This Chronicle Valkyries cover became an instant icon. For the photographer who took it, it's a full-circle moment

Before Gabby Williams was a WNBA champion with the Golden State Valkyries and the league’s Finals MVP, before she was captured on the front of Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle, arm raised in victory, she was a kid from Nevada, playing club basketball in the Bay Area and attending legendary college coach Tara VanDerveer’s girls camp at Stanford University.

And before Clara Mokri was a freelance photographer, working Game 7 of the WNBA finals for the Chronicle and snagging that joyful front-page image, she was a basketball-loving kid from Los Angeles playing against a young Williams at that Stanford camp.

“I just remember her being, like, so quick, so crafty with the ball,” said Mokri. 

For the photographer, who played AAU basketball for the California Storm and two years of college ball at Yale University, watching and working the WNBA finals was a full-circle moment. Seeing Williams and the Atlanta Dream’s Jordin Canada, whom Mokri often competed against growing up, play in front of 18,000 fans, was a poignant reminder of how much women’s basketball has grown.

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“You feel so proud to see how far it’s come,” she said. “People like Gabby, people like Jordin, they’re my age and they stuck with it and they believed in themselves.”

Mokri now works as a freelance photographer and splits her time between Santa Cruz and Indonesia, where she’s filming a documentary. The Chronicle caught up with her over the phone to hear about balling with the MVP, the growth of women’s basketball and how she got that indelible photo. 

How did you meet Gabby Williams?

I played (Los Angeles) Parks & Rec. We would play everything; I played co-ed, I played girls basketball. This group of girls, we’ve been playing at (Cheviot Hills Park) since we were 5, 6 years old, and we were really good. We won the Los Angeles City Championships before we were a club team. It wasn’t until middle school, but a club team formed from all the best girls at the park. Two of those girls I was extra close with, and we went up to Stanford because we were really big fans of Tara VanDerveer and the Stanford women’s basketball team. We went for a couple of years, and I met Gabby there. We all really bonded because we were just kids in a dorm room, and we had a good little group of friends. Since then I was always rooting for her to succeed.

Do you remember her as a basketball player from that camp? Did she stand out?

It’s funny, because of course she did. But I was also at this point in my career where I was like, “Well I could beat her. I can take her. She’s good, but I’m good.” It was almost like my judgment was clouded by my own competitiveness. 

She was incredible. She was so athletic and so long. I just remember her arms being, like, just so long, which you can see in that photo that I shot, that arm goes forever. 

Gabby and I kept in touch just on Instagram for a couple years after that. Then I went to Yale, she played at UConn, so we were kind of on these parallel paths, but she was just destined for basketball greatness. My career didn’t really continue beyond college. I ended up taking a job to intern at Vice, and that kind of set off my journalism trajectory. And also, I’m 5’5″, which doesn’t matter, clearly, look at Natalie (Nakase). But it was a bit more of an uphill battle for me that I wasn’t as committed to as Gabby was. But it’s just been awesome to see her succeed. Now I’m just a fan.

You’ve shot WNBA and NBA games before, but the Finals were your first series covering the Valkyries. How did the atmosphere inside Chase Center feel to you?

I’m a (Los Angeles) Sparks fan. I hate to say it, but the Valkyries games are way more exciting from a fan standpoint than the Sparks. I do think the Ballhalla fanbase is pretty incredible. I never went to the (former WNBA team) Sacramento Monarchs, but there’s that, and then there is the history of the Bay Area fans at Oracle, and I feel like a combination of those two things was like, they were just waiting for the Valkyries. Once they became a team, everyone was just so hyped that this culture was able to flourish so quickly. 

I’m not a Bay Area sports fan, so I can’t speak to it from that perspective, but I will say from an outside perspective, it’s amazing to be in that environment. I was definitely emotional being in that environment. 

Why did it feel emotional to you?

When I was a kid growing up, our parents, everyone who’s older was like, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket with basketball. Basketball is not going to be the thing that makes a career for you.” And, to be honest, I think that definitely was in the back of my mind when I chose to retire early (in college). When people were telling us that back in the day, “You’re not a boy; you don’t have those same opportunities,” they weren’t wrong. It’s sad that that wasn’t the case, but I also feel like a small part of my generation had something to do with bringing it to where it is today. 

On one hand, you can feel bitter or bummed that you didn’t get to benefit from that, but on the other hand, you feel so proud to see how far it’s come. People like Gabby, people like Jordin (Canada), they’re my age and they stuck with it and they believed in themselves. They didn’t accept that as a reality, and look at them now. That’s freaking awesome. I was emotional because I was like, “Look at how far we’ve come.” 

When you’re there as a photographer, do you see the game differently because you played at a high level?
 

I think it’s a lot easier to shoot a sport that you understand, because you have a feel for the game, you can understand runs, you know where to turn the camera. But then again, I wasn’t there to shoot action. I wasn’t watching the game as much. I’m watching the people watching the game. 

Can you tell me about how you got that final photo?

When they won, I just got straight in the middle of it. I shot all those photos of them huddling, and then all the players were like, “Where’s Gabby? Where’s Gabby?” I was like, “Yeah, where is Gabby?” Then I turned around and I found her. I had no idea what I shot, to be honest. I knew what I was shooting, but I had no idea if I got it, because I’m short and everyone’s in front of me. I just put the camera (up), like everyone does, and just hoped for the best.

Do you see any of the Gabby you played with when you watch her today?

Just like her quickness and her athleticism. She has this great mid-range game, and that is something I remember. And her defense, again, the long freaking arms. Towards the end (of Game 7), I think she hit a couple of mid-range jumpers. I remember standing behind the basket and being like, “Oh, that’s in,” before she even let that shot off. It was like I almost knew what she was going to do, and it was like, “Yeah, that’s a bucket.”

Do you still play basketball?

I play in a little Santa Cruz parks and rec league. It took me a while to settle into being old and washed up and not take the parks and the rec league too seriously, but I’ve been with the same team now for almost five years. 

When I lived in Indonesia, I lived on this remote island. I really missed basketball because it was the longest that I had gone without playing. I ordered a rim and net and basketball from Indonesian Amazon, and I found some wood that I used as a backboard. I measured 10 feet, and I nailed the rim to the backboard to a coconut tree. I guess that’s just to say the love of the game will always be with me. Nobody really could play basketball there, so it was just me shooting around, but it was kind of fun just to have that. It felt a little more like home. 

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This article originally published at This Chronicle Valkyries cover became an instant icon. For the photographer who took it, it’s a full-circle moment.