Rebecca Lobo

Rebecca Rose Lobo-Rushin (born October 6, 1973) is an American television basketball analyst and former women's basketball player in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) from 1997 to 2003. Lobo, at 6' 4", played the center position for much of her career. Lobo played college basketball at the University of Connecticut, where she was a member of the team that won the 1995 national championship that went 35–0.

Early life and high school career
Lobo was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the youngest daughter of RuthAnn (née Hardy) and Dennis Joseph Lobo. Her father is of Cuban and Polish descent and her mother is of German and Irish heritage; Lobo was raised a Catholic. Her brother Jason played basketball at Dartmouth College and her sister Rachel played basketball at Salem State College. Both her parents were teachers; in addition, her father was a basketball coach. 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. 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.

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 to the 1995 National Championship with an undefeated 35-0 record. In her senior year, she won the 1995 Naismith and College Player of the Year award. Lobo was awarded the prestigious Honda-Broderick Cup 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

Professional
In 1997, the WNBA formed 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 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 next season she was traded to the Connecticut Sun, where she retired in 2003. Lobo also played two seasons in the National Woman's Basketball league with the Springfield Spirit 2002 through 2003

WNBA Teams
1997–2001: New York Liberty 2002: Houston Comets 2003: Connecticut Sun

Sports announcing
Today, Lobo is seen as a reporter and color analyst for ESPN with a focus on women's college basketball and WNBA games.

Women's Basketball Hall of Fame
Lobo was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2010.

At the induction ceremony, Lobo was introduced by her college coach, Geno Auriemma who said, in part:

"No one in all the years that I’ve been there, has had the impact on the court and off the court, that Rebecca has had and has continued both in the WNBA, as being one of the founders, both as a representative of our university, as a member of the board of trustees, continuing to promote the game on ESPN, and all the other things that Rebecca has done to further the role model that she is, for all the young people that looked up to her, emulated what she has always been, a great student, a great athlete, a great person, someone that I’m cherished, to have had the opportunity to work with, and to call my friend, and now to call my boss."

Lobo talked about touring the museum and seeing the exhibit of the All American Red Heads Team. She talked about the influence of her grandmothers on her life, her parents, and others who helped her with her career. Then she related an anecdote about her daughter, epitomizing how things have changed for women in the sports world:

"But two years ago, a year and a half ago, my oldest daughter, who was 4 ½, and my husband was watching UConn men, playing on the television in the living room, and my daughter walked in the room and looked at the TV and said to Steve, Are those boys playing.

And I said, yes.

And my daughter said, I didn’t know boys played basketball."

Family and Personal Life
On April 12, 2003, Rebecca changed her last name from Lobo to Lobo-Rushin after marrying Sports Illustrated writer Steve Rushin at the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. They have four children (3 daughters and 1 son) Siobhan Rose Rushin (Dec 25, 2004), Maeve Elizabeth Rushin (August 10, 2006), Thomas Joseph Rushin (October 6, 2008) and Rose Rushin (October 16, 2010).

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. They also founded the RuthAnn and Rebecca Lobo Scholarship, which offers a scholarship to the UConn School of Allied Health for Hispanic students.

Rebecca was the 1996 spokesperson for the Lee National Denim Day fund raiser which raises millions of dollars for breast cancer 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 anterior cruciate ligament, (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.

Awards and honors

 * 1994—Kodak First team All-America
 * 1994—Honda Sports Award, basketball
 * 1994—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—Honda Sports Award, basketball


 * 1997—All WNBA Second team
 * 1997—WNBA Eastern All-Star team