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Brianna Scurry, Olympic Athlete born

Brianna Scurry

Brianna Scurry was born on this date in 1971. She is a retired Black Gay Olympic athlete.

Briana Collette Scurry was born in Dayton, MN., and graduated from Anoka Senior High School, where she was an All-American soccer player (goalkeeper). In 1989 her school won the state soccer championship, and she was voted the top female athlete in Minnesota. Scurry graduated from the University of Massachusetts in 1995 with a degree in political science.

While at U-Mass, as the consensus top college goalkeeper, she won two national goalkeepers of the year awards after her senior season. She was a 1993 NSCAA Second-Team All-American, All-Northeast Region, and All-New England First-Team selection. Scurry helped lead U-Mass to a 17-3-3 record and to the semifinals of the NCAA Final Four in 1993. She also led the Minutewomen to titles in the Atlantic 10 Conference regular season and tournament. She completed her four-year collegiate career with 37 shutouts in 65 starts and had a career record of 48-13-4 and a 0.56 goals-against-average (GAA). In her senior season, she started all 23 games and recorded 15 shutouts and a 0.48 GAA, the third-best in the nation.

She promised to "run naked through the streets of Athens, Georgia" if the USA won the gold medal at the 1996 Olympics, and she did. Scurry has a tattoo of a Black Panther on her shoulder.  She was a goalkeeper for the 2004 USA Olympic team in Athens, Greece.

Since retirement, she has been active in volunteer work for HIV/Aids awareness and research. She volunteers her time with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Scurry was elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2017, the first woman goalkeeper and black woman to be honored.

In 2017, Scurry was announced as the First Assistant Coach of the Washington Spirit and Technical Advisor for the Spirit Academy programs in Maryland and Virginia.  In 2018 she married top PR Executive, public speaker, and branding specialist Chryssa Zizos, CEO of Live Wire Strategic Communications, LLC.

To become a Professional Athlete