Contributed by Lindsey Young
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Like lots of kids, Candace Ewers grew to share several interests with her parents. Luckily for her, Candice’s dad is an avid basketball fan. He encouraged Candace’s love for the sport, buying her player cards and introducing her to NBA Inside Stuff with Ahmad Rashad at an early age.
“My dad used to order Basketball Digest, when they had the team addresses in the back, and I ended up writing a letter to my two favorite players at the time, Alonzo Mourning and Larry Johnson,” Candace said. “Basketball quickly became my absolute favorite sport.”
Candace was 10 years old when the WNBA started in 1997, and she loved the concept of a professional women’s team. The only problem, however, was that Minnesota didn’t have a team.
So she pretended.
For two years, Candace played basketball in the driveway and imagined epic showdowns between WNBA teams, one being a made-up Minnesota squad.
“The Minnesota team would always win,” Candace said. “Always.”
In 1999, the Minnesota Lynx joined the league—Candace immediately jumped on board. The 12-year-old fan attached to guard Katie Smith because she wore the same jersey number (14) that Candace wore on her middle school team, and Smith remains her favorite player to this day.
With the team being so new and the WNBA not catching on right away, Candace says she endured some teasing, but it didn’t deter her from supporting the team. She defended the Lynx to anyone who dared give her a hard time, and the flack only fueled her fandom. Eventually, as Lynx fans know, everything paid off.
“Experiencing all the hardships of bad records, coaches leaving the team and trading away our star players made winning that first title even sweeter.” She also admitted, “I felt a bit of vindication for all the teasing.”
When asked about her favorite Lynx experiences, it’s impossible for Candace to name just one thing, but meeting her two favorite WNBA players—Smith and Rebecca Lobo—rank near the top.
Candace met Smith following a game in which she was nearing the 5,000-point mark in her career, so the timing proved perfect. Candace navigated the heavy crowd to greet Smith.
“I wish I could have gotten more time to talk with her, because she’s my number one favorite,” Candace explained, “but I offered her congratulations [for the point total].”
Candace also got to meet Lobo, formerly of Connecticut, when Lobo was an ESPN analyst covering a 2008 Lynx/Suns. She had wanted to meet Lobo several instances before, but the center had been injured in the two Minnesota games Candace attended earlier in her career.
When Candace finally gained the chance to meet the former player and told her of the long-awaited goal, Lobo signed a ticket for her and wrote “It’s great finally meeting you!”
Of course, another favorite experience for Candace is any game she’s attended in person, as she loves the atmosphere at Target Center. According to her, it’s something everyone should experience.
“Just getting to be there and watching the awesome chemistry of Maya [Moore], Lindsay [Whalen] and Seimone [Augustus] – seeing the team succeed and getting to experience that is amazing!”
And for those of you who are superstitious types, Candace just may be a good luck charm. Interestingly enough, the Lynx have clinched playoff sports on the fan’s birthday two different times.
Candace takes her support of the team seriously, and she’s created other fans, as well. She talked her family into attending a Lynx game with her, and soon her three brothers were cheering right alongside her. Despite living a distance from the Twin Cities, Candace finds ways to attend games whenever she can. She’ll go with “just about anybody” that will root for the Lynx with her, she said, laughing.
She hopes to teach other young kids to be excited about basketball like her dad taught her, and she specifically wants to continue growing hype for the Lynx. Family friends of Candace’s have three young children, and she loves spending time with them.
“I’ve told the girls about the Lynx, and I definitely plan on bringing them to a game … or five!”
Candace says she has lots of goals in life, including one day having a family of her own and sharing a sports bond with them. She looks forward to the day she’ll get to tell her kids about the various standout women that have played for Minnesota and—hopefully—the team’s continued success.
Things certainly look positive so far. Candace is anxiously awaiting the start of the regular season this Friday. She says that 2015 “feels like a title year” and is pumped up about the moves the team has made and also the players returning healthy to the hardwood.
“I’m just excited to see the team consistently again and to watch Maya Moore continue to blossom into a more dominant and awesome basketball player,” Candace said. “Maybe brag a little bit about how she’s ours. And of course gush about the Lynx all season long.”
One day, Candace hopes to purchase season tickets to the Lynx. She currently lives in Rochester and settles for watching many games on TV and visiting the mall to stock up on Lynx merchandise.
“I will talk about the history and greatness of this team until the day I die,” promises Candice.
You have a few days to get a hold of Candace before the season kicks off; after Friday, you can fully expect this Fan of the Pack to be in full-blown Lynx mode.
And if you ever want a new friend to go to a game with, you know who to ask.