Trailblazing Montgomery is proof of the American Dream

Social injustice and a dream for something better brought Renee Montgomery and Larry Gottesdiener to this Friday afternoon conference call. A pandemic, a presidential election, two Georgia senatorial runoffs and a Trump robot named Kelly Loeffler brought them to the national media.

So, too, did a crying need for Black and women athletes to say: “We’re not going to shut up and dribble. We’re going to dribble into the boardroom and be heard.” And, yes, also a white man with pockets as deep as his conviction and a top-level woman executive in his corporation to throw their full support behind what an American professional sports franchise should stand for — decency and equality.

Loeffler, a U.S. Senator and WNBA owner no more, had called the Black Lives Movement a threat to destroy America, Marxist and anti-Semitic. She wanted American flags on team jerseys last summer instead of those vital words about racial justice.

WNBA players didn’t want her to remain a co-owner of the Atlanta Dream.

Georgia voters decided they didn’t want her representing them in Washington.

And when the WNBA announced Friday it had unanimously approved the sale of the Atlanta Dream from Mary Brock and Loeffler to the former UConn guard, the Northland Investment chairman and Northland president/COO Suzanne Abair, it was easy to call the unfolding political and athletic events a win-win.

Only that wouldn’t be quite right.

It’s a WIN-WIN. Montgomery, who opted out of playing for the Dream in 2020 to focus on social injustices and who recently retired, is the first former player to become an owner and executive of a WNBA franchise. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert called Montgomery, 34, “a trailblazer.”

A trailblazer.

Not that long ago she was this big-eyed kid out of West Virginia dribbling into Storrs. And now here was this powerful Black woman on the phone with Gottesdiener, the Jewish kid from New London who grew up to become a wildly successful real estate investor. America, isn’t she grand? Marxist? Anyone who has bargained hard with Gottesdiener, the Dream’s majority owner, knows a dedicated capitalist.

Given where she was last July after George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, amid the turmoil that was America, Montgomery could have picked this day — one that found her rewarded for being on the right side of history — to tell Kelly Loeffler to shove that MAGA cap where the sun don’t shine. She didn’t. Her dad and her mom, who lived through the riots of Detroit in 1967, raised a class act.

So the 11-year WNBA veteran said things like, “Women basketball players always have been great role models. The next step is to be great leaders when it

comes to executive positions.”

And, “The first woman as a vice president. I think that set the tone moving forward. The future is female.”

The forces that brought Montgomery and Gottesdiener together are fascinating. The two knew Connecticut well. They didn’t know each other.

Montgomery remembered talking to Diana Taurasi last February at the NBA All-Star weekend about her basketball future. Taurasi told her, “You want to own it. That’s where the real decisions are made.”

Montgomery said she was fueled by LeBron James talking about what it can mean to have the right people in ownership.

“Me thinking and wanting it to happen just doesn’t make it happen,” Montgomery said. “So many people, so many allies helped. I’m just so thankful.”

On Jan. 6, James tweeted he was thinking about putting together a group to buy the Dream. Montgomery answered, “I’m ready when you are.” Montgomery had ties to More Than A Vote, a voting rights organization led by James. She reached

out for the group’s help. The arrow was pointed to Engelbert.

Gottesdiener, who once tried to bring the Pittsburgh Penguins to Hartford and has looked at several professional franchises, already had designs on the Dream.

“Last year, 2020, the Dream players refused to shut up and dribble,” Gottesdiener said in his opening remarks. “They found their collective voice and the world listened. We are inspired by these brave women who advocated sports and activism in the midst of the pandemic. We will support our players and amplify the message of women’s empowerment and social justice.”

Minutes later, Montgomery smiled and said, “That’s what I’m all about.”

Gottesdiener said the alignment of his values with the Dream players elicited a very strong reaction in him. If he had a chance, he was going to get involved.

When Montgomery was put in touch with Gottesdiener and Abair she didn’t know what their views were. It didn’t take long to find out.

“We saw our visions aligned so easily,” Montgomery said. “So much synergy right away. Once we started talking, first call, I had to say a thank-you prayer. I believe I stand for something. I’m happy to stand with Larry.”

Diverse, blue-collar New London, a state that long has been a hotbed of women’s basketball — Gottesdiener ran through his biography. Fan of the 1975 New London High boys state champs, the 1995 unbeaten UConn women national champions, the 1996 Olympic Team, the “We Got Next” campaign, he was hooked. Yet it often is something personal that leads to conviction. Gottesdiener said it was having a gritty first-born daughter who was so upset the high school didn’t have girls wrestling, she went out and competed on the boys team.

“I’m surrounded by strong and thoughtful women in my professional and personal life,” he said.

Gottesdiener recently decided to turn over day-today control of Northland to his son Matthew and named Abair president and COO. Splitting his time between California and the Newton, Massachusetts-based company, he’ll remain chairman. He credits Abair with turning around the culture at Northland from being too critical and joyless. He said Northland has focused on hiring women and people of color for management positions.

“We are the leader in our industry,” Gottesdiener said, “which isn’t saying that much actually, to be frank. The real estate industry is notoriously a nondiverse

business. With the Dream, our company and our industry, we’ll continue to work to break those barriers. There’s lot of work to be done.”

Gottesdiener said he has looked at professional teams consistently from 2002. Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Nashville, Atlanta in the NHL. A number of WNBA teams.

“Gary Bettman quickly disabused me back then that Pittsburgh wasn’t moving,” he said of his push for a new Hartford arena and NHL team. “Still, we were interested (in the Penguins) and probably should have won that bid when they sold it the first time. We didn’t. All things happen for a good reason.”

He said in early 2010s he went back to his basketball roots and looked at seven NBA teams.

“All of them were losing somewhere between $10-40 million a year,” Gottesdiener said. “I’m not talking depreciation. I’m talking cash out the door. People weren’t happy about it, but nobody complained. This is what it takes to own the team. We also knew a new media rights deal would help in future.

“That’s what I’m seeing in the WNBA. Owners investing in teams and not thinking about the shortterm losses but looking at the long time viability of the league. I’m glad to see it.

There’s a really bullish future. I think the WNBA is going to explode over the next 25 years. And I take all those misses in the past as a learning experience that brought me to this day.”

He said the Dream is going nowhere. Atlanta is Montgomery’s home now. She talks about Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Stacey Abrams and Atlanta like she’s on the Fulton County Chamber of Commerce. She’ll remain as Hawks studio analyst and will use any excuse to talk Dream and the WNBA. Abair and Montgomery will run the day-to-day organization.

“I think I’ve cried more in the past two months than 11 years as a player,” Montgomery said. “Not because I was sad but because of all the memories I’ve had as a player and out of excitement for the future.

“You already know Coach (Geno Auriemma) has told me how proud he is of me. The UConn program, it’s a family. When he found out the news, he’s like, ‘I’m so proud! You OK? You need help?’ That felt cool. Knowing I have a community behind me feels so great.”

Meanwhile, over on social media, LeBron called Montgomery “Queen.”

Yes, long live the queen.