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Posts tagged as “Lisa Leslie”

WNBA Legend Lisa Leslie to Be Honored with Statue Outside Staples Center in Los Angeles

By goodblacknews on September 8, 2019

 

WNBA great Lisa Leslie (photo via flickr.com)

WNBA superstar and Olympic gold medalist Lisa Leslie will be the first female athlete honored with a statue outside of Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Arash Markazi reported the news, writing that the Los Angeles Sparks and Anschutz Entertainment Group still have to iron out the specific date but agreed Leslie will be the 11th statue outside of the famed sports and entertainment arena. Leslie’s statue will also be the first of a WNBA player outside of a team’s home arena.

According to bleacherreport.com, Leslie went to the Sparks in the WNBA’s inaugural draft in 1997 and played her entire career with the team through 2009. During her professional basketball career, Leslie won three league MVPs, two championships, four Olympic gold medals and three All-Star Game MVPs .

Leslie, who was the first WNBA player to dunk in a game, was also named to eight All-Star teams and 12 All-WNBA teams, including eight first-team selections. In addition to her WNBA achievements, she once scored 101 points in a half during a game for Morningside High in Inglewood, and was named first-team all-conference in each of her four seasons at USC.

Leslie will now be forever memorialized alongside statues of Los Angeles legends such as Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

CBS Sports All-Female Sports Show “We Need to Talk” Debuts Successfully; Expected to Air More Episodes this Spring

By goodblacknews on January 4, 2015
Meet the women of TV’s first all-female sports talk show
The women of “We Need to Talk”: Standing (back row, from left): Allie LaForce, Summer Sanders, Amy Trask, Lesley Visser, Andrea Kremer, Tracy Wolfson. Seated: (from left): Dara Torres, Dana Jacobson, Swin Cash, Laila Ali, Katrina Adams and Lisa Leslie.

In late September of this year, CBS Sports Network taped the inaugural episode of We Need To Talk, which marked the channel’s first-ever nationally televised all-female sports show.
Having already aired on December 27, 2014, the year-end special edition marked the broadcast debut of the show that features panelists Swin Cash, Laila Ali, Amy Trask, Tracy Wolfson and Dana Jacobson. The program, which bookended the network’s coverage of the Sun Bowl (Arizona State v. Duke), found New York Liberty’s Swin Cash going behind-the-scenes with the Golden State Warriors. She also interviewed the team’s new head coach, former Chicago Bulls shooting guard, Steve Kerr.
We Need To Talk made an impact when the program’s inaugural episode focused on the Ray Rice domestic violence scandal, and three of the show’s hosts shared similar war stories with their audience. From WNBA great Lisa Leslie’s brave admission that she’d been abused by a former fiance to Olympic swimmer Dara Torres shared her own painful story, We Need To Talk immediately became a relatable place for female sports fans of all ages.
“Because the big topic we were prepping for was domestic violence, and the statistic for women who are abused was proven on our first show,” says Allie LaForce, a CBS Sports sideline reporter and one of the contributors to CBS’s first all-sports show hosted completely by women. With these famous and notable women taking center stage, We Need To Talk tackles intriguing and diverse topics including domestic violence, concussions and advising awkward dudes on how to talk sports with the ladies.
In addition to Cash, Leslie, LaForce, Ali and the other aforementioned female hosts, Leslie Visser, Summer Sanders, Andrea Kremer and former Oakland Raider’s CEO Amy Trask will round out the group.
Behind the camera, We Need To Talk is led by Emmy Award-winning coordinating producers Emilie Deutsch and Suzanne Smith, the latter who is the only woman currently producing or directing NFL games. With the show wrapping its first season, there’s no doubt that audiences will be clamoring for a second helping of this diverse and influential sports show. It is expected to return to its CBS Sports cable home in the spring with brand new episodes.
article by Kevin L. Clark via blackenterprise.com
Debbie Allen Champions Arts Education for Youth, Kicks Off National Tour of "Brothers of the Knight"

Debbie Allen Champions Arts Education for Youth, Kicks Off National Tour of "Brothers of the Knight"

By goodblacknews on June 20, 2014

DEBBIE_ALLEN_HEADSHOT_tOscar, Emmy and Tony Award-winning choreographer and director Debbie Allen premiered her new theatrical production Brothers of the Knight at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills last night, kicking off a five-city summer tour.  Turning out to support Allen and her passion for training today’s youth in the arts were actors Jenifer Lewis, Clifton Powell, “Grey’s Anatomy” star Ellen Pompeo, Darrin Hewitt Henson, New Kids on the Block singer Joey McIntyre and WNBA All-Star Lisa Leslie, among others. (Click here to see GBN’s Instagram photos from the event.)
Grammy-winning musician James Ingram wrote the music to this modern adaptation of the classic Brothers Grimm tale, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, where twelve brothers steal away to a magical ballroom and dance every night away unbeknownst to their strict preacher father.
Allen, who produced the show with husband and former NBA All-Star Norm Nixon, went on a five-city tour to find the best young talent possible, then trained and worked closely with them to bring the production to life.
“I opened this audition to kids who are not just in dance schools,” Allen said, but “to people who simply love to dance.”
1391112260644Allen is passionate about arts education for youth and mounts productions like this every year to shed light on its importance as more and more public schools drop arts, music and theatre programs.
“It’s a battle right now. Arts education is disappearing without a trace from the public schools. If you don’t have arts as part of the core of your curriculum, you are not going to be well educated,” Allen recently told WGBH in Boston.
Allen has been fighting to keep dance and the arts available for youth for quite some time.  In 2001, Allen opened the Debbie Allen Dance Academy (DADA), a non-profit organization which offers classes in various dance disciplines for youth and teens.
Brothers of the Knight runs until June 22 in Los Angeles, then moves to Boston from June 27-29, Philadelphia July 3-6, Washington DC July 10-13 and Charlotte July 17-20.  To order tickets, go to brothersoftheknight.com.  To sponsor or donate to this show, click here.
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (follow @lakinhutcherson)