Before the Dream: The Atlanta Glory

The last time Atlanta had a pro women's basketball team was from the years 1996 to 1998. This was the American Basketball League and the name of that team was the Atlanta Glory.

In the two years in Atlanta, the Glory finished 18-22 in 1996-97 and finished 15-29 in 1997-98. In neither of those years did the Glory make the playoffs. The Glory played at the Forbes Arena in Norcross, Georgia, where they averaged 4,106 fans a home game (good for third place) in their first year. (The Morehouse College teams play at Forbes.) However, attendance would fall to 3,898 in their second year which would still be good for fourth place in a nine-team league.

Teresa Edwards was both coach and player for the team during its two years.

Around March 20, 1998 - with the ABL championships still in progress, ABL co-founder Gary Cavalli stated that the team was losing money and would not return for the 1998-99 season. The idea was to relocate the Glory, but the franchise was simply disbanded and no team would inherit the Glory's heritage.

So let's honor the players of the Atlanta Glory and figure out where they are now:

Carla McGhee: McGhee went on to play with the Orlando Miracle for four years after the Glory folded. After jobs with General Motors and the WNBA, she is now an assistant coach with Dawn Staley at the University of South Carolina.

Cassandra Crumpton: As Cassanra Crumpton-Moorer, she played briefly for the New York Liberty in 1997. Crumpton-Moorer is now the head girls' basketball coach at American Christian Academy in Tuscaloosa.

Cornelia Gayden: Gayden played briefly for the Orlando Miracle in 2001.

Latina Davis: Davis coached at East Tennessee State University and Unicoi County High School before she was accused of the statuatory rape of a high school student. She plead guilty to a reduced charge and was working as a security officer as of 2005.

Lauretta Freeman: Freeman, now Freeman-Horn, coaches at St. Paul's Episcopal High School in Alabama.

Laurie Byrd: Byrd would move on to become an assistant coach at the University of Detroit, and then of the Shock and the Comets in their final year. She is now the captain of the Las Vegas Pride, a Women's Blue Chip Basketball League team.

Margo Graham: Graham would play briefly for the Washington Mystics in their inaugural 1998 season. Her current activities are unknown.

Missy Masley: She would go on to play professionally in Switzerland. Her current activities are unknown.

Niesa Johnson: Johnson played for the Charlotte Sting in 1999 and 2000. She was forced to miss the 2001 season due to a blood clotting problem, and disappeared from public view afterwards.

Rachel Hemmer: Hemmer's present whereabouts are unknown.

Saudia Roundtree: Roundtree would play with the Nashville Noise after her years with the Glory. She would coach at Morris Brown, North Carolina A & T, Alabama, and Central Florida. She now is a coach on the Clemson staff.

Stacey Lovelace: Lovelace, now Lovelace-Tolbert, would play for six WNBA teams. She played part of the 2008 season with the Atlanta Dream, and was waived in mid-season. She finished the 2008 season with the Detroit Shock - a team which would also ending up waiving her.

Teresa Edwards: Edwards was the player-coach of the Glory. She did not join the WNBA after the ABL collapsed, claiming that she did not want to receive rookie wages. She would play two years for the Minnesota Lynx in 2003 and 2004, and join the staff as an assistant coach. She became an analyst on Atlanta Dream telecasts on Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast (CSS) in 2008, and now works with the Suwanee Sports Academy in Georgia.

Abby Conklin: After finishing with the Glory, Conklin coached high school and was an assistant coach at UNC-Asheville and Wyoming. She is now an assistant at San Francisco.

Amy Cherubini: Cherubini was already an assistant coach at Michigan before lacing up for the Glory. She has been a high school coach and an assistant coach at Saint Louis University, Division II Indianapolis and is now an assistant at Butler.

Bojanna "Boky" Vidic: Boky Vidic, from Croatia, was one of the few players to ever come out of the closet to her team while a collegian at Oregon State. After playing for the Glory, she disappeared from the public view. She had a partner in the United States; it is not known if she is still in the United States or has returned to Europe.

Cathy Boswell: After her U. S. career, Boswell spent until 2006 playing overseas. According to her website - www.cathyboswell.com - she is an assistant coach for a Liga Feminina 2 team in Spain.

Darla Simpson: Darla Simpson would play for the Colorado Xplosion after the 1997-98 season. She would also play for the NWBL and be invited to a Shock training camp (but not play). Her current activities are unknown.

Katrina McClain: Now Katrina McClain-Johnson, McClain would play for overseas nine years before her ABL career was completed. After the Glory, she retired. She would be inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006. She currently heads the Katrina McClain Foundation and runs basketball camps.

Nadine Malcolm: Malcolm would play for the Seattle Reign in the 1998-99 season, and would play for the Indiana Fever in 2001 and 2002. The last information I could find about her was that she was a substitute teacher in New York State as of 2004.

Nicky McCrimmon: McCrimmon would play for the Glory in 1997-98, and play for the Long Beach Stingrays in the same year. From 2000 to 2003, she would play for the Los Angeles Sparks. In 2004, she was playing on an exhibition team that played against college women's basketball teams; I have no information about her after that.

Tracy Henderson: Now Henderson-Edwards, Henderson played for the Cleveland Rockers in 1999 and then missed two seasons after that - one due to pregnancy and one due to knee problems. She returned to Cleveland to play in 2002 and 2003. As of 2007, she was helping run the Overtime Basketball Academy in Georgia. She was last noted at a Georgia-Alabama women's basketball game in 2008.