ATWATER -- Everywhere Carolyn Williams looked, she was surrounded by basketball royalty.

Turn one way and there's Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson.

On the other side of the room, Larry Bird, LeBron James, Charles Barkley.

Some of the greatest basketball players were on hand last month at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., to honor Williams and the rest of the All American Red Heads, who became the first women's professional basketball team to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

The Red Heads were part of a 2012 class that also included players like Reggie Miller, Ralph Sampson and Jamaal Wilkes, and former Golden State Warriors coach Don Nelson.

Williams, 57, played one year with the Red Heads from 1975 to 1976. She traveled across the country, playing in more than 200 games.

"It's like, 'We're one of them, really? We're in the Hall of Fame like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, my idol?' " Williams said. "You'd see Pat Riley, Chris Mullin, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird. We were pretty much star struck. Charles Barkley came up to us and said welcome to the family. Some of them actually came up and asked if they could take a picture with us!"

The All American Red Heads were basically the female equivalent of the Harlem Globetrotters. The Red Heads debuted in 1936 and played until 1986. They traveled across the country, usually playing fund-raisers for schools against teams made up of coaches and other faculty, but also played games in Madison Square Garden and Chicago Stadium.

They played against men's teams and rarely lost. "The men didn't want to lose," said Red Head teammate Patty Bruce. "They broke my nose. They did not want a girl to beat them."

The 5-foot-10 Williams was recruited for the team while playing at Chico State. She was invited to a basketball camp in Mississippi during the summer of 1975. There, she was asked to join the Red Heads.

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