Career: This six-foot-tall shooting guard and forward (basketball positions) began her professional basketball career began when she and her Texas Tech team won the NCAA championship in 1993, against Ohio State.
After college, she spent a year in Italy and played ten games in the Italian basketball league. This was because, until 1996, there no women's league in the USA, and players had to travel abroad to play professionally. Swoopes was a prominent supporter of the proposed plans to create one in her own country. She hoped that the 1996 Olympics, in Atlanta, would help publicise this fledgling league and cement it as part of the nation's professional basketball tradition.
After winning gold for the USA on the national women's team in the Olympics, her hopes were realised, and she was given a place on the WNBA team, the Houston Comets, in 1997. She has remained with the team ever since, and her historic string of titles has earned her the nickname The Texas Tornado.

Friends & Relationships: She gave birth to her son Jordan in 1997. He was named after the basketball player Michael Jordan. Swoopes has often been named as his female equivalent in American basketball.
Until 1999, she was married to Eric Jackson. After she came out in October 2005, she wanted to make it clear that her divorce had not been due to her being a lesbian, saying that she doesn't believe she was born gay.
She has discussed her sexuality in several interviews, one with the ESPN Magazine, 25th October 2005: "My reason for coming out isn't to be some sort of hero, I'm just at a point in my life where I'm tired of having to pretend to be somebody I'm not. I'm tired of having to hide my feelings about the person I care about. About the person I love."
The woman she is referring to is former Old Dominion basketball coach Alisa Scott, 40. The two have been together now for several years.
Swoopes has become a voice of encouragement of equal rights in women's professional sports. In the same interview with ESPN, she comments: "The talk about the WNBA being full of lesbians is not true. There are as many straight women in the league as there are gay. What really irritates me is when people talk about football, baseball and the NBA, you don't hear all of this talk about the gay guys playing. But when you talk about the WNBA, then it becomes an issue. Sexuality and gender don't change anyone's performance on the court."

Greatest Achievements: Swoopes has a string of WNBA titles to her name, among which are: Most Valuable Player Award (2000, 2002, 2005), Most Defensive Player Award (2000, 2002, 2003). In both categories, she is the first female three-time winner, as well as being a four-time WNBA Champion, 1997 - 2000.
She has also been an Olympic Gold Medallist three times (In Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004).

Email this Article to a Friend