Brought showmanship and an in-your-face style to the college game
She didn't act the way you might expect an athletic trailblazer to act. Cheryl Miller turned cartwheels, blew kisses and punctuated jump shots by flopping her wrist and sassily backpedaling downcourt -- sometimes before the ball went through the net. "I had such a hotdogging image that I never thought of myself as a pioneer for women's basketball," she says. But it was precisely because of the flair she wrapped around her astonishing physical skills that Miller was able to lift the game to a more prominent level. A four-time All-America and three-time Naismith Player of the Year, Miller led Southern Cal to NCAA titles in 1983 and '84; she also led the U.S. to the '84 Olympic gold medal. As Louisiana Tech coach Leon Barmore puts it, unequivocally, "Cheryl was the best player this game has ever had."
Miller was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 1995 after concluding her career with virtually every USC record, including points scored (3,018) and rebounds (1,534). Eschewing foreign leagues, Miller worked as an NBA analyst for TNT until, in '97, she found her calling: as a WNBA coach and general manager. With the Phoenix Mercury, Miller's sideline antics and pressroom commentary are as entertaining as her on-court escapades once were. "There are two kinds of coaches," says Mercury point guard Michele Timms. "Those you play for and those you die for. Cheryl Miller fits into that last category."
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