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Becky Hammon, Lin Dunn headline the WNBA's Inspiring Women Luncheon honorees

Watch Becky Hammon's speech, and see some pictures from the league's annual luncheon honoring women for their accomplishments in sports and elsewhere.

By Albert Lee

On Friday, September 5, the WNBA held its Inspiring Women Luncheon in New York City. Over 300 people from sports, business and the government sectors attended. A highlight video of the event can be seen above from the league's YouTube channel.

Inspring Women Honorees

Former San Antonio Stars guard Becky Hammon and former Indiana Fever head coach Lin Dunn received the WNBA's Boost Mobile Pioneer Award. This award is given to recognize "females in the sports world who embody the spirit" of the WNBA.

Hammon played a 16-year career in the WNBA for the New York Liberty, where she played for the New York Liberty from 1999 to 2006, and the San Antonio Stars from 2007-2014. She retired seventh in career scoring with 5,841 points, and fourth in career assists with 1,708. Hammon now is an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs NBA team, where she is the first woman to be a full-time coach for the team. A video of her speech is below:

Dunn received her award after being inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in June and a 44-year coaching career where she led college and professional teams. While in the WNBA, Dunn was the first head coach and General Manager of the Seattle Storm from 2000-2002, and the Fever from 2008-2014. While in Indiana, Dunn won the 2012 Finals against a heavily favored Minnesota Lynx team.

CNN political commentator, strategist and Democratic National Committee Vice Chairwoman Donna Brazile received the 2014 WNBA Inspiration Award. Reshma Saujani, CEO of Girls Who Code, won the Cisco Inspiring the Future Award, for her efforts to close the gender gap in the technology and engineering sectors.

Click here for a link to a Q&A with Hammon, Dunn, and the next person I will talk about. That person is

Little League pitcher Mo'Ne Davis

The Little League World Series pitcher Mo'ne Davis was at Friday's event as well. Click here for a short video to show when WNBA President recognized her. And below is just one tweet of her chatting with Hammon:

Don't worry, we will show you

More pictures!

A good number of WNBA players attended this event.

First, here are Mystics guard Bria Hartley, Tulsa Shock guard Skylar Diggins, San Antonio Stars guard Kayla McBride, Tulsa Shock guard Odyssey Sims, and Washington Mystics center Stefanie Dolson:

And here's a picture of all the players there. In addition to the five players mentioned above, I see Swin Cash, Ruth Riley, Cappie Pondexter, Kalana Greene, and Kara Lawson. Someone's in a hat right behind Odyssey Sims too but I don't know who it is - but if I had to guess, maybe Tina Charles since I've seen her in hats before?

Since Washington, D.C. isn't too far away, four Mystics players were there: Kalana Greene and Kara Lawson were in this pic along with the Hartley and Dolson duo:

I wonder how Hartley's Twitter handle got mixed up, but oh well.

And can someone please call the NCAA again please! She is recruiting Mo'Ne Davis now that Geno can't!

Also, the Mystics had a facebook album too. It's embedded below if you're logged into Facebook, but if not, click here:

Post by Washington Mystics.

Oh my god... Kalana Greene took a picture with Mo'Ne Davis too! Oh no, two recruiting agents for the Evil Empire that is UConn! Also in the photo album, Team President Sheila Johnson took pictures with Dunn, Brazile, and Davis. Uh oh... I don't want to get the Mystics penalized either....

In seriousness though, you do your thing Mo'Ne! Glad to see that you were at the event and had a chance to meet some of the league's rising stars.

These are only some of the pictures from the Inspiring Luncheon. Glad to see that it was a success.

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