Virginia Marlita "Penny" Toler (born March 24, 1966) is an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

executive and former player who served most recently as the general manager of the

Los Angeles Sparks The Los Angeles Sparks (LA Sparks) are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was foun ...

of the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the Natio ...

(WNBA). Toler holds the distinction of scoring the first basket in WNBA history.

College years

Toler began her college career at

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

, sat out a year, and then transferred to

Long Beach State California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...

, where she became an

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n basketball player. During her career Long Beach State made it to the Final Four twice, in 1987 and 1988. Toler was considered one of the best ever collegiate players under future Hall of Fame coach

Joan Bonvicini Joan Bonvicini (born October 10, 1953) is the former head coach for the Seattle University women's basketball team, the Redhawks, and one of only 18 coaches in Division I women's basketball history with 701 career victories. She was head coach ...

. In 1995 she was inducted into the Long Beach State Athletic Hall of Fame.

Long Beach State statistics

Source

Professional career

Having no viable domestic professional options, Toler began her professional career in Italy, playing two seasons for Montecchio and three for Pescara. She then played two seasons in Greece for Sporting Flash, and one in Israel for Ramat HaSharon. In 1997, she returned to the United States to play in the newly organized WNBA. Toler was a point guard allocated to the

during the player initiation round in the

1997 WNBA draft The 1997 WNBA draft was the inaugural draft held by the WNBA through which teams could select new players from a talent pool of college and professional women's basketball players. Unlike later drafts, this draft was unique because there were thr ...

. She is most commonly remembered as the first player to score a basket in the WNBA. She did so against the

New York Liberty The New York Liberty are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Liberty compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as part of the league's Eastern Conference. The team was f ...

on June 21, 1997 19:01 hour at the Los Angeles

Great Western Forum Kia Forum (formerly The Forum) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Inglewood, California, United States, adjacent to Los Angeles. Located between West Manchester Boulevard, across Pincay Drive and Kareem Court, it is north of SoFi Stadium and t ...

. Her shot was a side jumper. Toler also made the first free throw in the WNBA history. In November 1999 she retired as a player to become the general manager of the Los Angeles Sparks. Immediately after taking on a management role, she would assemble the Los Angeles Sparks roster that would become the championship team in 2001. Among all professional men or women sports leagues, Toler would become the fastest person to go from a player to general manager status to winning a championship in two years. On July 20, 2014, Toler was named as interim head coach following the firing of

Carol Ross Carol Ross (born June 11, 1959) is an American college and professional basketball coach. Ross has served as the head women's basketball coach for the University of Florida and the University of Mississippi, and also as the head coach of the Los ...

. Toler was fired as vice president and general manager on October 4, 2019, after the Sparks were swept out of the WNBA semifinals during the 2019 WNBA Playoffs. The move also came after the revelation that Toler entered the Sparks' locker room following their Game 2 loss and gave an obscenity-laced speech that included the use of the "N-word".

International career

By the time the WNBA launched, Toler had already spent eight years playing basketball overseas. She has played five seasons in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, two seasons in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, and a season in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. While in Italy, she won a scoring title, two assist titles, and was MVP of the Italian all-star game.

Career statistics

Regular season

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1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

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Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, 28 , , 28 , , 32.4 , , .426 , , .184 , , .839 , , 3.4 , , 5.1 , , 1.3 , , 0.1 , , 3.8 , , 13.1 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

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, 30 , , 30 , , 31.5 , , .415 , , .417 , , .743 , , 3.5 , , 4.8 , , 1.1 , , 0.1 , , 3.3 , , 12.3 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 30 , , 4 , , 14.2 , , .340 , , .154 , , .867 , , 1.4 , , 2.2 , , 0.4 , , 0.0 , , 1.3 , , 4.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", 3 years, 1 team , 88 , , 62 , , 25.9 , , .406 , , .306 , , .811 , , 2.8 , , 4.0 , , 0.9 , , 0.1 , , 2.8 , , 10.0

Playoffs

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, 4 , , 0 , , 10.5 , , .333 , , .000 , , .500 , , 1.5 , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 0.0 , , 0.8 , , 2.5

References

External links

USATODAY Recognition
{{DEFAULTSORT:Toler, Penny 1966 births Living people All-American college women's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Greece American expatriate basketball people in Israel American expatriate basketball people in Italy American women's basketball coaches American women's basketball players Basketball players from Washington, D.C. Long Beach State Beach women's basketball players Los Angeles Sparks head coaches Los Angeles Sparks players Place of birth missing (living people) Point guards San Diego State Aztecs women's basketball players Women's National Basketball Association executives Women in American professional sports management Women's National Basketball Association general managers