Lisa Deshaun Leslie was so good at the game of basketball, that she transferred to a junior high school without a girls’ basketball team, and joined a boys’ basketball team in the 8th grade. Her success there made her more confident. At only the age of fourteen, Lisa received more than a hundred college offer letters, including some from top schools, like University of Tennessee and Stanford University.
She helped to lead her team to the 1989 California state championship. Leslie was so talented that she was invited to participate in the USA’s Junior World Championship team.
The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) started in 1996 and Lisa began playing in 1997. She joined the Los Angeles Sparks and helped the Sparks make the playoffs five times. In 2001, Lisa was named Sportswoman of the Year by the Women’s Sports Foundation.
Lisa retired from the WNBA in 2009, but not without 4 Olympic gold medals, modeling and acting for magazines, televisions, and more, becoming an author and sports commentator.
