WNBA: Why Ruthie Bolton’s purpose is bigger than basketball

The late Bill Russell once said, “No. I’m not a basketball player. I’m a man who plays basketball.” He was declaring that his profession doesn’t define him. Another influential baller who has embodied that mantra is Ruthie Bolton. Much like Russell, she had a love for the game, but the game wasn’t the totality of her being.

On the floor, Bolton was a player who led by example and was coachable in every way. She worked tirelessly to master her craft and did whatever it took. Those traits empowered her to basketball excellence at the collegiate, international and professional levels.

As a player at the University at Auburn in the late 1980s, she led the team to four NCAA Tournament appearances and two national runner-up finishes in 1988 and 1989. She parlayed that success to the USA Basketball Women’s National Team, winning two Olympic gold medals in 1996 and 2000. Bolton was an integral part of the 1996 team that is credited with helping to launch the WNBA. A team that featured future Hall of Famers Lisa Leslie, Sheryl Swoopes and Rebecca Lobo who steamrolled their way to the gold medal in Atlanta.

Bolton played in the WNBA from 1997 to 2004 with the Sacramento Monarchs. Elected to first-ever All-WNBA First Team in 1997 and a two-time All-Star in 1999 and 2001, she would go on to score over 2,000 career points and became the only player in Monarchs history to have her jersey retired.

One could look at Bolton’s resume, along with her captivating smile and light-up personality, and say she had it going on. But few knew how deeply she struggled to make it as far as she did. She had to endure everything from surviving a bad car accident at 18 years old, where she was found in a ditch clinging to life, to being a survivor of domestic violence in the midst of the Atlanta Olympics.

Those hardships, combined with her strong religious convictions passed onto her by her pastor father, compelled Bolton to look at her life and think about how she could use all the gifts God has given her in service to others.

It was there that she decided to forge a career in public speaking and book writing. She has authored six books, with her latest entitled Victory Through Faith and Purpose. In this most-recent book, Bolton uses her life story to help others reach their full potential and search for their purpose, a quest not unlike her own, with basketball used as a metaphor.

“I want to be producing,” she said in an interview with Swish Appeal. “You can always say I’m busy, but are you producing fruit? Am I walking into my purpose? The same way as when I played basketball. I always wanted to know what the coach thought about me.”

She continued, using a basketball metaphor to explain her mindset:

Coach! What am I? How is my defense?! Because that’s my DNA makeup. I want to know, like, “No, you suck on defense right now. Your shooting is horrible,” whatever and I like to know, so I can move the needle. So I did that in my basketball career, and now I just want to be productive. I want to be, whether I’m starting the game, whether I’m coming off the bench, I want to be able to exhaust my gifts.

It is that kind of message Bolton emphasizes, regardless of who she is speaking to, from elementary school students, adolescents and teens in middle school and high school, or at corporate events with big shots in the business world.

“I feel like I cannot just grow myself, but I feel like I can help people around me,” she said. “But it’s really just trying to understand our seasons. How do we grow? How to be effective, so that we can be the best version of ourselves.”

Out of all the audiences Bolton speaks to, she takes the most enjoyment out of talking to the younger ones. Young people experiencing poverty, abuse, mental health struggles and/or isolation who are desperately trying to figure out their purpose in life pull at her heartstrings. Whenever she speaks to such groups, she has her Olympic gold medals handy to make a good first impression, but then it becomes deeper than simply showcasing the shiny objects to the kids.

Bolton explained:

I show them to the kids. I want all of them to experience it. But at the end of the day, my purpose is bigger than the gold medals. Speaking to youth, empowering them and giving them permission to thrive. It feels just as good as if I’m hitting a 3-point shot and then win the game. I feel like this is the right way to win. This is like winning the right way in life, and that is really using every essence of who you are to just lift someone up.

Bolton is intentional about meeting the kids where they are, and not holding anything back. During one visit to an elementary school, she encountered a third grader who spoke openly about having suicidal thoughts and admitted to drawing outlines of dead bodies. It was at that moment where Bolton desired to speak to elementary-aged kids more often because they are impressionable enough to be susceptible to social ills, underscoring the importance of earlier intervention. A 2023 report from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that suicide is the seventh- or eighth-leading cause of death for children between the ages of 5 to 11. The rate is much higher for African-American boys.

“I can’t ignore that,” Bolton said. “So I guess my purpose is, just every chance I get to get in front of elementary kids, if I can just get one or two, one or two to know that they matter, to know that the world needs them. The world needs their gifts. I feel like it would make the world a better place. So that’s what I enjoy.”

It is those experiences, plus kids asking her for hugs instead of autographs, that makes it all worthwhile.

With God on her side and a song in her heart, Ruthie Bolton has found her purpose and it doesn’t involve an orange sphere going into a netted hoop.

Bolton’s sixth book will be published soon. More information can be found at https://ruthieboltonofficial.com/.