(This story is one in a series profiling the 2024 inductees into the Greater Flint Area Sports Hall of Fame. The profiles are provided by the GFASHOF. This year’s induction banquet will be held at the Ascension Genesys Banquet Center in Grand Blanc Township on Saturday, Dec. 7. Doors open at 3:15 pm.)
FLINT, MI – Before Deanna Nolan made a name for herself playing basketball around the globe, she had to earn her stripes in pick-up games against guys on courts in her hometown of Flint.
In her neighborhood, that respect was already built-in. When she ventured around the city, it needed to be established.
“They respected me right away,” Nolan said. “We’d known each other since elementary. It’s always the ones that when you go to blacktops or to the park or the YMCA, then you have some doubters until you show them and prove yourself.”
Nolan didn’t begin playing organized basketball on girls teams until she was in fifth or sixth grade. By the time she was on an actual team, her growth had been accelerated by playing against boys in a city known for producing great basketball talent.
“I had to do what they did,” she said. “I had to keep up. It kind of helped me develop my athletic ability, my toughness from playing pick-up against bigger players, faster players, stronger players.”
From the blacktops of Flint, Nolan went on to win two state championships at Flint Northern High School in the mid-1990s, three WNBA championships with the Detroit Shock and numerous other titles playing basketball in Europe until a freak injury ended her career in 2018.
A five-time WNBA All-Star and the MVP of the 2006 WNBA Finals, she is considered one of the greatest players in the league’s history.
Her European career took her to Italy, Spain, Poland, the Czech Republic and Israel for one-year stints before she played 11 years in Russia.
“Basketball has taken me literally all over the world,” she said. “Flint is known as a basketball city. We have a lot of great players and upcoming talent who have come and are still coming out of Flint. We always know people from Flint are tough; that’s what we’re known for.”
At Northern, Nolan helped re-establish the Vikings as a state powerhouse.
Northern won four straight state championships from 1978-81, having a bid for a fifth consecutive title end in the 1982 final. The Vikings wouldn’t advance out of regionals again until Nolan’s sophomore year, when they won the 1994 Class A crown with a 46-32 victory over Detroit King. When Northern won again in 1995, Nolan had 16 points, 10 rebounds and three assists in a 59-40 victory over Walled Lake Central in the championship game.
Although Northern lost 52-51 to Grand Rapids Christian in the quarterfinals in 1996, Nolan was named the state’s Miss Basketball.
“It was great to bring the championship back to Northern, especially back-to-back,” Nolan said. “It was one of those things being from Flint, such a small city, that you didn’t think it could happen, because most of us were freshmen playing on varsity. It’s like you had to grow up quick, because at the high school level in my era it was tough.”
Nolan went on to the University of Georgia, averaging 11.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.9 assists in three seasons before declaring early for the WNBA draft.
Nolan was able to return close to home when the Detroit Shock made her the sixth overall pick in the 2001 WNBA draft. Two years later, the Shock won the first of three championships during her career.
“The previous season, we were not so good,” Nolan said. “We started the season like 0-10, 0-15, something like that. To go from worst to first in a matter of a year was one of the biggest comeback stories. I think we’re the first ever to do that.
“To also have three other Flint people on the team with me – Stacey Thomas, (and coaches) Laurie Byrd and Pamela McGee, it was just one of those things I’ll never forget.”
Nolan averaged 13.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.3 steals in nine seasons with the Shock. In 48 playoff games, she elevated her game by averaging 18.1 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists.
In the deciding fifth game of the 2006 championship series against Sacramento, Nolan scored 24 points to earn MVP honors.
When the Shock relocated to Tulsa, Okla., for the 2010 season, Nolan quit playing in the WNBA but continued playing in Europe. Not playing WNBA games in the spring and summer gave Nolan some down time and allowed her to extend her career until she was 38 years old.
Her career would have lasted longer if not for a fluke injury sustained in a pick-up football game during a gathering of Flint Northern alumni.
“I stepped into a divot in the grass,” Nolan said. “I thought I just sprained my heel, but I ruptured my plantar fascia. It was my first major injury. I was supposed to sign with another team in Russia. I was 38 at the time. This was 2018. I thought it would take a month or two to heal. It took nine months to heal. I missed my window, especially as an older player.”
With her basketball career over, Nolan opened a wine bar in downtown Utica. It was a dream of hers for years, just expected that it would come down the road.
“I thought I had at least four or five more years,” she said. “Maybe three. It depends on the body. I wasn’t getting any younger. I thought I had a couple more years left playing. I played until I was 38 by taking care of the body, knowing what to do and what not to do.”
