NEED TO KNOWRebecca Lobo reflects on the excitement and historic significance of playing in the WNBA's inaugural season after the league was established in 1996
Lobo remembers the New York Liberty's first game at Madison Square Garden being so loud she couldn't hear
Lobo has watched the league develop and grow over 30 years
Rebecca Lobo grew up a fan of the NBA, but as a young girl, the basketball player never saw a path for her to play professionally in the United States.
However, all that changed on April 24, 1996, when the WNBA was officially founded after being approved by the NBA Board of Governors as the premier women's professional basketball league in the U.S.
Lobo, who won a college championship with the University of Connecticut in 1995 and was part of the 1996 Olympic gold medal team, was then assigned to the New York Liberty team for the inaugural WNBA season, which officially kicked off on June 21, 1997.
The New York Liberty played its first game against the Los Angeles Sparks, and Lobo tells PEOPLE the energy and excitement for the new league were palpable. The 52-year-old still vividly remembers the moment her name was announced, but admits she couldn't actually hear it.
"They were announcing the starting lineups on the Jumbotron. The crowd, the energy in the building, I don't know if the game was sold out, but it had to have been pretty close," she reflects. "Then, when we got to the introductions, where the guy on the PA was introducing each player, the crowd was so loud that we couldn't hear which player he had just announced."
Lobo was looking around in the excitement until one of her teammates pushed her, saying, "Yep, that was you."
"Because the building was buzzing and alive and there was this incredible energy, expectation, all of that, you could feel it. It was so loud that I could not hear which one of us was being introduced during the introductions," Lobo says.
While Lobo knew she was part of history, the feeling hadn't settled in yet. However, now looking back on the first game and the others that followed, Lobo can recognize its significance.
"We knew how incredibly fortunate we were that the WNBA was starting. There had been several professional leagues that had started, but none of them had the backing of the NBA," she tells PEOPLE. "We knew we were fortunate in that regard. We knew this felt different than any other time, at least that I can remember, in terms of the promotion of the league and where the teams were going to play."
Still, she never thought about what it would mean 10, 20 and now 30 years down the line.
"We were so immersed in what this means for you and the people around you in that moment that you're not really thinking globally. At the time, there was so much excitement, and we were certainly thrilled about this, this possibility, and this new league, but had no idea," Lobo shares.
"I had no idea that 30 years later, I would have three daughters and a son who would go to WNBA games and that I would have my second oldest daughter, who is a sophomore in college, and she actually works as a game day attendant," she continues. "Of course, I had no idea that one of my children would one day work in the WNBA during her summers. None of that was part of the consciousness, I don't think, for any of us at the time."
Lobo reflects on how the path of her former team, the New York Liberty, has, in many ways, mirrored that of the league itself.
"There was tremendous success and then years where there were some questions, the years where the Liberty were playing in Westchester and were without a distinct ownership group, and then back to a place now where they're thriving at a championship level, not only winning the title a couple of years ago, but selling out Barclays Center regularly and having celebrities court side," Lobo shares.
The league followed a similar path, finding success after starting with just eight teams. Over the decades, more teams have been added, bringing the total to 15 while dealing with contraction negotiations and team relocations. Despite it all, the league is at a point of booming success and growth.
"There's certainly been growing pains along the way for the last 30 years of the league. Just like there have been growing pains for the New York Liberty over the course of the last 30 years," Lobo says.
Lobo has had a courtside seat to many of the league's challenges and wins. She was with the league until 2003, going to the finals with both the New York Liberty and the Connecticut Sun before becoming a sports analyst.