Boxx to enter National Soccer Hall of Fame
Shannon Boxx’s soccer journey nearly made a detour to the softball field.
“My mother, being a single parent, was like, ‘Unless you get a scholarship, you will be going to a JC,’” Boxx said. “My sister (Gillian) had already gotten a scholarship in softball to go to Cal Berkeley and was like. ‘That’s your ticket.’”
“My mom said, ‘You should probably start playing club softball, you should focus more on softball because that’s where your opportunity is.’ I tried and I did and I went and started doing both and realized, ‘I don’t love this. I love soccer.’”
Boxx said that was her junior year of high school at South Torrance, where she was a four-sport athlete (soccer, volleyball, softball and basketball).
Despite her success, she knew early that soccer was the path she was meant to pursue.
“It was then that I said, ‘This is what I want to go for and I’m going to do everything that I can to make it successful.’ And I’m so glad that I did,” she said.
Boxx’s journey led her to Notre Dame, where she led the Fighting Irish to the 2005 NCAA title and eventually a fixture on the U.S. women’s national team.
Today, Boxx, 44, reaches another milestone in her career today, entering the National Soccer Hall of Fame. Her sister Gillian will introduce her.
Boxx made her first international appearance in 2003 at 26 and went on to record 195 in her career. She was a three-time Olympic Gold Medalist (2004, 2008, 2011) and made four World Cup rosters (2003, 2007, 2011, 2015). She retired at 38 on July 27, 2015, just 22 days after the U.S. defeated Japan 5-2 in Vancouver to capture its third World Cup title.
“I always knew I was a good player,” she said. “In college, I never thought I was the best player. I knew that there were players that were way better than me, but one thing I knew that I always had, I was consistent.
“I was tougher than most. My non-traditional way of playing, it wasn’t pretty, but it was effective.”
Professionally, Boxx played in the W-League, WUSA (Women’s United Soccer Association), WPS (Women’s Professional Soccer) and the NWSL.
She started her professional career in Germany after ending a stellar collegiate career at Notre Dame. Upon returning to the United States, Boxx said she was grateful there was a league to come home to.
“I think that’s one thing that’s so amazing about elite athletes,” Boxx said. “Everybody has their own journey of how they became successful. Mine is definitely not your typical path, but I would say even just to think about my legacy, I think my legacy holds around the idea that I’m that poster child for women’s professional leagues here in the United States.
“If we did not have a professional league in 2003, I would never have been noticed. I would have gone to a great school, Notre Dame. I did well there, I went to play in Germany and I came home to nothing. I think for me, I’m that person that’s showing if you invest in the women’s game and you create opportunities for us to be successful, that league it was able to let me build my skill set and also the skill set that I already had and it allowed me to make an impact on the national team.”
Her 195 appearances are the most by a Black woman for the U.S. national team. That impact is still being felt with the national team becoming more diverse in recent years.
“There were definitely times when I was on national team that I looked around and I’m the only person here of color,” she said. “For me, it was just a big weight that I was willing to have, but I remember feeling like 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.”