two things I love Jesus and I love basketball and no and though it became very apparent to me early on I was never going to fly anywhere with Michael Jordan my dad did give me some good advice and he said rule the ground and not the air and I learned that the best tools that I'd have was two things the world of the basketball professionals wouldn't see at first glance I don't look like a basketball player in fact most times traveling with my team I got mistaken for the water girl I'm average height I'm average speed on a good day and I'm very just kind of the Girl Next Door type of girl but what the good Lord didn't give me in physical tools he gave me a double portion of in heart grit will and a strong mind I'm going to use an acronym to try and articulate my journey but most important to me is that you know how grateful and humbled I am to be here tonight with you all this is so surreal to me um D is for Destiny I'm going to use the word Dream It's so funny that coach went right before me Jim Valvano because some of his stuff was hit right to the heart of me but D is for destiny in so many ways I feel like this basketball and life Journey for me has been authored by someone else I'm the character in my own story but God had this path for me long before I realized that every moment of my life was in preparation for what was coming next it is clear to me that God knew my end before my beginning and then he backed up and began me the psalmist said the days of my life were written down in the book before there was yet one of them he made sure that I had gone through the necessary processes before he allowed me to reach such wonderful promises trust and no I'm speaking to the kids at home and quite frankly everybody in here that every moment especially the hard ones are what is necessary to get you to your destiny R is for resilient being resilient is both a character trait and a learned skill the tough part about being resilient is that you can only develop this skill through going through hard stuff the amount of times I heard no or had a door shut was the amount of times I was going to climb through a chimney or a window I was going to bust through something to get to where I needed to go I was going to find a way and pressing on became an integral part of my story so I'd like to thank you Jerry Colangelo and the Hall of Fame committee for opening this door for me and for saying yes because I was really not looking forward to breaking into this thing and like hanging my picture so no mug shots [Applause] so thank you for this wonderful honor but in all seriousness seriousness I wouldn't change the hard parts because the hard parts were necessary to build the strength needed for whatever challenge was coming next e is for encourage excellence encourage means to literally give another person courage to give someone mental or moral strength to withstand fear or difficulty and just like resiliency has matured through hard stuff courage is found in the presence of fear and difficulty and the word excellence because I've always strived for excellence but I was also blessed with being around people of great excellence pop I'm not going to look at you [Applause] you're a man of principle and excellence I know you weren't trying to be courageous when you hired me but you did do something nobody else in professional sports has ever done [Applause] he display Excellence you expect excellence and model how to become excellent in your everyday routine and how you go about your work you spoke courage into me with a phone call as I was getting ready to coach that first summer league team in 2015. he said just be you you're going to be great and you've texted me that I don't even know if you know how many times you've actually texted me that just be you just be you just be you and you've changed the traction of my life and of so many other girls and young women thank you I love you [Applause] being a trailblazer it's a very heavy and lonely Trail at times it's also super exciting an adventurous and awesome there are many Nicks and scratches and cuts that happen along the way and luckily for me I literally grew up in the Sticks so I was ready I'm an outdoors girl but in those times of fresh frustration difficulty and sometimes fear I had voices speaking encouragement into my life and reminding me of the Excellence that they saw in me family friends coaches peers players teammates in attendance tonight or at home watching thank you for picking up the phone thank you for picking me up off the floor thank you for reminding me of who lives inside me and who goes before me no matter what paved or unpaved path I am on your encouragement carried me to this stage tonight thank you [Applause] my grandma's 93 she's right over there [Applause] I've learned that there are two lanes to choose from when journeying through life a lane of appreciation and thankfulness or a lane of taking an entitlement I strongly encourage you to live a life of appreciation and thankfulness appreciation focuses on what you have and not on what you don't have my Aces team had a motto last year and shout out to my ladies I love you guys I am grateful every day to be your coach but go to bed because we have a game tomorrow [Laughter] but we had a motto and it was you can't out give life and you cannot give the game no matter how much you give this life and this game will always give you more so you have to give all you have it truly is a life phenomenon it is better to give than to receive so I stand up here with so much appreciation to every coach and player every organization that I've been with and teammate who gave me an opportunity to play to lead to teach to grow and to love this game that has given me so much more than I could have dreamed of or imagined to Brenda and our boys haha you guys are truly what I'm most thankful for in this world Caden and Sam like pop says you have kids nobody comes to see you no more Kate and Sam you're the most treasured and greatest accomplishment in this life for me the other day I was driving them to the airport and my youngest Sam says mom why can't you come back to Texas with us and I said well you know I'm in season I got to stay here I said you understand what I'm trying to do here right he said yeah Mom I know make shots and win championships foreign I said exactly thank you for your grace in Sharing me with the world and supporting me and chasing down my crazy dreams [Applause] whether I win or lose your hugs kisses and love are my greatest Gifts of all thank you and I love you [Applause] m M is for mindset on the mission even when the mission seems impossible have the mindset that is unshakable and immovable just because someone says it's never been done or that it's impossible to be done I'm telling you I'm standing here I'm not supposed to be here this is not anything I could have ever dreamed but after I did everything that I possibly could do on my own I know that God took what I thought was impossible and made it possible lastly I'd like to thank Nikki fargas and Mark Davis who loaned me his jet because I'm sorry love y'all but I was not gonna miss a game and we played last night I'm gonna jump on a plane tomorrow morning and get home for the game tomorrow but he made it possible for me to be here tonight so thank you [Applause] he continues Mark Davis continues as many of you in this room continue to invest in bet on women believing that we have potential to change the world and [Applause] it can't be in US versus them a male we need everybody and if you're down for that struggle in that fight the only way I know how to go about doing is putting one foot in front of the other and walking up that hill so thank you remember your ABCs to accomplish your dreams kiddos and dream on thank you [Applause]

Channel: Las Vegas Aces

Views: 7,216

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Id: t-onXNyyx-4

Length: 19min 27sec (1167 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 13 2023