SAN ANTONIO – In the gym at Roosevelt High School, Arysia Porter dribbled her dreams into reality, her sneakers squeaking against the polished floor as she aimed for Division I college basketball.
The Roughriders girls’ basketball team was her stage, but college scouts overlooked the pint-sized point guard.
“They saw her and thought she was too small,” recalled Robert Rheinberger, her high school coach.
The turning point came in her final high school game, a playoff clash where Porter faced a Division I-bound opponent.
She poured her heart into every shot, every pass.
“That playoff game, she had 28 points, and my phone started blowing up,” Rheinberger said.
“I just let go and let God,” Porter reflected. “In that last game, I said, ‘I’m going to leave my heart on the floor and give it to you, Lord.’ The next day, I got a full-ride scholarship.”
Jason Martens, then head coach at St. Mary’s University, saw what others missed.
Porter became the Rattlers’ starting point guard for four years, battling through a knee injury to shatter the program’s single-game scoring record on her senior night.
After college, Porter juggled substitute teaching at Roosevelt, working as a ball girl for the San Antonio Spurs and chasing a WNBA dream.
She also toyed with content creation, unsure of her path.
Three summers ago, a call changed everything.
The Harlem Globetrotters had seen her highlight reels.
“They said they saw how good I handled the ball,” Porter said. “They invited me to a tryout, and I thought, ‘They’re iconic—why pass this up?’”
Torn between her passions, she found clarity with the Globetrotters.
“I love content creation and basketball,” she shared. “This team is the best of both worlds. I play the game, entertain and make the crowd smile. I get to be a goofball, dance and show cool tricks. It’s a dream job.”
At her Atlanta tryout, Porter’s infectious energy shone.
Rheinberger described her magic: “You don’t see her not smiling. Her personality consumes you—that’s why people love her.”
“Show your personality,” she told herself. “I said—bet.”
As a child in San Antonio, Porter had begged to see the Globetrotters live, captivated by their TV antics.
“I’d say, ‘Mom, can we please go?’” she remembered.
“We wanted to take her, but things happened, and we couldn’t,” her mother, Yvette Porter, said. “I told her recently, ‘Now you can go to all the games because you’re in them. Have fun, knock yourself out.”
“My first game was me playing,” Porter laughed.
“I’ll never forget her first game in Austin,” Yvette added. “Her dad and I had tears.”
Now in her fourth year, the 27-year-old has dazzled audiences in 130 cities across 16 countries, set four Guinness World Records, and mastered a no-look, backward, half-court trick shot.
Fans adore her, especially when they spot her “Ace No. 1” jersey.
“Going from substituting to seeing people wear your jersey worldwide—it’s surreal,” she mused.
“The fans love it, especially when a woman does it,” she added. “They eat it up.”
The first woman from San Antonio to join the Globetrotters, Porter dreams bigger.
“I want an all-female Harlem Globetrotter team,” she declared. “We’re showing we can do anything the men can do.”
Porter’s journey—from a San Antonio gym to global stages—proves no dream is too big, no player too small.
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