Before Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe played their way into the pantheon of Seattle sports greats, before they became known as queer celebrity icons and the power couple of Seattle sports, they each took separate paths to the Emerald City. Sue Bird, from Syosset, N.Y.
, was 22 when she boarded a plane for Seattle in 2002 hoping to make an immediate impact in her rookie season with the Seattle Storm. Megan Rapinoe, from Redding, Calif., arrived in Seattle in 2013 to join the Seattle Reign in its inaugural season.
Neither Bird, nor Rapinoe, nor the city of Seattle could have known how much they needed one another at the time. But as Bird, 43, and Rapinoe, 38, return to Seattle together as retired pro athletes, fiancées and grand marshals of the 2024 Seattle Pride Parade this Sunday , they look back fondly on the years they spent in Seattle and how the city helped mold them. “When I think of my own evolution with how I have thought of pride, viewed pride, and participated in pride — I’ll speak for both of us — we feel really proud that we can represent this community in this way,” said Bird in a recent interview.
Over more than 20 years, Bird helped usher in the golden age of basketball in Seattle, bringing the city four WNBA championships, collecting countless accolades, and cementing her legacy as one of the greatest to ever play the game. After bouncing from Chicago, to Philadelphia, Florida and Australia, Rapinoe, then 28, finally found a home in Seattle when she join.
