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, going 35–0 on the season in the process. Lobo was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame 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 and Muffet McGraw.[1]

Not to be confused with Rebecca Loebe.
Rebecca Lobo
Personal information
Born (1973-10-06) October 6, 1973
Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
Listed height6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight185 lb (84 kg)
Career information
High schoolSouthwick-Tolland
(Southwick, Massachusetts)
CollegeUConn (1991–1995)
WNBA draft1997: Allocated
Selected by the New York Liberty
Playing career1997–2003
PositionCenter
Number50
Career history
1997–2001New York Liberty
2002Houston Comets
2003Connecticut Sun
Career highlights and awards
Basketball Hall of Fame as player
Women's Basketball Hall of Fame
Medals
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place1996 AtlantaTeam competition
U18 and U19
Silver medal – second place1992 U18 GuanajuatoTeam Competition

Early life and high school career

Lobo was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the youngest daughter of RuthAnn (née Hardy) and Dennis Joseph Lobo.[2] Her father is of Cuban descent, while her mother was of German and Irish heritage.[3] Lobo was raised a Catholic.[4][5] Her brother Jason played basketball at Dartmouth College 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.[6] 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.[6] 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.[7]

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.[6] She helped lead the Huskies 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 AP Player of the Year award, the USBWA Player of the Year award, the Honda Sports Award for basketball, and the WBCA 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".[8] She was a member of the inaugural class of inductees to the University of Connecticut women's basketball "Huskies of Honor" recognition program.[9] Lobo was named the 1995 Sportswoman of the Year (in the team category) by the Women's Sports Foundation.[10] 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.[11]

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.[12]

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 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.[13] On April 3, 2002, she was traded to the Houston Comets in exchange for Houston's second-round selection (26th overall) in the 2002 WNBA draft (the Liberty would use the pick to draft Linda Fröhlich).

On February 14, 2003, Lobo was traded to the Connecticut Sun for a 2003 second-round pick (which the Comets used to select Lori Nero).[14] Lobo played in 29 games for the Sun, averaging 2.4 points and 2.1 rebounds. Her final WNBA game ever was played in Game 2 of the 2003 Eastern Conference Finals against the Detroit Shock on September 7, 2003. Lobo recorded 9 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 blocks but the Sun lost the game 73 - 79 and would be eliminated from the playoffs.[15] Lobo would announce her retirement on September 23, 2003.[16]

Lobo also played two seasons in the National Women's Basketball League with the Springfield Spirit from 2002 through 2003.[17]

Legacy

Awards and honors
  • 1994—Kodak First team All-America[6]
  • 1995—Honda-Broderick Cup[18]
  • 1995—ESPY Award–Outstanding Female Athlete[6]
  • 1995—AP Female Athlete of the Year[6]
  • 1995—NCAA Women's Basketball Player of the Year[6]
  • 1995—Women's Sports Foundation–Sportswoman of the Year[19]
  • 1995—Wade Trophy[6][20]
  • 1995—Kodak First team All-America[6]
  • 1995—Honda Sports Award, basketball[21][22]
  • 1997—All WNBA Second team[6]
  • 1997—WNBA Eastern All-Star team[6]
  • 2010—Women's Basketball Hall of Fame[23]
  • 2017—Basketball Hall of Fame
  • 2019—UConn jersey No. 50 retired[24]

Women's Basketball Hall of Fame

Lobo was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2010.[25][26]

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 [of the WNBA]", and "as a representative of our university, [and] as a member of the board of trustees".[27]

Career statistics

College
Rebecca Lobo Statistics[28] at University of Connecticut
Year G FG FGA PCT 3FG 3FGA PCT FT FTA PCT REB AVG A TO B S MIN PTS AVG
1991–92 29 167 338 0.494 0 1 0.000 82 117 0.701 228 7.9 26 78 46 30 675 416 14.3
1992–93 29 189 421 0.449 29 85 0.341 77 119 0.647 326 11.2 37 75 97 26 926 484 16.7
1993–94 33 243 445 0.546 11 34 0.324 138 187 0.738 371 11.2 68 107 131 34 966 635 19.2
1994–95 35 238 476 0.5 18 51 0.353 104 154 0.675 343 9.8 129 91 122 40 1005 598 17.1
Totals 126 837 1680 0.498 58 171 0.339 401 577 0.695 1268 10.1 260 351 396 130 3572 2133 16.9

WNBA
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game  RPG  Rebounds per game
 APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game
 TO  Turnovers per game  FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 Bold  Career best ° League leader

Regular season
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
1997 New York 282833.5.376.286.6107.31.90.91.83.112.4
1998 New York 303029.2.484.308.7106.91.50.61.12.211.7
1999 New York 111.01.00.00.00.01.00.0
2001 New York 1605.3.318.500.5000.90.10.10.00.41.1
2002 Houston 2106.3.469.429.2501.10.60.10.20.51.6
2003 Connecticut 251311.9.284.250.2222.10.20.20.60.62.4
Career 6 years, 3 teams 1217219.2.407.295.6284.11.00.40.91.66.7

Playoffs
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
1997 New York 2234.0.429.000.5839.02.00.02.02.512.5
2003 Connecticut 2119.0.400.250.0004.02.50.02.01.04.5
Career 2 years, 2 teams 4326.5.419.143.5836.52.30.02.01.88.5

Broadcast career

Today, Lobo is a reporter and color analyst for ESPN 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,[29] 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.[30] Lobo 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.[31]

Personal life

On April 12, 2003, Lobo changed her last name to Lobo-Rushin after marrying Sports Illustrated writer Steve Rushin at the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.[32] They have four children (three daughters and one son).[33]

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.

See also

Notes
  1. "McGrady, Self, Lobo headline 2017 HOF class". ESPN.comf. April 1, 2017.
  2. Hamwey, Ken (2007-09-06). "Wall full of local Warriors - Bellingham, MA - Country Gazette". Wickedlocal.com. Archived from the original on 2012-11-09. Retrieved 2013-09-02.
  3. Stated on Finding Your Roots, PBS, September 30, 2014
  4. "Celebrate Hispanic Heritage! Meet Pat Mora". Teacher.scholastic.com. Retrieved 2013-09-02.
  5. Thomson Gale biography.
  6. Porter p. 285
  7. Roberts, Selena (5 March 2009). "Enlightening the Clothes-Minded". SI.com. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
  8. "SPORTS PEOPLE: BASKETBALL;Lobo Receives Another Award". NYTimes. 1996-01-09. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
  9. "Women's Basketball 1995 National Championship Team to be Recognized as "Huskies of Honor"". Retrieved 2009-07-24.
  10. "Sportswoman of the Year Award". Women's Sports Foundation. Archived from the original on 2009-07-22. Retrieved 2009-08-03.
  11. "Second Women's Junior World Championship Qualifying Team -- 1992". USA Basketball. June 10, 2010. Archived from the original on 7 September 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  12. "Third FIBA Women's U19/Junior World Championship -- 1993". USA Basketball. June 10, 2010. Archived from the original on 28 September 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  13. Litsky, Frank (1999-06-12). "PRO BASKETBALL; Torn Ligament Ends Lobo's Season Early". NYTimes. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
  14. "W.N.B.A.'s Sun Acquires Lobo". The New York Times. Associated Press. 2003-02-15. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-06-15.
  15. "Connecticut Sun at Detroit Shock, September 7, 2003". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2023-06-15.
  16. "ESPN.com: WNBA - Lobo and out: One of first faces of WNBA retires". www.espn.com.
  17. "Rebecca Lobo to help celebrate Connecticut Sun's 15th anniversary". norwichbulletin.com. June 28, 2017. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
  18. "SPORTS PEOPLE: BASKETBALL;Lobo Receives Another Award". NYT. 1996-01-09. Retrieved 2010-05-08.
  19. "Sportswoman of the Year". Women's Sports Foundation. Retrieved 5 Jan 2013.
  20. "The Wade Trophy". Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Retrieved 30 Jun 2014.
  21. "Lobo Named Recipient of NCAA Silver Anniversary Award". UConn Today. 2019-12-27. Retrieved 2020-03-30.
  22. "Basketball". CWSA. Retrieved 2020-03-30.
  23. Voepel, Mechelle (October 15, 2014). "Rebecca Lobo there from the start". ESPN.com. Retrieved December 9, 2014.
  24. Anthony, Mike (March 2, 2019). "Mike Anthony: Rebecca Lobo back at center of UConn women's basketball world she helped create as her No. 50 retired". Hartford Courant.
  25. "Lobo: I'm just 1st of many Huskies heading to Hall". FOXSports.com. Fox Sports Interactive Media. Jun 11, 2010. Archived from the original on April 28, 2014. Retrieved 28 Apr 2014.
  26. "Class of 2010 Inductees Announced". WBHOF. Retrieved 2009-07-25.
  27. Greenberg, Mel (14 June 2010). "WBHOF Wrapup I: Rebecca Lobo's Speech". Womhoops Guru. Retrieved 16 June 2010.
  28. "Connecticut Women's Basketball" (PDF). University of Connecticut. Retrieved 5 Jan 2013.
  29. The Home Team: Of Mothers, Daughters, and American Champions (9781568361994): Ruth Ann Lobo, Ruthann Lobo, Rebecca Lobo: Books. Amazon.com. January 1997. ISBN 9781568361994. Retrieved 2013-09-02.
  30. Begley, Ian (2008-12-28). "Where are they now? Former Liberty star Rebecca Lobo". Daily News. New York.
  31. "Complete Source for Shoulder Health". Shoulder1.com. Archived from the original on 2013-07-07. Retrieved 2013-09-02.
  32. Elfman, Lois (2003). "Rebecca Lobo weds at the Basketball Hall of Fame: Rebecca Lobo". Women's Basketball. Archived from the original on 2005-06-24.
  33. Rushin, Steve. "Lobo 'Schools' Sportswriter In Women's Game". Hartford Courant. Retrieved 21 May 2016.

References
  • Career information and statistics from Basketball-Reference.com
  • David L. Porter, ed. (2005). Basketball: A Biographical Dictionary. Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-30952-6.
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