Sparks’ Leslie Recognized for Her Success in Sports

Spark center Lisa Leslie will be awarded the Women’s Sports Foundation’s Flo Hyman Memorial Award today at a Washington luncheon.

The award, annually honoring a woman for sports achievements, is named for the U.S. Olympic volleyball star who died of Marfan syndrome in 1986.

Leslie, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was a two-time All-American at USC who won the Naismith Award as the top women’s college basketball player in 1994. She was also twice (1993 and ‘98) named USA Basketball’s female athlete of the year.

Leslie, a 6-foot-5 center, is a charter member of the WNBA’s Sparks, having started in each of the team’s four seasons.

Her mother, Christine Espinoza, will be honored at the luncheon for her role in encouraging Leslie to succeed in sports. A $10,000 check in her name was earmarked for the Girls and Women in Sports Day fund.

Leslie, as a young girl riding around the country in her truck driver-mom’s 18-wheeler rig, dreamed of one day becoming a TV weather reporter. She has long credited her mother for helping her develop a competitive spirit to match her basketball gifts.