Lisa Leslie

Before he became coach of the Los Angeles Sparks, Michael Cooper made his mark as a player with the powerhouse Los Angeles Lakers. Playing in the 1980s alongside such talents as Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, "Coop" and the Lakers won five NBA titles and made it to the finals eight times in that decade. He retired as a player for the team in 1990, but he became an assistant coach in 1994. Although his grandfather, a player in the Negro Baseball League, encouraged Cooper to try baseball, Cooper started out as a football player. After sustaining an injury in his first game, he turned to basketball, and stuck with it, playing for Pasadena High School, Pasadena City College and the University of New Mexico. It was at PCC where he began wearing his trademark knee-high athletic socks. He later explained that he opted for the look so his grandmother, who had cataracts, could distinguish him from the other players when she watched his games. Cooper was drafted by the Lakers in 1978 and he was named NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 1987. His full story is recounted in the 1987 autobiography No Slack.