Brittney Griner is one of the most decorated and influential athletes of her generation—an NCAA champion, a WNBA champion, a three-time Olympic gold medalist, and a winner of the Best Female Athlete ESPY Award. In the 2013 WNBA draft, the Phoenix Mercury selected Griner as the number one overall pick. She was named the WNBA Rookie of the Year that season before helping lead the Mercury to the 2014 WNBA Championship.She’s a member of the W25, the WNBA’s 2021 list of the top 25 players of all time. A ten-time WNBA All-Star,
Griner is the first openly gay American professional athlete to sign a major shoe and apparel deal with Nike. Griner was rated the best high school women’s basketball player in the nation by rivals.com in 2009 she was named a McDonald’s All-American at Nimitz High School in Houston. She had a legendary collegiate career at Baylor University from 2009 to 2011, with 3,283 points, 1,305 rebounds and 748 blocks. She won an NCAA championship title,
made two Final Four appearances and took four trips to the NCAA tournament with Baylor, winning Most Outstanding Player for the 2012 NCAA Final Four and the Des Moines regional. Griner also won the Big 12 Player of the Year award three consecutive times, multiple All-Big 12 First Team and Defensive honors. To this day, she is still the only women’s college basketball player ever to score over 2,000 points and block over 500 shots. While traveling to play her tenth season of overseas professional basketball in Russia in 2022, Griner was wrongfully detained for ten months. Thousands rallied to bring Griner home through the We Are BG campaign. During the crusade, Griner joined forces with Bring Our Families Home (BOFH), a campaign to raise awareness and urge action on behalf of all wrongfully detained American hostages. She continues to actively support that cause. She is also collaborating with Disney and ESPN Films on a documentary chronicling her detainment in Russia, along with a scripted series in development with ABC. Griner was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 2025.
