53 Facts About Sue Bird

Sue Bird held a front office position for the NBA's Denver Nuggets as their Basketball Operations Associate.

Sue Bird has won a joint-record four WNBA championships with the Storm, a historic five Olympic gold medals, two NCAA Championships with UConn ; and four FIBA World Cups.

Sue Bird is one of only 11 women to attain all four accolades.

Sue Bird is a five-time EuroLeague Women champion.

Sue Bird publicly confirmed on June 16,2022 that she will retire from playing professional basketball after the 2022 WNBA season.

Sue Bird's season ended on September 7,2022 with the Storm's playoff loss to the Las Vegas Aces.

Sue Bird was born in Syosset, Nassau County, New York, on Long Island to Herschel and Nancy Sue Bird.

Sue Bird has one sibling, an older sister named Jen.

Sue Bird was interested in sports from an early age, which was partly influenced by her athletic older sister.

Sue Bird started playing Amateur Athletic Union basketball in the sixth grade.

Sue Bird played her freshman and sophomore years at Syosset High School, but wanted more competition.

Sue Bird therefore enrolled at Christ the King Regional High School in Queens, New York.

Sue Bird won many awards, including the New York State Player of the Year, and the New York Daily News Player of the Year.

Sue Bird participated in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association High School All-America Game, where she scored 11 points.

Sue Bird was recruited by a number of teams including Stanford and Vanderbilt.

Sue Bird considered UConn the favorite, but she began to waver when Keirsten Walters and Brianne Stepherson, both point guards, announced commitments to UConn.

However, when Stepherson changed her mind and committed to Boston College, Sue Bird committed to UConn.

Eight games into her freshman season, Sue Bird suffered a torn ACL.

Sue Bird finished her UConn career on many of the record lists.

Sue Bird won two National Championships, three Big East Championships and Big East regular season titles.

Sue Bird was the inaugural winner of the Nancy Lieberman Award in 2000, given to the top point guard in the nation, and won the award again in 2001 and 2002.

Sue Bird was a member of the inaugural class of inductees to the University of Connecticut women's basketball "Huskies of Honor" recognition program.

Sue Bird was selected as a starter on the 2002 WNBA Western Conference All-Star team.

Sue Bird was the runner-up for the Rookie of the Year award, and one of only two rookies to make the All-WNBA First Team.

Sue Bird was still able to play 29 games during the regular season and in the playoffs.

Sue Bird would come back healthy for the 2014 WNBA season, she played 33 games, averaged 10.6 ppg and 4.6 apg.

On February 16,2016, Sue Bird re-signed with the Storm to a multi-year deal in free agency.

Sue Bird averaged 12.8 ppg while shooting a career-high in 3-point field goal percentage and led the league in assists with 5.8 apg.

Sue Bird was listed in the WNBA Top 20@20, a list of the league's best 20 players ever in celebration of the WNBA's twentieth anniversary.

On May 21,2017, Sue Bird returned after recovering from knee surgery and made her season debut, making her both the oldest active player and the oldest starter in the WNBA.

Sue Bird was voted into the 2017 WNBA All-Star Game, making it her 10th all-star game appearance.

Sue Bird finished the game with 19 points along with a season-high of 13 assists.

On July 19,2018, Sue Bird was voted into the 2018 WNBA All-Star Game, passing Tamika Catchings for most all-star appearances.

On July 22,2018, Sue Bird broke yet another record, this time for the most WNBA regular-season games played after she passed Delisha Milton-Jones by playing her 500th game against the Atlanta Dream.

Sue Bird's presidency is accredited with the WNBA's allowance of social justice messages on jerseys, basketball courts, and immediate floors.

In 2020, Sue Bird would be fully healthy and make her return for the Storm.

In 2021, Sue Bird re-signed with the Storm on a one-year deal, which allowed her to play her 18th season in the league, moving her past Milton-Jones for most seasons played in the WNBA.

On June 16,2022, Sue Bird announced that she would be retiring following the 2022 WNBA season.

Sue Bird would keep playing with the team for the next four WNBA off-seasons.

From 2011 to 2014, Sue Bird played three off-seasons for UMMC Ekaterinburg in the Russian League winning three consecutive championships with the team.

Sue Bird competed with USA Basketball as a member of the 2000 Jones Cup Team in Taipei, Taiwan.

Sue Bird started all four games, and led the team with 17 assists, helping lead the team to the gold medal.

In 2002, Sue Bird was named to the national team which competed in the World Championships in Zhangjiagang, Changzhou and Nanjing, China.

In 2006, Sue Bird was invited back to the National team for the World Championships held in Sao Paulo, Brazil in September 2006.

Sue Bird started all eight games, and led the team in steals, with 14.

Sue Bird was invited to the USA Basketball Women's National Team training camp in the fall of 2009.

In 2010, Sue Bird was named as one of the National team members to represent the USA Basketball team in the WNBA versus USA Basketball.

Sue Bird was selected to be a member of the National team representing the US at the World Championships held in September and October 2010.

Sue Bird averaged 5.6 points per game and led the team in assists with 26.

Sue Bird competed for the US in the 2012 Summer Olympics.

On July 23,2021, in the lead-up to her quest for her fifth gold medal, Sue Bird carried the US flag at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Summer Olympics.

Sue Bird publicly came out as a lesbian on July 20,2017, revealing that she had been dating soccer player Megan Rapinoe for several months after the two met at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Sue Bird continued her advocacy for the BLM movement by asking viewers to ponder if their care for Black Americans ended at entertainment and sports.