This story appears in the Dec. 18, 2017, issue of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED. To subscribe, click here.
Late last month, Doris Burke was sitting in her living room watching Ben Simmons miss a dozen free throws in the fourth quarter. Every time the Wizards intentionally fouled the Sixers rookie, sending him to the stripe for another adventure, Burke winced: “I’m dying for the guy and going, I’ve been there, buddy.”
In the early 1980s she was Doris Sable, point guard for the Manasquan Warriors and one of the top players in southern New Jersey.