DALLAS – In a time of heightened awareness about the inequalities suffered in American society,
Erica Ogwumike feels representation can serve as a driving force for change and courage for future generations.
In 2020 alone, the Rice women's basketball alum became the first athlete in C-USA history to earn back-to-back Conference Female Athlete of the Year awards, was the program's fourth player to be selected in the WNBA Draft, and began study at one of the top medical schools in Texas.
On Thursday, Ogwumike was also named a Top 30 candidate for the prestigious NCAA Woman of the Year award, which recognizes graduating female college athletes for excellence in academics, athletics, community service and leadership. Conferences were able to recognize two nominees if at least one was a woman of color or an international student-athlete.
One of the NCAA's highest honors, this year's program also lends itself to a particular celebration of excellence for women within the Black and minority communities. It's a needed appreciation of role models and thought leaders for the underrepresented as social and systemic injustices are being protested across the country.
"It's exciting to be able to represent Rice and to be able to represent women in sport, which is still something that we're striving to have more respect and autonomy in," Ogwumike said. "If I can be that vessel for somebody – a vessel of information, representation and visualization, I'm honored to be that."
From a program-record pool of 605 college nominees, 161 athletes spanning 21 sports were named conference-level candidates. Ogwumike was one of 59 Division I representatives and of those, nine DI women's basketball players.
The Cypress, Texas, native transferred to Rice as a sophomore and left as one of its most decorated players of all time. Ogwumike graduated as the Owls' all-time leader in scoring average (17.7) and ranks second in rebounds per game (10.1). In March, she was named just the fifth player to win consecutive C-USA Player of the Year honors. The guard also gave Rice its first C-USA regular season title in 2019, which the team defended in 2020 just before the postseason was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ogwumike was a member of Rice's African Student Association and Pre-Med Society for Minority Students. As a student-athlete, she joined Pre-Health Society for Athletes and volunteered with the program's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
"Rice was the perfect place for me," Ogwumike said. "They really let me be myself and also pushed me to try new things. The Rice community, the people within it and the resources just really pushed me to challenge myself, and I think it paid off now that I'm here."
At the conclusion of a 2019-20 campaign in which she was deemed All-C-USA First Team, All-Defensive, CoSIDA Academic All-American, and an Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar Award finalist, Ogwumike was drafted by the New York Liberty 26th overall before having her rights traded to the Minnesota Lynx.
The Ogwumikes are no strangers to the WNBA. Her older sisters, Chiney and Nneka were both No. 1 overall selections and have since found compelling voices through that national platform. Nneka serves as president of the WNBPA as the league continues to spearhead social justice efforts. Chiney recently became the first Black woman to co-host a national show on ESPN Radio. The example set by her sisters allowed Erica to visualize a path of her own. She stressed the importance of it as a means of confidence and assurance that women like her deserve those opportunities, too.
"You want to see something done by someone that looks like you. It's just very powerful," Ogwumike said. "I've been able to use that visualization in order to know that success is possible. Having Black people in every facet of industry is necessary. I'm very fortunate that a lot of people are starting to amplify the voices of Black people and amplify the injustices."
A professed lifelong learner, Ogwumike now embarks on years of schooling to become a physician, while also training in the hopes of competing for the USA Women's National Team. She was never meant to stick to sports, or any one path. It's her impassioned, versatile nature that makes her a true representative of possibility and of the NCAA Woman of the Year program.
The Woman of the Year Selection Committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will now narrow the pool to three finalists from each NCAA division. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics will select the 2020 Woman of the Year from the nine finalists to be announced this fall.