SPRINGFIELD -- When Sheryl Swoopes got the call that she was going to be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, she was speechless.
Words escaped her for a number of reasons. One of those reasons was the immense pride she felt for achieving such a great honor in the sport that she loved. Another was the fact that she got the call in the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, where she was learning her mother had colon cancer.
"I started crying because I have all of these different emotions," Swoopes said. "My mom honestly thought I was crying about her. So she came up to me and she wiped my tears and said, 'I'm fine, I'm good, don't cry.' And I said, 'But mom, I just got a call from the Hall of Fame.' So then she started crying.
"It was a great moment for us to be able to share."
Swoopes will get a chance to share another great moment, her Hall of Fame induction, with her mother Friday in Springfield. That moment will include the two things Swoopes loves most, her mother and basketball, so it will be a special day for her.
The call from the Hall of Fame was a long time coming for Swoopes -- something she joked about when putting on her orange jacket. Her list of accomplishments in the game barely fit on her ceremonial basketball -- four straight WNBA titles, three MVP awards, three Defensive Player of the Year awards, three Olympic gold medals and much, much more.
The one she felt most strongly about, however, was her induction into the Hall, even if she did not like the picture of her that they chose to put on the wall.
"There aren't a lot of basketball players, male or female, that can say, 'I'm a Hall of Famer,'" Swoopes said. "I can actually sign my name now and put, 'Hall of Famer.' That's not being arrogant, that's not being cocky, that's being very humbled and being very honored to be able to do that."
Swoopes was the first player to sign in the WNBA with the Houston Comets, though she missed the first six weeks of the first season after giving birth to her son. Still, she was a major part of the Comets' dynasty, as she led Houston to four straight titles as the league began.
The Comets' success helped generate interest in the league, which was still new to fans. Swoopes took pride in seeing fans wear her jersey, knowing that she had impacted them or someone in their family in a positive way. She was one of the most marketable stars in the league -- even signing with Nike for her 'Air Swoopes' shoe -- and she was one of the pioneers that helped the league get to the point it is at today.
Swoopes was asked about the impact she had on the game Thursday, a question the answer to which was likely too long for her to fully capture. But when she is inducted into the Hall of Fame Thursday, in front of her mother, she will know her impact in the game that she loves will be cemented into the game's history.
"I know there are people out there who look back on what I did 20 years ago in the WNBA, 10 years ago in the WNBA and I know that there was at least one person's life out there that I impacted in a positive way," Swoopes said. "It allows me to sit here today and say I did my job.
"I feel like I did -- as far as basketball goes -- I did what I guess God put me on this earth to do as a basketball player."