One of the more rewarding aspects of Rebecca's Lobo life has been why her childhood dream did not come true.
"I remember writing the letter, and the feelings behind it," said Lobo, who will be inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame Saturday in Knoxville, Tenn.
Lobo’s letter to Red Auerbach was hand-delivered by her grandmother at a Celtics game.
It described how Rebecca, a fifth-grader growing up in Southwick, dreamed of becoming the NBA’s first woman player.
“That’s the beauty of it. With the WNBA now, that’s not necessary,” Lobo said Thursday.
Mention the name “Rebecca,” in a sports discussion, and one person will come to mind. Lobo has been a Forrest Gump of real life.
Put aside the intellect factor (she’s brilliant, Gump wasn’t), and the comparison is apt. Whenever something big was happening in her sport, she was there.
National college player of the year at Connecticut. Olympic gold medalist.
WNBA pioneer. And author, with mother RuthAnn, on her mom’s winning fight against breast cancer.
Today, she’s an ESPN broadcaster, wife, and mother of three, with another on the way.
“My daughters are very tall. I coached the oldest one, who will be 6 in December,” said Lobo, 36.
“She wanted to take a break from basketball, but she’s talking about getting back into it. We’ll see if she still likes it.”
Mom supports the kids but doesn’t push. They are foremost among the reasons she does not miss playing, seven years after retiring.
“I retired at the right time, and I still get my basketball fix with ESPN,” Lobo said.
She loves seeing the world through her children’s eyes.
“They’ll be asking about the mascot, not what defense is being played,” Lobo said.
She is proud the WNBA survived the 2008 economic crash and is here to stay.
As a former Huskie, she heard all the remarks of how UConn’s 78-game winning streak might be hurting the women’s game.
“I think it’s a silly debate, because you don’t hear it on the men’s side,” she said.
For all her travels, this is Lobo’s first visit to the Knoxville hall of fame.
“I was told about (her election) last year. Its meaning has grown with time. I think that will continue,” she said.
Lobo has not run out of dreams. She is thrilled to go to Knoxville, but she’d make time for another induction someday – at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield.
You would think someday soon, there would be room for a great, dominant player who became the signature role model for her sport, leaving an impact that is felt to this day.
“I hope it happens. That would be unbelievable,” Lobo said.
No, it wouldn’t.