HOUSTON – When she was a little girl, Lesley Visser surprised her mother by telling her she wanted to be a sports writer, which was certainly not the norm in the early 1960s, because it hadn’t been done before. What her mother told her is now the title of her book: “Sometimes You Have To Cross When It Says Don’t Walk.”
She’s been breaking barriers ever since and is a guest this week on Houston Newsmakers Extra.
Visser was the first female NFL analyst on television and the first woman entered into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2006, along with Troy Aikman, Reggie White, Warren Moon and other greats.
Visser entered the Hall of Fame as the recipient of the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award and says it was a wonderful experience that she hopes others can gain from.
“I hoped it meant that many more women can say whatever I want to do in sports or whatever I want to do at all," Visser said.
In this #metoo era, Visser says we are now experiencing a “course correction of sorts” and that she has never had a woman boss and looks forward to when many more women are in such positions.
Much more on her experiences on and off the field can be found in this week’s Houston Newsmakers Extra.
- Lesley Visser: “Sometimes You Have To Cross When It Says Don’t Walk: A Memoir of Breaking Barriers"