"At 5-foot-9, listed in some places as 5-foot-8, her vertical leap was reported as high as 36 inches. Word of her talent had spread across the WBL, the tale growing taller. "She's up there so long, she can dial a telephone number," Pioneers teammate Roberta Williams would tell me decades later. "Say hello, and before the conversation's over, say goodbye ... I never saw a female who had the kind of hang time she had.""
"With the clock winding down, this gave West head coach Greg Williams the idea to encourage Hicks to try something she'd never done in a WBL game before: attempt a dunk. "She was such a graceful athlete," he remembered. "Almost poetry in motion." The coach had total confidence in her abilities. "You go up there and play the way you wanna play-just shake 'em!" she recalled him saying. Hicks, known for her impressive vertical and magnetic charisma, was more than ready."
Cardte Hicks, a 25-year-old All-Star for the San Francisco Pioneers, showcased an extraordinary vertical leap—reported up to 36 inches—during the 1981 WBL All-Star Game. At roughly 5-foot-9, Hicks displayed rare hang time that teammates recalled vividly, prompting West coach Greg Williams to invite her to attempt a dunk late in the game. Hicks attempted a dunk as part of the West's dominant 125-92 victory. The WBL folded shortly thereafter, creating a 15-year absence of U.S. women's pro leagues that forced many elite players, including Hicks, to pursue careers overseas.
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