Rough Notes: First-Ever From The Bay Area
The story of Oakland legend Anna Johnson.
Last night the Golden State Valkyries did something historic: they played WNBA basketball in the Bay Area. The energy was kinetic; for fans, this was more than a pre-season game. It was the beginning of a new world.
But the day wouldn’t be complete without honoring one of the people who played pro women’s basketball here four decades ago: meet Anna Johnson, the first-ever professional women’s basketball player from the Bay Area. I’ve been working on this piece about Anna since October. It’s the story of a woman who loved basketball so much, she found a way to play when it was nearly impossible to do so. It’s a story of Oakland, the real heartbeat of basketball in the Bay. And it’s a testament to the love between a mother and daughter and their belief in one another. It’s also an introduction the San Francisco Pioneers, the first group of women to play pro-women’s basketball in the Bay Area, 46 years before the Valkyries first pre-season game (& I can’t wait to share more of their stories with you this summer, right here in Rough Notes.) Finally, the piece is an open question: how will the Valkyries honor the Pioneers & others who for decades have shaped women’s basketball in the Bay before this moment?
Last fall, I was lucky to meet Anna while starting to research the Pioneers. We shared eggs at a café tucked between the freeway and the hiking trails of Oakland, when I realized a few things: 1) We’d grown up about a mile apart, 2) I felt like I already knew her 3) Anna was the only Pioneers player born and raised in the Bay Area, and likely the first-ever professional women’s basketball player from Oakland, and 4) Like so many histories in women’s basketball, Anna’s career hadn’t yet been publicly recorded.
I was born in Oakland on May 7, 1990 (yes yep today). I grew up here, where I learned basketball from my father like a sacred text and whispered prayers to WNBA players on posters pinned on my bedroom wall. I could only have dreamt, then, of a professional women’s basketball team for the Bay Area. And my dorky writer kid heart would have actually mushroomed to imagine that one day, I’d manage to find Oakland’s first pro player, that she would achieved such a thing right there in San Francisco, and that I’d have the honor of telling her story and becoming her friend.
I wrote much more about my friendship with Anna in another post, How Oakland Begins. That one is available only for paid subscribers, Consider upgrading to get the full experience of me + Anna & behind-the-scenes on this piece.
Here are some more photos of Anna that we couldn’t fit into the article, hope you enjoy:
