Keynote Speaker: Briana Scurry

Briana Scurry is widely recognized as one of the world’s most talented and influential goalkeepers. Her 173 international appearances as one of the first African American and openly gay professional athletes championed equality and diversified the sport. In 2017, she was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

Named starting goalkeeper for the United States Women’s National Team in 1994, she led the team on an illustrious run that included two Olympic gold medals. In the 1999 FIFA World Cup Championship – which represented one of the most seminal events in American athletic history – Briana made the iconic penalty kick save that carried the United States to victory.

Briana pioneered the first paid professional women’s soccer league as a founding player in 2001. A debilitating concussion led to her retirement in 2010. Since then, she has repurposed her visibility to become one of the nation’s foremost thought leaders on traumatic brain injuries.

Through her impact on the landscape of women’s soccer and American sports culture, Briana has received the National Association of Black Journalists’ Sam Lacy Award, inclusion in the United States Women’s National Team’s All-Time Best XI, and a permanent feature in the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

"2020 taught me how to be grateful, have patience, and to appreciate my family.”