Rebecca Rose Lobo-Rushin (born October 6, 1973) is an American television

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

analyst and former women's basketball player in the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the Nati ...

(WNBA) from 1997 to 2003. Lobo, at 6'4", played the center position for much of her career. Lobo played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

at the University of Connecticut, where she was a member of the team that won the 1995 national championship, going 35–0 on the season in the process. Lobo was inducted into the

Women's Basketball Hall of Fame The Women's Basketball Hall of Fame honors those who have contributed to the sport of women's basketball. The Hall of Fame opened in 1999 in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. It is the only facility of its kind dedicated to all levels of women's ba ...

in 2010. In April 2017, she was announced as one of the members of the 2017 class of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, alongside

Tracy McGrady Tracy Lamar McGrady Jr. (born May 24, 1979) is an American former professional basketball player, best known for his career in the National Basketball Association (NBA). McGrady is a seven-time NBA All-Star, seven-time All-NBA selection, two- ...

and

Muffet McGraw Ann "Muffet" McGraw (born December 5, 1955) is an American former college basketball coach, who served as the head women's basketball coach at Notre Dame from 1987 to 2020, compiling a 848–252 (.771) record over 33 seasons. She led her team to ...

Early life and high school career

Lobo was born in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...

, the youngest daughter of RuthAnn (née McLaughlin) and Dennis Joseph Lobo. Her father is of

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...

n descent, while her mother was of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

and Irish heritage. Lobo was raised a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. Her brother Jason played basketball at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

and her sister Rachel played basketball at Salem State College. Lobo's mother and father were both teachers; in addition, her father coached both basketball and track and field. Raised in Southwick, Massachusetts, Lobo was the state scoring record-holder with 2,740 points in her high school career for Southwick-Tolland Regional High School in

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. She held this record for 18 years until it was eclipsed by Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir of the new Leadership Charter School in Springfield on January 26, 2009.

Career

College

More than 100 colleges recruited Lobo, but she chose the University of Connecticut due to proximity and her belief in its academic excellence. She helped lead the

Huskies Husky is a general term for a dog used in the polar regions, primarily and specifically for work as sled dogs. It refers to a traditional northern type, notable for its cold-weather tolerance and overall hardiness. Modern racing huskies that ma ...

to the 1995 National Championship with an undefeated 35–0 record. In her senior year, Lobo was the unanimous national player of the year, winning the 1995 Naismith College Player of the Year award, the

Wade Trophy The Wade Trophy is an award presented annually to the best upperclass women's basketball player in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I competition. It is named after three–time national champion Delta State University coa ...

, the AP Player of the Year award, the USBWA Player of the Year award, the

Honda Sports Award The Honda Sports Award is an annual award in the United States, given to the best collegiate female athlete in each of twelve sports. There are four nominees for each sport, and the twelve winners of the Honda Sports Award are automatically in th ...

for basketball, and the WBCA Player of the Year award. Lobo was awarded the prestigious

Honda-Broderick Cup The Honda-Broderick Cup is a sports award for college-level female athletes. The awards are voted on by a national panel of more than 1000 collegiate athletic directors. It was first presented by Tom Broderick, an American owner of a women's sports ...

for 1994–95, presented to the athlete "most deserving of recognition as the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year". She was a member of the inaugural class of inductees to the University of Connecticut women's basketball "Huskies of Honor" recognition program. Lobo was named the 1995 Sportswoman of the Year (in the team category) by the Women's Sports Foundation. Lobo was the first player in the Big East Conference ever to earn first team all American honors for both basketball and academics.

USA Basketball

Lobo was named to the USA U18 team (then called the Junior World Championship Qualifying Team) in 1992. The team competed in Guanajuato, Mexico in August 1992. The team won their first four games, then lost 80–70 to Brazil, finishing with the silver medal for the event, but qualifying for the 1993 world games. Lobo averaged 6.8 points per game during the event. Lobo continued with the team to the 1993 U19 World Championship (then called the Junior World Championship). The team won five games and lost two, but that left them in seventh place. Lobo averaged 7.7 points per game and recorded six blocks, highest on the team. In 1995 Lobo passed through tryouts to join the national team, which later became the US team for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, GA. Though her minutes on the floor were few, Lobo shared in the gold medal.

WNBA

In 1997, the WNBA was formed and enjoyed its inaugural season, and Lobo was assigned to the New York Liberty during the league's first player allocations on January 22, 1997. The first season the Liberty fell to the Houston Comets in the WNBA Finals. Lobo suffered a setback in 1999, tearing her left

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formati ...

and her meniscus in the first game of the season. In 1999, she was selected to the inaugural WNBA All Star team but could not play because of the injury. In 2002, she was traded to the Houston Comets in exchange for Houston's second-round selection (26th overall) in the

2002 WNBA draft The 2002 WNBA draft was the first to implement a lottery that arranges the order of the first four overall picks. The lottery gave four teams with the identically worst record of 10–22 from the 2001 season an equal chance to own the first ov ...

. The next season she was traded to the Connecticut Sun, where she retired in 2003. Lobo also played two seasons in the National Women's Basketball league with the Springfield Spirit 2002 through 2003.

Legacy

Awards and honors

* 1994—Kodak First team All-America * 1995—Honda-Broderick Cup * 1995—ESPY Award–Outstanding Female Athlete * 1995—AP Female Athlete of the Year * 1995—NCAA Women's Basketball Player of the Year * 1995—Women's Sports Foundation–Sportswoman of the Year * 1995—Wade Trophy * 1995—Kodak First team All-America * 1995—

, basketball * 1997—All WNBA Second team * 1997—WNBA Eastern All-Star team * 2010—

* 2017—Basketball Hall of Fame * 2019—UCONN jersey No. 50 retired

Women's Basketball Hall of Fame

Lobo was inducted into the

as part of the class of 2010. At the induction ceremony, Lobo was introduced by her college coach, Geno Auriemma who praised her for her "impact on the court and off the court" as "one of the founders f the WNBA, and "as a representative of our university, ndas a member of the board of trustees".

Career statistics

College

WNBA

Regular season

, - , style='text-align:left;',

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

, style='text-align:left;', New York , 28 , , 28 , , 33.5 , , .376 , , .286 , , .610 , , 7.3 , , 1.9 , , 0.9 , , 1.8 , , 3.1 , , 12.4 , - , style='text-align:left;', 1998 , style='text-align:left;', New York , 30 , , 30 , , 29.2 , , .484 , , .308 , , .710 , , 6.9 , , 1.5 , , 0.6 , , 1.1 , , 2.2 , , 11.7 , - , style='text-align:left;',

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

, style='text-align:left;', New York , 1 , , 1 , , 1.0 , , , , , , , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , - , style='text-align:left;', 2001 , style='text-align:left;', New York , 16 , , 0 , , 5.3 , , .318 , , .500 , , .500 , , 0.9 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 0.0 , , 0.4 , , 1.1 , - , style='text-align:left;', 2002 , style='text-align:left;',

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...

, 21 , , 0 , , 6.3 , , .469 , , .429 , , .250 , , 1.1 , , 0.6 , , 0.1 , , 0.2 , , 0.5 , , 1.6 , - , style='text-align:left;', 2003 , style='text-align:left;',

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...

, 25 , , 13 , , 11.9 , , .284 , , .250 , , .222 , , 2.1 , , 0.2 , , 0.2 , , 0.6 , , 0.6 , , 2.4 , - , style='text-align:left;', Career , style='text-align:left;', 6 years, 3 teams , 121 , , 72 , , 19.2 , , .407 , , .295 , , .628 , , 4.1 , , 1.0 , , 0.4 , , 0.9 , , 1.6 , , 6.7

Playoffs

, - , style='text-align:left;',

, style='text-align:left;', New York , 2 , , 2 , , 34.0 , , .429 , , .000 , , .583 , , 9.0 , , 2.0 , , 0.0 , , 2.0 , , 2.5 , , 12.5 , - , style='text-align:left;', 2003 , style='text-align:left;',

, 2 , , 1 , , 19.0 , , .400 , , .250 , , .000 , , 4.0 , , 2.5 , , 0.0 , , 2.0 , , 1.0 , , 4.5 , - , style='text-align:left;', Career , style='text-align:left;', 2 years, 2 teams , 4 , , 3 , , 26.5 , , .419 , , .143 , , .583 , , 6.5 , , 2.3 , , 0.0 , , 2.0 , , 1.8 , , 8.5

Broadcast career

Today, Lobo is a reporter and color analyst for

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

with a focus on women's college basketball and WNBA games.

Breast cancer advocate and health spokesperson

In 1996, Lobo and her late mother, Ruth Ann Lobo, collaborated on a book entitled ''The Home Team'', which dealt with Ruth Ann's battle with

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or ...

. They also founded the RuthAnn and Rebecca Lobo Scholarship, which offers a scholarship to the UConn School of Allied Health for Hispanic students. Lobo was the 1996 spokesperson for the Lee National Denim Day fund raiser which raises millions of dollars for

research and education. Starting in 2000, Lobo served as national spokesperson and backer for Body1.com, a consumer-targeted network of sites providing interactive content-rich information on medical technologies that treat ailments and diseases specific to body parts. Due to her recurring problems with a torn

, (ACL), she campaigned to raise awareness of knee injury risks in women. Lobo shared her story with others suffering from the same type of injury and strongly advocated for patient self-education via the Internet.

Personal life

On April 12, 2003, Lobo changed her last name to Lobo-Rushin after marrying ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence tw ...

'' writer Steve Rushin at the Basketball Hall of Fame in

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, th ...

. They have four children (three daughters and one son).

Ball & Chain Podcast

Lobo and Rushin host a weekly podcast called the ''Ball & Chain Podcast''. They discuss current events, sports and family life. They published the first episode on October 23, 2017.

Notes

References

* Career information and statistics fro
Basketball-Reference.com
*

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lobo, Rebecca 1973 births Living people All-American college women's basketball players American people of German descent American people of Irish descent American people of Polish descent American women's basketball players American sportspeople of Cuban descent Basketball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Hartford, Connecticut Basketball players from Massachusetts Centers (basketball) Connecticut Sun players Hispanic and Latino American sportspeople Houston Comets players Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees National Basketball Association broadcasters New York Liberty players Olympic gold medalists for the United States in basketball Parade High School All-Americans (girls' basketball) People from Southwick, Massachusetts Sportspeople from Hartford, Connecticut UConn Huskies women's basketball players United States women's national basketball team players Women's college basketball announcers in the United States Women's National Basketball Association All-Stars Women's National Basketball Association announcers Women sports announcers

Early life and high school career

Career

College

USA Basketball

WNBA

Legacy

Awards and honors

Women's Basketball Hall of Fame

Career statistics

College

WNBA

Regular season

Playoffs

Broadcast career

Breast cancer advocate and health spokesperson

Personal life

Ball & Chain Podcast

See also

Notes

References

External links