"I wasn’t up there, it doesn’t affect me, but I heard there was a lot of players who were disappointed. There’s always going to be that discussion over this player or that player. I think there’s a lot of great players and there will always be players that are unhappy. Tangela Smith is in the top 25 all-time scorers but was also not voted to be a top 25 player.īolton said: “I’ve heard a lot of discussion about the top 25. However, Rebbekah Brunson’s absence caused some shock - she is the only player ever to win five championships and was the all-time rebounding leader until last season. Image: Ticha Penicheiro (top left) and Ruthie Bolton (bottom left) as part of the 1999 All-Star Game If the WNBA had started five years earlier and it was presenting its top 30 players of all time this season, she would probably be on the list, but the tail end of her peak came too soon, just as the league was beginning to blossom.īolton isn’t upset about not being named in the W25 - the top-25 player list as voted on by the media, which was released last week - but she played with the likes of Ticha Penicheiro and Yolanda Griffith, both of whom made it. She was the best player on the court through the two games they played in 2000 against the Houston Comets.
Bolton ontario professional#
There’s no denying she had slowed down by 2004 but in that first year she showed her professional experience, averaging 19 points, nearly six rebounds - reminder, she’s 5ft 9in - two and a half assists and more than two steals per game.Īs the talent around her grew, she did less in the scoring column, but as they started making the playoffs in 1999, that was where 'Mighty Ruthie' showed up. That situation was so easy for me to become unhealthy mentally, as I was still working for the organisation and had to show up to work every day.” "I felt like the organisation had done me wrong. Dealing with that at the time, and retiring from something I’d done for 25 years, it all came to a screeching halt… I had to really dig deep and pray, I had to face my adversaries. She said: “My father had passed away at the time and he was my rock and I couldn't talk to him. The sucker punch of missing out on a championship, and the empty city left a huge hole in Bolton’s life. The Monarchs folded in 2009 but those few years during the middle of the decade, it felt like Sacramento was ready to become the home of basketball - not only in the WNBA but with the Sacramento Kings in the men’s NBA as they battled with the LA Lakers for championship opportunities. I wasn’t ready to retire and I felt like I was rejected and abandoned in some ways.” After all the years I’d played, and commitment to the organisation, some things didn’t go the way I wanted. She said: “That was one of the toughest times in my life. However, it was that season, with Bolton taking on a back-room job away from the court, that the Monarchs finally broke through and won their first and last WNBA championship. She competed for a spot at training camp in 2005, but it wasn’t to be. “It felt like rejection,” Bolton told Sky Sports. The likes of Rebekkah Brunson, Kara Lawson and Nicole Powell took on bigger roles before the Monarchs encouraged Bolton to retire at the end of 2004. While the regular season records were still great, they kept flaming out in the playoffs, and with Bolton being at her peak when the WNBA first tipped off in 1997, it was becoming difficult to maintain her status as a starter and a leader as the league grew. They became one of the best teams in the league, but couldn’t quite get over the hump. Image: Ruthie Bolton representing Team USA during the 1996 Atlanta Olympicsīolton’s Sacramento Monarchs didn’t have the outrageous talent to compete with Cooper-Dyke’s Houston Comets or Lisa Leslie’s LA Sparks early on, but the franchise added the likes of Ticha Penicheiro, Yolanda Griffith and Tangela Smith over the years to complement Bolton’s talent.
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