Becky Hammon is one of USA TODAY’s Women of the Year, a recognition of women who have made a significant impact in their communities and across the country. The program launched in 2022 as a continuation of Women of the Century, which commemorated the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote. Meet this year’s honorees at womenoftheyear.usatoday.com.
Growing up in South Dakota, Becky Hammon didn’t have a lot of options.
The Hammons didn’t have cable, so TV channels were (severely) limited. They didn’t own a video game system. They lived in a rural part of town in a remote state, which meant their children’s only playmates were often each other.
So the Hammon kids – Becky is the youngest of three – played basketball all day, inside and out. If they weren’t traveling to each other’s games they were playing each other in the driveway. When they weren’t playing sports they were hunting, fishing and camping. They grew exceptionally close, which taught Hammon the value of relationships – and how to create them.
“I’m really grateful for my roots in South Dakota. I had a really fun childhood. South Dakota was part of it but it was more because I had parents who were really invested in me and my siblings,” Hammon told USA TODAY. “Every weekend we were together doing something, and it really taught me how to relationship build. Now, my greatest strength as a leader is uniting people.”
That skill has served her well as a coach, first as one of the only female assistants in the NBA to now, as a WNBA head coach. After years of being overlooked and underestimated, first by women’s teams who needed a point guard and later by men’s teams who needed a head coach, in 2021, Hammon was finally picked first, becoming the head coach of the Las Vegas Aces.
She made everyone who doubted her look downright silly her first season, leading the Aces to the franchise’s first-ever world championship. For Hammon, it’s just the latest in a long list of accomplishments. The six-time WNBA All-Star is one of the greatest players in the history of the league, and a two-time Olympian to boot. She’s also the USA TODAY Women of the Year honoree from South Dakota.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Who paved the way for you?
Oh man, that’s a loaded question. In the basketball world, I would say people like Annie Meyers, Sheryl Swoopes, Cheryl Miller, Carol Blazejowski, Nancy Lieberman – there’s been a ton of women who really had to endure much tougher circumstances than I did in order to be a basketball player.
Growing up with no WNBA, it was kinda uncharted territory. To have that option come around in 1997, there were really some instrumental pieces. First, you had the 1995 UConn Huskies who went undefeated with Rebecca Lobo. Right after that, you had the ’96 Olympic Women’s “Dream Team.” Then, in 1997, the birth of the WNBA. Those were three major things that all piggybacked together and launched women’s professional basketball in the U.S.
It’s hard to name just one person – everyone was putting in work.
What is your proudest moment?
Probably becoming a mom. I don’t know how you top that.
Professionally, there’s been so many good ones. This last year’s championship was an accumulation of a lot of great work. But I think for me personally, just making the league as a player. I don’t know what happens if I never make that first 1999 New York Liberty roster. Everything built off that. My life looks completely different if I don’t make that team.
Every person, every team, passed on me in the draft – which ended up being a reoccurring theme in my life until recently (laughs). But I just kinda survived.
Do you have a lowest moment?
In 2007, when I lost MVP, to not be put on the Olympic team at that point, that was disappointing. Not being picked, not being drafted. Those were all super low points. They’re gut-check points. When you’re younger it doesn’t feel like tough love, it just feels like rejection
But I don’t want people to feel like I have a sob story, I don’t. I have a story of perseverance. Were there some sucky times? Yes. But I wouldn’t trade any of those hard times because it built things in me that were going to be necessary tools for down the road.
And, that stuff happens to everybody. Not being picked does not put me in some elite group – most people don’t get picked. But for me, those things became fuel for the next part of the journey.
Do you have a guiding principle or mantra?
My parents really raised me on the golden rule: Treat others how you want to be treated. I try to always treat people with respect and dignity. But I also try to show up every day and do my best, because you never know who’s watching. Somebody like Gregg Popovich might be watching.
Who did you look up to?
In 1993, we lived out in the sticks. We only had three TV channels. You have to understand, I didn’t grow up with MTV or ESPN, I didn’t have access to it unless I was at a friend’s house. We didn’t have a Nintendo, anything. We were always playing sports or playing outside.
So in 1993, my dad tells me, “There this girl who plays for Texas Tech, they call her the female Michael Jordan.” It was Sheryl Swoopes. Well Texas Tech was in the national championship that year and we got that channel, so I got to watch. That was the first time I’d been exposed to Division-I basketball.
Fast forward to 1995, and the Women’s Final Four is in Minneapolis. I was a senior in high school. For my senior present, I asked my parents to take me. So we drove from Rapid City, about an eight-hour drive. When we get there, Nike had a booth set up with a court and they were doing little clinics. So I got to play with Dawn Staley, Lisa Leslie and Sheryl. That was the best. And then, four years later, I’m playing against Swoopes when she’s with the (Houston) Comets and I’m on New York.
It’s Sheryl. I watched Michael Jordan, and that was only occasionally. Then I saw her.
How do you overcome adversity?
You always have two choices: Let the adversity overcome you, or choose to overcome it. In a lot of ways, I’ve been taught how to be resilient through adversity. It’s a tough trait to acquire if you don’t have adversity. After a while, you feel like, I can get up from anything, like I can take a hit and know I’m gonna get up. It’s not about if I’m going to get up but when.
With the Olympics in 2008, I had two choices: Stay home and watch, or go compete with Russia. I chose to get off my couch and go – which ticked a lot of people off. But you have to live your life and not care what other people say or think. Make a choice that’s best for you.
What advice would you give to your younger self?
It’s funny, I saw something the other day about “knock somebody else off their game to win yours.” When I was younger I played with a chip on my shoulder, I was just always out to prove people wrong.
As I got older that really changed, probably because I became more comfortable in myself, my skillset and my place in the league. So I would tell myself, don’t be afraid to be yourself earlier.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: WNBA All-Star, Aces head coach Becky Hammon honored by USA TODAY
