The New York City Sports Commission
Square Garden a franchise to operate its own team for the 1926-27 season. This came following the success of the New York Americans who began play just one year earlier and would become the Rangers archrival. In that same year, Garden President G.L "Tex" Rickard chose Conn Smythe to build his new team. Smythe did an exceptional job assembling a roster that included Hall of Famers Frank Boucher and Bill Cook. As a result of the team's talent and immediate success, sportswriters dubbed the team "Tex's Rangers" and thus the origin of the team's name. The team finished the regular season third in the league with a 25-13-6 record.
1996 The Women’s
National Basketball
Association was created
under
the leadership of Valerie Ackerman, President of the league. There were
eight teams in the opening season- Utah Jazz, Cleveland Rockers, Charlotte
Sting, New York Liberty, Houston Comets, Sacramento Monarchs, Phoenix
Mercury and the Los Angeles Sparks.
1997 On January
22, the New York Liberty acquired Rebecca Lobo and
Theresa Weatherspoon in the initial player allocations. In the Elite
draft held on February 27, the Liberty had the 4th pick overall
and chose Kym Hampton. They also acquired Vicki Johnson with the
12th pick. Nancy Darsch was named Head Coach on April
29th, after spending 12 seasons as women’s basketball head
coach at Ohio State. Their first game was against the Los Angeles Sparks in Los Angeles on
June 21st. On June 29th, the Liberty played their
first home game against the Phoenix Mercury. They were victorious in both
games. The Liberty finished second overall in the Eastern Conference,
with a record of 17-11. They beat Phoenix in the semifinals 59-41 only to
be defeated by Houston 65-51 in the championship game on August 30.
Theresa Weatherspoon won the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year Award and
also led the league in assists and steals per game. She and Rebecca Lobo
made the All-WNBA second team. 1998 The Liberty had the
9th pick overall and
chose Alicia Thompson. Sophia Witherspoon lead the team with 413 points
scored, 92 free throws made, and 33 three-pointers made. Once again,
Theresa Weatherspoon was named Defensive Player of the Year and led the
league in steals per game. They finished the season 18-12 and third in
the Eastern Conference. 1999 Richie Adubato took
over as head coach for the Liberty
replacing Nancy
Darsch. He was an NBA coach for the Detroit Pistons, Dallas Mavericks,
and the Orlando Magic. He was also the assistant coach for the New York
Knicks from 1982-1986 under Hubie Brown.
The Liberty finished first in the Eastern Conference with a record of
18-14. They advanced to the finals by defeating the Charlotte Sting. In
the finals, they met the 2-time WNBA Champion Houston Comets. Houston
defeated New York in the 1997 Championship game. The defending champs won
the first game of the series with a convincing 73-60 victory. Game 2 was the most exciting WNBA Championship Series game ever played.
It was a seesaw battle that Houston’s players and fans thought they had
won. Fortunately for the Liberty, Theresa Weatherspoon kept their dreams
alive. She made a spectacular half-court shot to win the game 68-67 at
the final buzzer to push the series to a Game 3. The Liberty lost in the
decisive Game 3 of the Championship Series, once again, in Houston, 59-47,
making it Houston’s third WNBA title. Sue Wicks had a game high of 11
points. Theresa Weatherspoon, who scored 8 points, was named to the
All-WNBA Second Team. This game was also Kym Hampton’s last game as a professional basketball
player. She ended a three-year career with the Liberty and a 14-year
professional career that began overseas in 1985. In her career with the
Liberty, she started in all of New York’s 90 regular-season games over
three seasons, averaging 9.3 points and 5.8 rebounds.
