Hoop dreams rekindled

In her Woodinville bedroom, 12-year-old Samantha Pell is sleeping under her "Storm wall" and dreaming basketball dreams again.

She has also returned to Starbucks, ending a one-girl boycott she started after company CEO Howard Schultz sold the Seattle Storm to Oklahoma businessman Clay Bennett. "I decided I didn't want to give Howard Schultz any more money because he probably knew Clay Bennett was going to move the Storm to Oklahoma," Samantha said the other day. "So I didn't even go into the store."

That changed last week, when it was announced that four Seattle businesswomen — Anne Levinson, Lisa Brummel, Dawn Trudeau and Ginny Gilder — had bought the Storm from Bennett for $10 million.

The team will stay put and stay local, under owners who were once girls like Samantha.

"They have more of a perspective of how other people feel," Samantha said of the owners. "In most sports, it's, 'Girls can't play, girls can't be strong in sports,' " she said. "But in Seattle, they're going to see that we're strong, and we're going to stay for a long time."

The Saving of the Storm resonates on many levels, but also means that for once, something Seattle is being preserved — not sold to out-of-towners or razed for condos.

Better yet, the team is in the safe hands of four women who know the city, know the team and have asked taxpayers for nothing but to believe in them — or to believe again.

At her office at the University of Washington, Jan Arntz knows she won't be jilted again; that the Storm isn't going to fold like the Seattle Reign did in 1998, after just two years as the city's American Basketball League franchise.

Arntz, 56, was a Reign season-ticket holder — a step she didn't take with the Storm.

"It was timing," she said. "But I was also worried that they were going to be sold or leave town. I am thrilled."

And at her downtown office, new owner Levinson pores over e-mails from far and wide: Senators. Neighbors. Council members. Fathers.

A self-described "pre-Title IX woman" wrote of being "deeply moved ... You have helped to send a message to women and girls that all things are possible."

Said Levinson: "I knew stepping forward to do this was the right thing, but I had no idea it would resonate like this."

Levinson approached Bennett at the end of the last legislative session, when it became clear that the proposal for a new arena for the Sonics and Storm would not be addressed.

"The Storm had the potential to be lost," Levinson said, "and they didn't need to be."

The women won the exclusive option to buy the team. They have until the end of February to close the deal and get the approval of NBA and WNBA owners.

"People have said, 'Where are the leaders of today? Why doesn't anyone step up?' " Levinson said of her group.

"Well, someone did."

With that, a team is saved, a fan base is recharged, and at least one girl can resume her basketball dreams — and more.

Nicole Brodeur's column appears Tuesday and Friday. Reach her at 206-464-2334 or nbrodeur@seattletimes.com.

See you there, Sharon and Sam.