Former South Charleston basketball star Renee Montgomery becomes first former WNBA player to own franchise
SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. (BVM) — During the 11th episode of her new YouTube series Remotely Renee, former South Charleston Black Eagles basketball star Renee Montgomery had a surprise for listeners at home. In the video, an emotional Montgomery, 34, announced her retirement from the WNBA but didn’t rule out the possibility of returning to the sport she loved in some capacity.
“I want to just start by saying I am retiring from the WNBA and I enjoyed all 11 years of it,” Montgomery said in the video. “I was one of those players that enjoyed my time. I enjoyed it. It was fun. I know it’s cliché to say because everyone always says it but I really do plan on staying around the game. Staying around everything involving basketball. That’s in me so I’m going to do it.”
Though the retirement itself may not come as too big of a surprise in league circles given Montgomery’s lengthy and successful career, coupled with her opting out of the 2020 season to pursue social activism, her next move certainly did. Montgomery wouldn’t leave the game of basketball at all, instead she’d dive even further into the sport when she was listed as part of a three-member investor group, including Northland real estate firm Chairman Larry Gottesdiener and Northland President and Chief Operating Officer Suzanne Abair, that was unanimously approved by the WNBA to purchase the Atlanta Dream. The Dream are an important part of Montgomery’s basketball career, acting as her final team where she spent her last two playing seasons from 2018-19.
With her position as owner, Montgomery also broke another barrier, becoming the first former WNBA player to be both an owner and executive of a league team.
“I am also thrilled that former WNBA star Renee Montgomery will be joining the ownership group as an investor and executive for the team,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a press release. “Renee is a trailblazer who has made a major impact both in the game and beyond.”
“My Dream has come true,” Montgomery added in the release. “Breaking barriers for minorities and women by being the first former WNBA player to have both a stake in ownership and a leadership role with the team is an opportunity that I take very seriously. I invite you to join me as the Dream builds momentum in Atlanta!”
Montgomery’s basketball career is one seemingly out of a story book. Growing up in St. Albans, W.Va., Montgomery was seen early as a basketball prodigy, playing in youth leagues against boys her age or older and thoroughly handling the competition. When she enrolled at South Charleston High School in 2002, the guard would quickly become a household name throughout the state.
“She was the ball handler; she made things happen,” said former South Charleston head basketball coach Gerald Burgy who coached Montgomery while she was at the school. “Renee was a great ball handler, excellent shooter and she was definitely a team player.”
Montgomery and her teammate Alexis Hornbuckle, another future WNBA player and star for the University of Tennessee, helped make South Charleston into a dynasty. Over her four years with the team, Montgomery would help lead the Black Eagles to three Class AAA state championship appearances with state championships in both 2003 and 2004.
“We didn’t have a program two years before Alexis and Renee came and we were struggling,” Burgy said. “Those two kids made everybody so much better and it was exciting having Division I college coaches there every day. … It was exciting. Everyday was a new day.”
West Virginia’s finest, UConn at Tennessee tonight 👀 #WeBackPat #LVFL pic.twitter.com/RHe9fNgamr
— Alexis Hornbuckle (@Hornbuckle14) January 21, 2021
Montgomery would earn a number of accolades during her career as well including being named first team All-State three times, West Virginia State All-Tournament team three times, 2004 Street & Smith Third Team All-America, 2003 Street & Smith Honorable Mention All-America and break the West Virginia State Tournament single-game steals record with nine in 2003.
Her most impressive season came during her senior campaign when Montgomery averaged 22.5 points, six assists, five rebounds and five steals on her way to West Virginia Gatorade Player of the Year honors. That year she would also be named the Associated Press West Virginia Player of the Year and a McDonald’s All-American.
As one of the top recruits in the nation, Montgomery would take her talents to one of the top teams in the country at the University of Connecticut. While a four-year member of the Lady Huskies, Montgomery would lead the team to a 138-11 record over her tenure that included two trips to the NCAA Women’s Final Four including a perfect 39-0 record and national championship her senior year in 2009. Montgomery left UConn as the only player in program history to rank in the top 10 in points, assists, steals, and 3-pointers and still sits at No. 4 in program history in career assists, No. 8 in 3-point field goals made in a career, No. 9 in career steals and No. 10 in games played in a career.
“It was awesome,” Burgy said. “My wife and I would sit at home in the evenings with our kids and we’d get to watch them play almost every game they had. We got to follow her career all the way through and when she was close [we’d watch her play].”
Montgomery would be selected by the Minnesota Lynx with the fourth overall pick in the 2009 WNBA Draft. She would go on to play in 364 career games and win two WNBA championships as a member of the Lynx in 2015 and 2017. She would retire with 3,534 points and 1,140 assists and her 532 career three-pointers made rank 12th all-time in WNBA history.
“It was exciting for the whole community,” Burgy said. “I think the whole community got around her. They were always supporting her. I think our community got behind those kids.”
While her historic career on the court may be over, Montgomery is just beginning a new trailblazing path as an owner. From the small burrow Kanawha Valley in West Virginia to the big lights of Atlanta, Montgomery is continuing to reshape the world of women’s basketball and she isn’t showing any signs of slowing down.
“Not only are they getting an owner in Renee, but they’re getting a people person too,” Burgy said. “She’ll be able to get the community a little more involved and the players can relate to her because she is a basketball player. She knows the game. She knows what it takes to become a successful basketball player. … I just think its a great opportunity for her.”
