Happy 67th Birthday to “Lady Magic” Nancy Lieberman

Cover photo: Nancy Lieberman posing in her Team USA jersey and medal. Photo credit: Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.

A basketball legend celebrates a birthday on July 1 as Nancy Lieberman turns 67 years old. 

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Lieberman grew up in Far Rockaway, Queens, and played pick-up games against boys at PS104 The Bays Water School and the Beach 17th St. playgrounds. It was at Beach St. that Lieberman as a teenager got to play with future pros Brian Winters, Levern Tart, and Kevin Joyce, and develop her skills. Lieberman also tested and honed her game at the famed Rucker Park as a 14-15 year old. At Rucker Park, Lieberman’s nickname was “Fire” due to her red hair and competitive nature. 

While playing her high school ball at Far Rockaway High School, Lieberman set a school record with 961 assists.

At the age of 17, Lieberman represented the United States at the 1975 Pan Am Games in Mexico City. The United States, a team that also featured superstar players Lusia Harris and Ann Meyers as well future University of Tennessee women’s coach Pat Summitt (then Pat Head) finished the tournament 7-0 and averaged 86.7 points per game while giving up 52.3 points per game. In the Gold Medal game, the USA defeated Brazil 74-55. Lieberman was also on the 1979 Pan Am team, which won silver, and was also a member of two World Championship teams, in 1975 and 1979. She also played on the Junior National team in 1977 and the United States’ William Jones Cup team in 1979.

In the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Lieberman, 18 years of age, became the youngest Olympian male or female to compete in basketball. Harris led the team in scoring and rebounding and the squad won a silver medal. In 2023, the team was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. 

Lieberman attended Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va. During her freshman year, Magic Johnson and the Michigan State Spartans were playing there in the men’s Holiday Classic. In the next day’s newspaper, the Virginian-Pilot stated that if Earvin Johnson was Magic, then Lieberman must be Lady Magic. The nickname stuck and Lieberman proved it correct. 

Lieberman led the Monarchs to consecutive AIAW national championships (the AIAW tournament lasted from 1972-1982, replaced by the NCAA Tournament) in 1979 and 1980. She twice won the Wade Trophy (given to the best NCAA upperclass women’s basketball player), the first player to win it on two occasions. Lieberman also won the Broderick Cup twice, an award given to the top female athlete in collegiate sports. As a sophomore, she recorded a triple-double of 40 points, 15 rebounds, and 11 assists in a game against Norfolk State. Overall in her collegiate career, she tallied 2,430 points, 1,167 rebounds, and 983 assists in 134 games. She was a 3-time All-American (1978-1980) and won the Honda Sports Award, given to the top player in women’s basketball, in 1979 and 1980. She was Old Dominion’s Outstanding Female Athlete of the Year each year of her college career, from 1977-1980.

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As a professional before the WNBA, Lieberman’s career spanned from 1981 through to 1988. 

Dallas Diamonds - Women’s Professional Basketball League, Women’s American Basketball Associationdc

Springfield Fame (coached by former NBA guard Henry Bibby) - United States Basketball League 

Long Island Knights (coached by former NBA guard Dean Meminger) - United States Basketball League 

Washington Generals 

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Lieberman won WBL Most Valuable Player in 1981 while starring for the Diamonds, and in 1984 led the Diamonds to the WABA championship while leading their team in scoring. With the Fame in 1986, she became the first woman to play professional basketball with men. In her professional career, the 5 foot, 10 inch Lieberman averaged 15.7 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 6.1 assists.

In 1997, Lieberman, who was drafted fifteenth overall in the WNBA Draft that year by the Phoenix Mercury, played twenty-five games at age 39 for the Mercury. On July 24, 2008, Lieberman at age 50 played nine minutes in one game with the Detroit Shock. She had coached the Shock from 1998-2000.

In 1996, Lieberman was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and in 1999 was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. In her post-playing career, Lieberman served as head coach of the NBA G-League’s Texas Legends from 2009-2011 and from 2015-2018 was an assistant coach for the Sacramento Kings. Since 2017, she has been head coach of Power in the Big3 professional 3-on-3 league. For the past couple seasons, her son TJ Cline has played on the team. Cline, 30, plays professionally for Hapoel Eilat and is a member of the Israeli National team. 

Personally, Lieberman formed a special bond with boxing great Muhammad Ali, beginning in December 1979 when both were United States Olympic representatives at a United States Olympic Committee fundraiser at the New York Stock Exchange. Ali coincidentally had a big influence on Lieberman from the age of 10 when she first saw him on television. Throughout the remainder of his life, he became a confidant and mentor of Lieberman’s. 

The WNBA has grown in exposure since its inception in 1997, but if not for women like Lusia Harris, Lieberman, and Cheryl Miller, women’s basketball would not be where it is today. 

Happy 68th birthday to “Lady Magic” Nancy Lieberman.