2022 Gerald R. Ford Award winner: Ann Meyers Drysdale

Ann Meyers Drysdale's career is filled with firsts. However, the Hall of Famer thinks her greatest achievement is not that she was an originator, but that by reaching new heights she forged a path for others.

The first woman to sign a four-year athletic scholarship at UCLA, Meyers Drysdale amassed one of the most distinguished careers in Bruins women's basketball history. She became the first four-time women's basketball All-American and led UCLA to its first women's basketball national championship. 

The name Ann Meyers is listed 70 times in the UCLA record book. She remains atop the list for most steals in a career (403) and most steals in a season (125). In the quadruple doubles section, her name stands alone. On Feb. 18, 1978, she became the first Division I basketball player — man or woman — to record a quadruple double, tallying 20 points, 14 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 steals.

Meyers Drysdale also competed in volleyball and track and field for UCLA. A high jumper and pentathlete, Meyers Drysdale was part of the Bruins' 1975 national championship outdoor track and field team. During the 1977 and 1978 volleyball seasons, she played middle blocker.

"Whether I have forged the way or whether people have opened the door for me, I've made the decision to go through it whether it works out or not," Meyers Drysdale said. "And hopefully that has opened the door for others."

Meyers Drysdale opened doors for many during and after her UCLA career. The 2022 recipient of the NCAA President's Gerald R. Ford Award, which honors an individual who has provided significant leadership as an advocate for college sports, she was a trailblazer in sports broadcasting, too. 

"Ann Meyers Drysdale was a pioneer for women's athletics and continues to achieve excellence in her role as an analyst and executive at the professional level," NCAA President Mark Emmert said. "Her perseverance, work ethic and determination are admirable and an example for many." 

Meyers Drysdale graduated from UCLA with a degree in sociology and in 1988 was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame, becoming the first woman to receive that distinction. In 2013, UCLA invited her back to give the commencement speech, an honor she still gets emotional thinking about. The primacy of education was ingrained in her from a young age, and basketball provided that path. 

"Coming from a family of 11 children, getting a scholarship was huge," Meyers Drysdale said. "It helped my parents out. And getting a degree was very important to me because it meant I was accomplishing something."

A mother of three and wife of the late Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Don Drysdale, Meyers Drysdale said her family has always kept her grounded. It was family, along with basketball, that led her to UCLA. Meyers Drysdale wasn't the typical freshman stepping on campus. Her older brother Dave was a senior captain on the basketball team, which already had won one national title during his playing career and went on to win a second that season.

Meyers Drysdale led Bruins women's basketball to new heights, but when reflecting on her fondest memories at UCLA, she said watching her brother Dave play is top among them. Being Dave Meyers' little sister meant she was like family to legendary basketball coach John Wooden. She refers to Wooden lovingly as "Papa" and had the opportunity to watch many of her brother's practices from the rafters of Pauley Pavilion her freshman year.  

"The men's athletics department kind of took me under their wing," Meyers Drysdale said. "Gary Cunningham, Papa, Jim Bush, a lot of coaches on the men's side … I became their little sister, and they all kind of took care of me." 

As a senior, she was asked to broadcast a few UCLA road games and got to know late broadcast icon Dick Enberg. From there, she hustled for jobs, landing her first professional broadcasting gig covering the Hawaii men's basketball team for Hawaii News Now. In the early 1980s, ESPN hired her to cover women's volleyball, women's basketball and softball.

The 1993 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee continued leaving her mark from the booth. In 1997, she was on the call for the first WNBA game. In 2000, she served as an analyst for NBC's Olympics women's basketball coverage.

Meyers Drysdale is now the vice president of the Phoenix Suns and Mercury and serves as an analyst for both teams. Since she joined the organization in 2007, the Mercury have won three WNBA titles. She is the author of the book "You Let Some Girl Beat You?" In that 2012 memoir, Meyers Drysdale wrote, "What matters is not that I was the first, but that I not be the last."

The Gerald R. Ford Award will be presented to Meyers Drysdale during the Saluting Excellence Luncheon on Jan. 21 at the 2022 NCAA Convention in Indianapolis. Her recognition coincides with the NCAA's kickoff of its celebration of the 50th anniversary of Title IX.

"It's powerful," Meyers Drysdale said of winning the award the same year as Title IX celebrates 50 years. "To know that I was around when civil rights and women's equality were being pushed for back in the late '60s, early '70s, and Title IX is a part of that. I've been fortunate and blessed to have been a part of the beginning of it."