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Why do we love Gabby?
Look up the word statuesque in the dictionary and you're likely to find a picture of Gabrielle Reece. She stands 6'3", her body honed by vigorous workouts, and a face that Michaelangelo might have sculpted, attributes that have served her well in the sports and modeling arenas. Always active, she began in basketball, but living near the beaches of Florida made volleyball an attractive choice. A relative latecomer to the game, Gabby didn't start playing volleyball until late in high school. Her drive to be the best caught the eye of Florida State recruiters and she was offered a scholarship. Collegiate volleyball offered the stability, regimen, and family atmosphere Gabby had missed during her difficult youth. While at FSU, she not only made an impact on NCAA volleyball, but the tall, lean brunette was also soon discovered by modeling agents. With a firm grasp on the reality of modeling, "I knew that about magazine covers right away. You're here, then you're gone in four weeks. I could never let my existence rely on that" Gabby combined modeling with her athleticism as a springboard for other opportunities including Nike endorsements (at one point outselling Air Jordan), TV hosting gigs, and a key role in the development of the Bud Light Pro Beach Volleyball League (four person teams) where she reigned until its demise in 1997. Not one to sit idly by, Gabby soon teamed up with Holly McPeak on the doubles tour for a year. Marriage to extreme surfer, Laird Hamilton, and a burgeoning interest in golf have shown Gabby new uses for sand: watching Laird from shore, good; hitting out of a sand trap: bad. Some question her drive to join the LPGA tour, but like another sporting DOL of Famer, Babe Didrickson Zaharrias, with Gabby's natural ability and determination, don't bet against it.
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Biography:
Born - January 6, 1970
Trinidad
Achievements:
- 1990 - Named nation's Most Inspiring Collegiate Athlete by the Dodge National Athletic Awards Committee
- 1990 - Named All-Metro and All-South Region at Florida State
- Ranked fifth in the NCAA in career blocks
- 1993 - Bud Light Pro Beach Volleyball League kills and blocks leader
- 1994 - Bud Light Pro Beach Volleyball League Offensive Player of the Year
- 1994 - Bud Light Pro Beach Volleyball League leader in kills
- 1995 - Bud Light Pro Beach Volleyball League Offensive Player of the Year
- 1995 - Bud Light Pro Beach Volleyball League leader in kills
- 1996 - Bud Light Pro Beach Volleyball League leader in kills
- 1997 - Inducted into Florida State's Athletic Hall of Fame.
- 1997 - Publishes autobiography Big Girl in the Middle
- 1997 - Appeared in Gattaca
Covergirl:
- Has appeared on the covers of 160 magazines, including: Women's Sports & Fitness, Outside, Vollyeball, SHAPE, ELLE, Self, Harper's Bazaar, and LIFE magazines
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In her own words -- On embracing your stature:
"I didn't want to be five foot three or less forceful. The thing I don't like about this fear of being big is that it feeds into this general female thing of wanting to be less—less powerful, less assertive, less demanding, less opinionated, less present, less big."
"If I could represent one thing to women, it would be to be a woman who doesn't have to necessarily choose to be one thing."
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