NEED TO KNOWSue Wicks reflects on the emotional experience of playing the New York Liberty's first game at Madison Square Garden
Wicks shares how early WNBA players felt the pressure to ensure the league's survival and connect with fans
She praises the league's growth, players' activism and the cultural shift supporting women athletes over the past 30 years
Playing in Madison Square Garden for the first New York Liberty game felt like a homecoming for Sue Wicks.
The WNBA star had been playing overseas for years after graduating from Rutgers University. She had played against some of the best American players, but rarely with them.
On April 24, 1996, the WNBA was officially founded after the NBA Board of Governors approved it as the premier women's professional basketball league in the U.S. The inaugural WNBA season officially kicked off on June 21, 1997.
Wicks, 59, tells PEOPLE the first game back in the United States was "quite emotional."
"I grew up in New York as a New York Knicks fan, watched the games, and then, I'm standing there, I'm in Madison Square Garden with my national anthem playing, playing with the best American players, the best players in the world on my team, on my home court with my family in the stands. There couldn't have been a more homecoming moment for me," Wicks says.
She remembers having her hand on her heart during the national anthem and crying.
"It was so emotional. Every game that season was like that. It didn't stop. It was again and again and again how important and meaningful it was to be attached to a city that feels like your city in your home and playing in front of your people," Wicks shares.
"I was there in my own uniform with my name on the back, New York Liberty on the front, hearing my national anthem, and having a locker room there. The impact of that, I can't underestimate," Wicks shares.
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The WNBA All-Star shares that she and the other players knew the weight of what they were doing and the history they were making.
"We had the weight on our shoulders of knowing that this league had to survive, and had to ensure that we made a connection with fans, and we made a product that was worth watching. We come from a generation that lost leagues, which went bankrupt and dissolved. We felt like this was our chance," Wicks says.
Every game, they had to put everything they had into the game and even give back to the fans who showed up to support them.
"Those first years in New York, Madison Square Garden was a scene. It was on fire. People would come for that type of show that we were putting on," Wicks shares. After the game, the team would meet fans and sign autographs.
"After the games, we'd walk out the front door and sign autographs. 18,000 people attended the game, and many stayed for an autograph. You weren't going to get your meal after the game for quite a while. Your family's gonna stand there and wait for you because it is absolutely positive," Wicks shares.
"We had to cultivate and build every part of it, and that fan base we gave back to them. The New York Liberty is very unique in that our fan base, which is the centerpiece of this, is still with us 30 years later," Wicks recalls.
She shares that she has such a maternal feeling toward the players, but also holds them in such high esteem because "they've evolved into a different type of female athlete, the type of female athlete that just did this collective bargaining agreement and asked for things that we wouldn't have had the ability to ask for."
Wicks has had a front-row seat to seeing how much the league has changed and evolved, and how much the players have been able to advocate for change in the league and beyond.