Renee Montgomery was a star at the University of Connecticut and played in the WNBA for 11 seasons. Last year she opted out of the season. Today Montgomery announced she was hanging up her sneakers to focus on social justice reform.
“When I opted out in June, I was thinking ‘Alright, I’m gonna hit a little pause button and I’m gonna see what’s going on in the community,’” said an extremely emotional Montgomery on her Remotely Renee show. “I really did not expect that to be my last game, my last anything…I just wanted to add to the momentum and it’s rolling right now.”
Montgomery played for the Huskies from 2005-09. She was a key part of the undefeated team that won the National Championship in her senior year. She also won the Nancy Lieberman Award, given to the nation’s best point guard.
The Minnesota Lynx selected her with the #4 overall pick in the 2009 WNBA Draft. Montgomery made the All-Rookie team in 2009, was an All-Star in 2011, and Sixth Woman of the Year in 2012. Montgomery reunited with fellow UConn alum Maya Moore on the Lynx and they won WNBA Championships in 2015 and 2017. She played for several teams including the Lynx, Connecticut Sun, Seattle Storm, and Atlanta Dream.
Montgomery turned to social activism in 2019 when she started the Renee Montgomery Foundation. A year later she participated in various initiatives in Atlanta including fundraising and volunteering during Black Lives Matter protests in the city.
“A lot of people are craving sports and craving something to get away from reality, to just be able to go watch a game and get away from it,” said Montgomery to the Hartford Courant in June 2020. “I’m craving the opposite. I’m craving being a part of the movement and seeing the change.”
Being an activist runs in her blood. Montgomery’s mother, while living in Detroit during the riots in 1967, participated in a walkout in high school. They protested white students throwing pennies at Black students during a talent show.
“I knew that because I play basketball, my platform is bigger than hers was, and I knew that I could have just as big an impact as she did, if not larger,” said Montgomery.
Her mother recognized the impact she could have.
“She keeps saying, ‘this one’s different,’” said Montgomery. “When they walked out, there were a couple of white students that came with them. But she said the reason that this movement is so different is because, if you just look around, you look at the different cultures, the different races that are coming together for this problem.”
The now-retired WNBA player had a good career in basketball and is off to a good start in the next chapter of her life.
“The focus now is just continuing to break barriers,” she said. “There’s a lot of doors that are opening up just from me talking, and talking about representation, talking about social justice matters. Now people’s eyes are opening up, so I want to continue that. I’m going to do more of the same.”
She will be doing just that in a career she alluded to last June.
“You can see the changes happening not just with people’s mindsets, but changes in laws,” said Montgomery. “You have people really speaking out to make a change. And for me, I want to be a part of all of it.”
And now she’ll be an even bigger part of it.
