Bird, Sue

Suzanne Brigit Bird (born October 16, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player who played her entire career with the Seattle Storm of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Bird was drafted first overall pick by the Storm in the 2002 WNBA draft and is considered one of the greatest players in WNBA history. As of 2024, Bird is the only WNBA player to win titles in three different decades. She held a front office position for the NBA's Denver Nuggets as their Basketball Operations Associate. She has also played for three teams in the Russian league and holds dual citizenship with both U.S. and Israel. In high school, Bird was the New York State Player of the Year, the New York Daily News Player of the Year, and a WBCA All-American. In her senior year on the undefeated University of Connecticut team in 2002, she won the Wade Trophy and the Naismith Award as College Player of the Year. She finished her University of Connecticut (UConn) career ranked first in three-point field goal percentage and free throw percentage, and second in assists and steals. She won the Nancy Lieberman Award three times as the top point guard in the nation. Additionally, Bird led her UConn team to a record of 114–4. Bird has won a joint-record four WNBA championships with the Storm (2004, 2010, 2018, 2020), a historic five Olympic gold medals (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020), two NCAA Championships with UConn (2000, 2002); and four FIBA World Cups (2002, 2010, 2014, 2018). She is one of only 11 women to attain all four accolades. She is also a five-time EuroLeague Women champion (2007–2010, 2013). During her WNBA career, she has been selected to thirteen WNBA All-Star teams and eight All-WNBA teams. Additionally, she was voted by fans as one of the WNBA's Top 15 Players of All Time in 2011, was voted into the WNBA Top 20@20 as one of the league's top 20 players of all time in 2016, and was voted into The W25 as one of the league's top 25 players of all time in 2021. Her fifth Olympic gold medal, at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, makes her one of only two Olympic basketball players—of either gender—ever to win five gold medals, with the other player being her US Olympic teammate Diana Taurasi. Bird publicly confirmed on June 16, 2022, that she would retire from playing professional basketball after the 2022 WNBA season. Her season ended on September 7, 2022, with the Storm's playoff loss to the Las Vegas Aces. Sue Bird recently became one of the only people to ever have been invited to the White House as a player on a championship college team (University of Connecticut Huskies Women's Basketball), as a player on a championship professional team (Seattle Storm), and as part of the ownership group of a championship professional sports team (Gotham FC). In total she has been invited to the White House six times and has received invitations from every sitting U.S. president since George H. W. Bush.