Sports Illustrated

Who made the grade?
Considering the explosion of athletic opportunities over the last four decades, and the extraordinary women who have taken advantage of them, compiling a list of the top 40 female athletes of the Title IX era was a monumental undertaking. Paying homage to the original aim of the legislation — increasing gender-equity in higher education — we narrowed the pool of candidates with the stipulation that each had to have competed in a sport for at least one year at the college level. Doing so removed a [few] worthy athletes, but it opened up spots for many other women who also deserve accolades. After soliciting input from editors, producers and writers from the magazine and website, we present the top 40 female athletes of the last 40 years.

Angela Ruggiero
The all-time leader in games played for Team USA helped the country win the first gold medal in Olympic history at the 1998 Games. She continued steering the U.S. team in the next three Olympics, guiding it to two silver medals, one bronze and three world championships. In 2003, The Hockey News named her the No. 1 women’s hockey player in the world. At Harvard, Ruggiero won the Patty Kazmaier Award in 2004, given to the nation’s top female college hockey player. She made history in 2005 when she took to the ice for the Tulsa Oilers, becoming the first woman to play in a men’s game at a position other than goalie.

MC10 has tapped Tennessee Titans quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and several other pro-athletes to form a Sports Advisory Board (SAB) to help it develop the next version of its athletic performance monitoring devices. Included in this group of elite athletes is four-time ice hockey Olympic medalist Angela Ruggiero.

The Cambridge-based maker of flexible electronics will get feedback from the athletes on its sensing platform that allows for sensors to measure hydration, heart rate, muscle activity, motion, and other indicators of athletic performance. The sensors are small and nearly invisible, according to the company.
Inaugural members of MC10’s SAB include Grant Hill, seven-time NBA All-Star playing for the Phoenix Suns; Matt Birk, seven-time NFL Pro Bowl pick playing for the Baltimore Ravens; Paul Rabil, champion Lacrosse player for the National Lacrosse League’s Washington Stealth; Angela Ruggiero, former Olympian and US Women’s National Ice Hockey Team defenseman; John Thompson III, head coach of men’s basketball at Georgetown University; Taylor Twellman, former New England Revolution star and retired Major League Soccer and World Cup Soccer standout; and Kristine Lilly, retired Women’s Professional Soccer and US Women’s National Soccer Team star player.

“Performance monitoring devices available today are generally bulky and generate limited, often low-quality data,” said Ben Schlatka, vice president of business development and co-founder of MC10, in a statement. “MC10 is developing the next generation of performance monitoring products, and input from this impressive team of athletes will be invaluable.”

“Athletes that want to improve performance need better information than current wearable devices provide, and they need to be unobtrusive and comfortable enough to wear through vigorous training and during games,” Hasselbeck said in a written statement. “I’m excited to work with MC10 and my fellow SAB members to bring this innovative performance monitoring technology to the mass market.”

The funding comes after MC10 raised $2 million in a funding round from Aberdare Ventures of San Francisco in January and $15 million in August 2011. As part of the investment, Aberdare managing partner Paul Klingenstein joined the MC10 board of directors.

WALLINGFORD — One of the most decorated players in United States Women’s Hockey history, Angela Ruggiero returned to Choate Rosemary Hall earlier this week.

It’s where her hockey journey began.

Ruggiero, 32, was a standout defenseman for the U.S. National Team for 16 years. Her career included four Olympics. As an 18-year old, she nabbed a gold medal at the 1998 Nagano (Japan) Games while still attending Choate.

Ruggiero, a 1998 Choate graduated, returned to Wallingford on Tuesday to prepare for a commencement speech that she will deliver on June 3.

“It’s amazing to be back,” said Ruggiero, who grew up in California. “I missed the campus and the people and just the whole experience that I had attached to my time here. The memories are so vivid because I spent four instrumental years here.”

After leaving Wallingford, she excelled at Harvard. In her senior year, she won the 2004 Patty Kazmaier Award, which is given to the top player in U.S. women’s collegiate hockey. She led the Crimson to a 1999 National Championship. She was a four-time NCAA All-American and was selected as her team’s MVP three times.

After her gold medal in Nagano, Ruggiero helped Team USA win silver in 2002 in Salt Lake City, bronze in 2006 (Torino, Italy) and silver in her final Games in Vancouver in 2010.

“Nagano is my favorite because we won,” Ruggiero said. “The gold medal helps. They were all unique. In 2002, I walked with the World Trade Center flag in the opening ceremonies, which was pretty powerful. The Torino Games were great because I’m Italian and it’s a beautiful country. In 2010, I had 30 people in the stands in Vancouver and I had tons of support. It was really cool that I was able to bring the family together through hockey. But Nagano was pretty cool to see the American flag being raised.”

Ruggiero made her first national team between her freshman and sophomore years at Choate as a 15-year-old. She retired from Team USA in December to focus on her new post with the International Olympic Committee.

In addition to the Olympic success, she also won gold medals with the U.S. World Championship Team in 2005, 2008 and 2009. She tallied the game-winner in the 2005 final in a shootout. She was also voted the World Championships’ top defender four different times, as well as the top defender at the 2002 and 2006 Olympic Games.

She played a team-record 256 games for Team USA, finishing her international career with 208 points on 67 goals and 141 assists.

Defense is a position in which Ruggiero has always excelled.

“I got stuck back there right away because I could skate backwards,” she said. “I wish I was a forward over the years. You get to score. You get all of the glory.

“But I realized it’s hard to come by a really solid, steady defenseman,” she added. “It’s important and it’s a position that gets overlooked the whole time because you don’t have statistics that a goalie might have or a forward might have. But I loved it. I loved defense. I would rush the puck anyway and get involved in the offense.”

Still, it was hard not to notice Ruggiero on the ice. She was voted the Best Female Hockey Player in the World by The Hockey News and United States Olympic Committee Hockey Player of the Year in 2003. She was also selected as the USA Hockey Chevy Women’s Player of the Year in 2003 and 2004.

She also excelled in the classroom and was selected a 2004 Academic All-American while at Harvard.

“I learned more off the ice at Choate,” Ruggiero said. “Choate creates a well-rounded student-athlete and teaches the value of an education. I never thought I would have been able to apply to Harvard, never mind being successful there, without going to Choate. I learned to take risks and how to be successful with those risks.”

Ruggiero was a trailblazer in many ways. She was also the first non-goalie women’s player to play a men’s professional hockey regular-season game in the U.S. She suited up for the Tulsa Oilers in the Central Hockey League in 2005.

Ruggiero was also the first of a long list of U.S. Women’s National Hockey players to come out of Choate. Three of the 2012 U.S. Women’s National Team 23 members selected on Monday are Choate grads. They are forwards Julie Chu (2001) and Hilary Knight (2007) and defenseman Josephine Pucci (2009). The week-long Women’s World Championships begin today in Burlington, VT.

“Angela started this tradition,” Choate Director of Athletics Ned Gallagher said. “We feel like the torch is being passed. We have had two or three members since the 1998 games when Angela made it. We have had a steady stream since.”

Gallagher said the school rallied around Ruggiero during her gold medal run.

“She was a tremendous ambassador for the school,” Gallagher said. “She was not only an Olympian, but she was a gold-medal winner while she was still attending school. That was tremendous. She was a great source of pride for her schoolmates, at the time and since, as well as for the faculty and alumni.”

Of the ice, Ruggiero authored her 2006 autobiography, “Breaking the Ice: My Journey to Olympic Hockey, The Ivy League, and Beyond.” She was also a contestant on NBC’s “The Apprentice” in 2007.

Ruggiero said it was tough for her to give up the sport, but in 2010 she was elected to the International Olympic Committee Athletes’ Commission.

“With the IOC, we make sure all of the future host cities are up to date on their planning. We determine the cities; where each sport is being played. I’m basically helping represent the athletes abroad. That’s pretty cool. I’m on the board of the U.S. Olympic Committee.”

Inside The Games

Angela Ruggiero is one of the rising stars in the IOC and retired from ice hockey at the end of last year to concentrate on her work in sports administration after 16 years in the sport.

The Harvard University graduate was just 18 when she won Olympic gold with the US team in 1998 – when women’s ice hockey made its debut on the Games program in Nagano – and she followed it up by claiming Olympic silver at Salt Lake City in 2002, bronze at Turin in 2006 and silver again at Vancouver in 2010. The former defenseman is also a four-time ice hockey world champion and finished her career having recorded 208 points for the US team, including 67 goals and 141 assists.

Ruggiero was in Innsbruck in January for the inaugural edition of the Winter Youth Olympics in the Austrian city, where she praised the concept of the competition, which is credited as being the brainchild of IOC President Jacques Rogge.

“For me, the Youth Olympics is a great event and a great addition to the Olympics,” she told insidethegames.

“I think a lot of the young athletes that will compete and then be inspired to work harder to go on to the Olympics…But I think the real goal of the event is just to participate and to be part of the Olympics…A big part of the event is the Cultural and Education Program that helps young people learn about Olympism and Olympic values so that they can take them back to their respective countries…So I think it has all the right elements become a huge success going forward.”

The announcement marks Ruggiero’s growing prominence in the IOC after she was nominated by her fellow sportsmen and women, along with British bob skeleton rider Adam Pengilly, as one of the 12 elected members on the IOC’s Athlete’s Commission during Vancouver 2010.

Last August, Ruggiero was appointed as a member of the IOC’s Coordination Commission that will be overseeing preparations for the 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Pyeongchang, while she is also on the IOC Entourage Commission.

Ruggiero is joined on the Lillehammer 2016 IOC Coordination Commission by seven members, including Pengilly.

Austria’s Peter Bayer, the chief executive of the Innsbruck 2012, International Ski Federation (FIS) President Gian-Franco Kasper of Switzerland, who was chair of the Coordination Commission for the 2012 Youth Olympics, René Fasel, the Swiss President of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and an IOC Executive Board member, German Bernhard Schwank, the chief executive of the Munich’s unsuccessful bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, and IOC members Yang Yang of China and Ottavio Cinquanta from Italy are the final two members.

As with all IOC Coordination Commissions, the director in charge will be the Olympic Games Executive Director Gilbert Felli.

The Women’s Sports Foundation (WSF) announced today the appointment of a new President-Elect and four new members to the Board of Trustees. Olympic gold medalist Angela Ruggiero, Ice Hockey, has assumed the role of president-elect and will continue serving on the Board of Trustees to provide leadership and visibility for the organization’s mission. Ruggiero will succeed current WSF President Laila Ali in 2013.

WSF is also proud to announce that Jean Afterman, Senior Vice President and Assistant General Manager, New York Yankees, Terri D. Austin, Chief Diversity Officer, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Tamika Catchings, WNBA MVP and two-time Olympic gold medalist, Basketball, and Larry Scott, Commissioner, Pac-12 Conference, have been appointed to serve on the Foundation’s Board of Trustees, effective immediately.

As president-elect, Ruggiero will serve a two-year term as an official spokesperson for the Foundation and will help shape strategic direction and development initiatives for the organization.

“The Women’s Sports Foundation holds a unique position in developing opportunities for girls and women of all abilities to be active whether recreationally or competitively, and I’m excited to help lead the organization to impact even more lives,” expressed Ruggiero, who joined the Women’s Sports Foundation Board of Trustees in January 2010. “It is an honor to continue to build the legacy created by Billie Jean King and all of our leaders. As president-elect, I look forward to working with Laila Ali to fulfill her vision as president and to carrying the torch forward for all of our athletes who cross all abilities.”

The foundation’s Board of Trustees includes champion athletes, prominent business leaders, major benefactors and principals of women’s sports organizations. The four newly inducted members will collaborate with the existing Board, bringing their collective experience and dynamic leadership to facilitate the exemplary operation of the organization, assist in the acquisition of financial and human resources and oversee the accomplishment of the Foundation goals and objectives.

“We are absolutely thrilled to welcome such inspirational athletes and business leaders to the Women’s Sports Foundation Board of Trustees,” said Kathryn Olson, Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation.  “Their diverse expertise and leadership strengths will be a great complement to our Trustees who are among the best in their fields. And we couldn’t be happier to rely on Angela’s own leadership in sports and business as she assumes her new role as president-elect.”

Angela Ruggiero, President-Elect, Olympic gold medalist, Ice Hockey

Angela Ruggiero attends an IOC meeting in Lausanne, 2010 (Photo: International Olympic Committee)

Ruggiero, a four-time Olympian and four-time world champion, is the most decorated player in the history of the USA Women’s Ice Hockey Team, earning a gold (1998), two silver (2010, 2002), one bronze (2006) and receiving the Top Defenseman Award at the 2002 and 2006 Olympics. Ruggiero was elected in 2010 to the International Olympic Committee, where she serves on the 2018 Evaluation and Coordination, the Entourage, and Athlete’s Commissions. She is a member of the WADA Foundation Board and the USOC Board of Directors. At Harvard University, Ruggiero was a four-time First Team All-American, Academic All-American, and a National Champion. Ruggiero is the first woman to play a non-goalie position during a men’s professional hockey game in North America. In addition to her work with the Women’s Sports Foundation, Ruggiero is the founder of a girls’ hockey school dedicated to teaching young women about ice hockey.

Jean Afterman, Senior Vice President, Assistant General Manager, New York Yankees
Jean Afterman enters her 11th season as the New York Yankees’ Assistant General Manager in 2012, and was promoted to Senior Vice President in 2011. She became only the third female to hold such a position in Major League Baseball (MLB) history, and is currently the only female Assistant GM in the MLB. Afterman’s diverse business and legal background made her instrumental in the Yankees’ efforts to spearhead operations in Asia and the signing of three-time MVP Hideki Matsui. Her contributions and leadership were recognized in 2010, when she was named by WISE (Women in Sports and Events) as a “Women of the Year.” Afterman maintains an active role in the Bronx community.  She has organized Yankees-sponsored Read-A-Thons and mentoring programs, and volunteered through New York City’s Explorers program for high school-aged students.

Terri D. Austin, Chief Diversity Officer, The McGraw-Hill Companies
Terri D. Austin is Chief Diversity Officer for The McGraw-Hill Companies.  In this role, Ms. Austin is responsible for implementing an integrated diversity strategy across all of McGraw-Hill’s businesses to expand markets and to further enhance the company’s diversity and talent development programs. Austin is a successful attorney and accomplished leader in diversity with over 27 years of experience.  She was recognized as one of the Top 25 Influential Black Women in Business by The Network Journal (2008) and as a Top Diversity Executive by Black Enterprise (2011).  Austin is a member of the New York City Bar Association, serves on a number of non-profit boards, holds a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and has completed three New York City Marathons.

Tamika Catchings, two-time Olympic gold medalist, Basketball
Tamika Catchings is the reigning 2011 MVP of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and will enter her 11th season as a forward for the Indiana Fever in 2012. Catchings was drafted by Indiana in the 2001 WNBA Draft (3rd overall) and won the 2002 WNBA Rookie of the Year award. Catchings is a two-time Olympic gold medalist (2004 and 2008), three-time FIBA World Championship medalist, seven-time WNBA All-Star, and four-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year. Catchings is one of the country’s most highly-regarded citizen-athletes and was named a finalist for the 2006 Wooden Citizenship Cup, presented annually to the nation’s top professional athlete who exhibits outstanding community service. In 2004, Catchings created the Catch the Stars Foundation to empower youth through literacy, fitness and mentoring.  Catchings is also the current president of the WNBA Players Association.

Larry Scott, Commissioner, Pac-12 Conference
Larry Scott is the Commissioner of the Pac-12 Conference. During his first two years, Scott orchestrated a rebranding of the Conference with messages of innovation, excellence, and the advantages of West Coast location at its core, and led it through expansion for the first time since 1978. His leadership efforts helped deliver equal revenue sharing for the first time in Conference history, secure a landmark media rights agreement with FOX and ESPN and led to the creation of the Pac-12 Network and Pac-12 Digital Network. Most recently, Scott has developed a globalization initiative that will allow the Conference to pursue new frontiers for the member institutions. The initiative has started with the Pac-12 exploring athletic, academic and cultural exchanges in China. Prior to his appointment, Scott served six years as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour (Women’s Tennis Association), where he helped generate unprecedented growth and popularity for women’s professional tennis on a global scale. As a former collegiate and professional tennis player, Scott received all-American honors at Harvard University and a title on the ATP circuit. In 2008, Scott was named to Time Magazine’s list of best global sports executives.

For a complete list of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees, please visit: http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/home/about-us/people/board-of-trustees.

About Women’s Sports Foundation
The Women’s Sports Foundation, founded in 1974, is the leader in promoting sports, health and education for girls and women.  With Billie Jean King as its founder and ongoing visionary, the Women’s Sports Foundation continues to have a profound impact on female athletics, from its vigorous advocacy of Title IX legislation to providing grants and scholarships, grassroots programs for underserved girls, and groundbreaking research.  An agent for change, the foundation has relationships with more than 1,000 of the world’s elite female athletes and is recognized globally for its leadership, vision, strength, expertise and influence.  For more information, visit www.WomensSportsFoundation.org.