Thousands of adoring New York Liberty fans celebrated their hometown champions Thursday with a ticker tape parade in honor of the club’s first WNBA title.
The Liberty erased an early 12-point deficit and beat the Minnesota Lynx 67-62 in an overtime thriller Sunday to win the first championship in franchise history.
The Liberty won the best-of-five final 3-2 for a long-awaited breakthrough crown. They had lost five previous finals and were the league’s only original franchise without a title.
Their triumph earned them the third ticker-tape parade in New York for a women’s sports team — and the first for a New York women’s outfit.
“It’s absolutely incredible, and they deserve it,” said Aracelis Amadeo, 51, a paralegal from the Bronx.
“These women deserve everything they have today.”
A convoy of tanks and open-top buses traveled through Manhattan’s “Canyon of Heroes” to City Hall, with Finals MVP Jonquel Jones leading the proceedings while fans wearing visors of the Statue of Liberty flashed ticker tape.
“I couldn’t dream of this,” Jones told reporters at the parade.
“There were so (many) sacrifices that had to be made for us to be able to achieve this.”
Players and staff were escorted by mounted police and bagpipe bands.
Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind,” an ode to New York, blared through the sound systems as the team’s elephant mascot, Ellie, danced to the music.
“I just like the way they play together: They’re having fun, even though they’ve done their job,” said Elena, a fan from neighboring New Jersey who had taken the day off to attend the parade.
“They’ve come a long way.”
A New York tradition, ticker tape parades have been held since the late 19th century to celebrate heads of state, returning soldiers, astronauts and sporting champions.
Megan Rapinoe and the U.S. women’s soccer team were honored with parades in 2015 and 2019 to celebrate their World Cup titles.
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