Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly spelled the names of Brian Garcia and Shaquille O’Neal.
A former Laker girl now operates as a full time professor at Long Beach City College. But dancing for Los Angeles’ most popular NBA team was just one stone in her mountain of success.
LBCC’s sociology professor Karyn Daniels, danced with the Los Angeles Lakers between 1999 and 2001 through the years of Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant dominating championships together. She even holds an NBA championship ring to show for it.
Daniels was one of only two sociology professors at LBCC when she started dedicating her additional 20 plus hours to the Lakers.
She lived in a world of dance, but also in a world determined to grow her education and to educate others. Although dance was one of her passions, she never prioritized time with the Lakers over time with her career as a sociology professor.
“I never gave up anything from work for the Lakers, which in retrospect maybe I should have. But at the time this was my career and I really owed my students,” said Daniels.
Her students and her degree were of the utmost priority. These priorities shine through in her bachelors degree from UCLA and her masters degree from Yale University.
Daniels recalled a handful of times when she had to miss certain events and parades for the Lakers to continue to teach and be there for her students.
There was one specific parade that she missed in order to focus on her work and her students.
Daniels remembered hearing the announcers on the radio note that one of the Laker girls was missing from the group. They described her as being ‘the Laker girl that graduated from Yale.’
Hearing this made her laugh because people were unable to picture a cheerleader and Yale graduate as the same person. These terms were supposed to be separate and accomplished by two seperate women, but in fact, Daniels did it all.
Despite the stereotype that seemingly still revolves around dancers and cheerleaders, most of the women on the Laker girl’s team were accomplished in ways that many people will never be.
“They were amazing women who are overachievers. You don’t make it to that level if you’ve just taken one dance class like in the eighth grade… Everyone had gone to college and everyone had these other things they were doing. It was very aspirational to be surrounded by women who were still striving,” said Daniels.
She worked with the Clippers Spirit for three years, two while attending UCLA and one year after she graduated as she took a ‘gap year’ before attending a graduate program.
During this transition year she was sure that she would choose her alma mater, UCLA, for her graduate program. However, after a Christmas party she attended with one of her fellow Clipper’s teammates, she saw her plans shift.
This teammate’s brother planted the idea that she apply to Yale’s graduate program, as he had attended and spoke so highly of the college. She had only seven days to apply at this point, and that she did.
She explained this rash decision saying, “I got it together. It was kind of like a dare.”
Two years later she returned home to her same waitressing job in Orange County.
Daniels admitted, “I didn’t know what I was going to do. I was in a PhD, but I left it because I was just very unhappy on the East coast.”
She then joined the Clippers again, where she experienced a camaraderie that she hasn’t had since.
“Even to this day I still dream about having been on because the connection with the other women was amazing….It’s just people who were dedicated to dance, who were dedicated to excellence in whatever they do,” said Daniels.
At 26, Daniels started teaching part time at LBCC. The following year, the school offered her a full time position and naturally she accepted. Now, Daniels has worked with LBCC for 25 years.
“It felt like home,” Daniels said.
Three short years later, the night before the Laker girl tryouts, she decided she would jump in with both feet and audition. Sure enough Daniels obvious talent and dedication to hard work landed her a spot with the L.A. Laker girls.
Daniels shared that as a young girl she watched the Laker girls dance on T.V. and she decided she was going to do that someday.
Her pattern of success is clear. Once Daniels fixes her eye on a goal, nothing can stand in her way of getting to where she wants to go.
Although Daniels marvels at her time with the Lakers, she admits that the job came with serious requirements and anxieties when it came to managing the team’s weight requirements. She said, “They told us, ‘this is the weight I’m hiring you at and this is what you’re staying at.’”
That sort of pressure weighs on any person, and for a perfectionist like Daniels it weighed on her more than others. She admits that she would oftentimes find she was underweight because she was scared of the scale their coach would pull out from time to time.
Through all of this she remained a remarkable teacher for her students everyday.
Brian Garcia, former student and current English professor at LBCC, attests to that, saying, “I remember once she told me that I needed to work on my follow through because I wasn’t pulling my weight as a student. I think I had been floating through school on natural ability for a while and I wasn’t putting enough effort in… and she was right.”
He proudly admits that she was one of his top three most influential teachers.
Daniels suggestion to anyone looking to try something they might fear is to, “take advantage of the weird opportunity you would have never thought of. If you can walk in, then you can walk out.”
Even after all the years that have passed since her dancing days have ended, Daniels still does eight kicks on each leg in the morning to make sure she’s ‘still got it.’