Rebecca Lobo's Headshot

Rebecca Lobo

- Panelist Blurb

Rebecca Lobo is a legendary University of Connecticut Women's Basketball player, best known for leading the Huskies to their first National Championship in 1995. Lobo won a gold medal as the youngest member of the U.S. Women's Olympic Basketball Team in 1996, before embarking on a successful seven-year WNBA career. She currently works as a television analyst, author and motivational speaker.

As captain of the UConn Huskies her senior year, Lobo led the team to a perfect season, going undefeated in 28 regular season games and defeating Tennessee in the NCAA Championship. That same year, she received an ESPY award for Outstanding Female Athlete and was named the NCAA Women's Basketball Player of the Year, Woman of the Year by the Women's Sports Foundation, and Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press.

During the WNBA's inaugural season in 1997, Lobo was one of the first players to sign with one of its franchises: the New York Liberty. A WNBA All-Star, she played with the Liberty until 2002, and went on to play for the Houston Comets and ultimately retired with the Connecticut Sun in 2003.

Lobo joined ESPN in 2004 as a WNBA and women's college basketball analyst and reporter. In addition, she has been actively involved in the community with various philanthropic endeavors, including founding the RuthAnn and Rebecca Lobo Scholarship in Allied Health at UConn. She has served on UConn's board of trustees since 2004.

For her outstanding performance in and out of the classroom as a student-athlete "“ during which time she was named a Rhodes Scholar candidate, the 1995 Academic All-America of the Year in women's basketball and the Co-Academic All-America of the Year for all teams in the University Division "“ Lobo was inducted into the College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-America Hall of Fame in 2008.

A Hartford native, Lobo earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in liberal arts and sciences from UConn. She and her husband, Steve Rushin, live in Connecticut with their four children.