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Owner/General Manager, Las Vegas Stars Men's Basketball Team

You'd think Alexis Levi's skin was coated in stainless steel, that ice would course through her veins, that she's the kind of woman to breathe commands with molten lava intensity to a collection of quivering underlings. But the owner and general manager of Las Vegas Stars men's pro basketball team is an ordinary woman, performing in an extraordinary capacity of historic proportions. "I decided I wanted to have more impact on the sports industry. I didn't know I was going to be the first African American female to own a men's professional basketball team, so my life has pretty much changed since last August," says the former sports agent, who commutes from the East Coast to run the West Coast team. "There have been a lot of journeys that I've had to take because I'm a woman, a black woman, in a man's world." The Stars play under the International Basketball League, which boasts 32 teams and is operated out of Portland, Ore. At the time of the interview, the Stars were destined for the playoffs with an 8-2 record, which has taken the league by surprise. "It's difficult but I love the journey. Some men have been difficult; I'm not going to even lie. Some men shun me," Levi says. "And not only did I come into a situation where I was an outsider, we came in and we won. So, now they really don't like me, but the team that I have behind me is wonderful. And the team that I have on the court is wonderful. And as long as they've got my back, I've got theirs." - terry shropshire

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