The 2024 Kobe & Gigi Bryant WNBA Advocacy Award was bestowed upon Naismith Memorial and Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer Ann Meyers Drysdale. In 2020, the WNBA created the Kobe & Gigi Bryant WNBA Advocacy Award, which recognizes “an individual or group who has made significant contributions to the visibility, perception, and advancement of women’s and girls’ basketball at all levels.”
“Annie has been a force inspiring young girls on and off the court, something she, Gianna and Kobe shared and cared about deeply,” said Vanessa Bryant, Chair of the Mamba and Mambacita Sports Foundation. “I’m happy Annie is receiving this award in Kobe and Gianna’s memory – she is so deserving.”
Congratulations to Naismith Memorial and Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer, Annie Meyers Drysdale for being this years recipient of the 2024 Kobe & Gigi Bryant WNBA Advocacy Award 🧡 pic.twitter.com/0t8LPhKf2b
— WNBA (@WNBA) February 19, 2024
Meyers Drysdale has been changing the game since high school. She was the first high school basketball player to make a U.S. national team, the first female athlete to receive a full athletic scholarship to UCLA (where she competed in basketball, volleyball and track & field) and the first college basketball player to be named to the All-America Team in four consecutive seasons. She was also the first woman to sign an NBA contract when she joined the Indiana Pacers in 1979.
“Having been around the WNBA since its inception, I am truly humbled to accept the 2024 Kobe & Gigi Bryant WNBA Advocacy Award and to be viewed as an advocate for girls and women in sports,” said Meyers Drysdale. “I first met Kobe when his dad was coaching the Los Angeles Sparks, and I was on the Sparks’ broadcast team. I knew then how much passion Kobe had for the game of basketball and how that devotion ran in the family.
“It was a full-circle moment for me when Kobe led his daughters to the sport, and we all saw the support he gave to girls and women in the game. As someone who has also lost a husband while raising young children, I hope to honor Vanessa’s strength and bring further awareness to the ways that she continues to recognize her husband and daughter’s legacy.”
She is the first woman to receive the Kobe & Gigi Bryant WNBA Advocacy Award. Chris Paul won in 2022, and Pau Gasol won in 2023.
