Shannon Boxx heads into National Soccer Hall of Fame as role model
Shannon Boxx embraced the impact she could have on a younger generation even as she was redefining the role of a defensive midfielder for the U.S. women’s national team.
Boxx played during a time when the national team was predominately white. At the 2015 Women’s World Cup, she was among just three women of color playing for the United States.
She was aware her very presence on the field as a biracial woman sent a message to girls like her: “I remember feeling like, OK, when we’re signing autographs, I’m searching for those kids that are of color because I want them to know that they can do this, and I might be the only one right now but that’s not going to be the way it is in the future.”
Boxx played in 195 games for the United States, the most by a Black woman in the history of the national team. Next week she’ll be enshrined in the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Frisco, Texas, joining a class that includes former men’s national team star Clint Dempsey.
Known as Boxxy, she retired at age 38, shortly after the United States won the 2015 World Cup. She also won three Olympic gold medals with the national team.