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There are very few times in my professional life when I’ve conducted an interview and was afraid my questions sounded like this: “Blah, blah, Words, Blah, Words. Blahblah. Blaaaah. Words.” Then again, there aren’t many days when I have the opportunity to sit, talk and eat lunch with one of my heroes. Hopefully Nancy Lieberman doesn’t hold some of my blubbering against me. Because I can do better.

I am in my 30s and a child of Title IX. Girls played sports though we lacked the depth and breadth of opportunity that young women have today. Growing up with a mother and grandmother who were sports fanatics, at times surpassing the fandom of my male family members, was a blessing. Women could love sports. And I mean love sports. But there were very few women athletes for me to watch on television or to read about in newspapers and magazines. One of the few was a basketball player named Nancy Lieberman. I spoke her name in hushed, reverent tones.

Just me and Nancy Lieberman, hanging out in my classroom at Niagara.

Fast forward to yesterday. Nancy Lieberman has done pretty much everything one can do in basketball — Olympics, NCAA championship, national player of the year. She’s played professionally with women and men. She’s coached both women and men. She’s worked for ESPN. She is a legend. And there she was, sitting next to me at lunch, patiently answering the same questions she’s likely been asked a million times. Afterward, she spoke to my sports communication students at Niagara University. She told her story. She talked about her job. But more than that, she gave them a pep talk on life.

Be fearless. Be confident. Know the power you don’t know you have. Have a purpose. We can be as strong as we want to. The only difference between a good day and a bad day is your attitude and belief.

She loves the quote from poet Maya Angelou: “I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back.”

And that dovetails nicely into her other strongly held belief: Your legacy is not about you, it’s about what you do for others. 

Sometimes, you never know what your heroes will actually be like when you meet them. Nancy Lieberman was gracious, funny and engaging. She was real and truthful. And she left me inspired and motivated to go run through some brick walls myself.

Confession: There are days when I wonder if I’ve missed my opportunity to contribute, to make a difference, to live up to that awful word potential. I don’t dwell in this place of negativity, but every so often my mind wanders there for a visit and if my soul happens to wander along, it starts to get concerned.

Yesterday was a cosmic brick to my head. When I write the story of my life, meeting Nancy Lieberman will be a pivotal moment. She affirmed everything I believe about how to approach my day, my dreams, my life. Be fearless. Be confident. Be strong. Give back. And throw in a healthy dose of sarcasm along the way. The only person whose believes and values matter are your own. But having them echoed by a woman you hold in the highest regard while standing 5 feet away from you is a whole new level of affirmation and inspiration, and one which leaves me still bumbling around to find the right words to describe.

I grew up with a heart full of gratitude for what Nancy Lieberman did for women in sport on a national stage. That gratitude has doubled for what she brought to my life in three hours on a college campus in western New York.

You can read my story on Lieberman and her visit to Niagara in The Buffalo News.

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