Fortunately for the United States, goalkeeper Briana Scurry has put law school and her hoop dreams on hold.
Since junior high, Briana Scurry wanted to be a lawyer. A corporate lawyer, to be exact. She has been sidetracked. Becoming the world’s best female goalkeeper created the diversion. As her college soccer career was coming to an end in 1993, then-coach Anson Dorrance brought her into the national team. By 1994, she owned the starting spot. Bye-bye, law school. Hello, Olympic gold medal and World Cup heroics. When the United States beat Brazil, 2-0, in the semifinal clash, Scurry demonstrated her value to a team whose explosive offense tends to overshadow its superb goalkeeper. Her spectacular saves made up for her teammates’ sub-par performance and took the United States to the final. They were especially gratifying for Scurry because of a couple of spectators. Her parents, Earnest, 70, and Robbie Scurry, 65, had followed earlier games of this tournament on television from their home in Dayton, Minn. “My parents finally got to a game,” Scurry. “It’s the first game of the World Cup that they’ve been able to see [in person], so I’m very happy that I was able to do them proud.” Of course, Scurry’s parents are used to seeing their daughter win. They were there in Athens, Ga., to see their daughter win Olympic gold – but they only heard about her famous celebratory naked run through the streets after the game. “I didn’t believe that,” Robbie Scurry laughed. “I still to this day haven’t seen the tapes of that.”
All-around athlete
Briana Scurry grew up, as the youngest of nine children, in Dayton, a predominantly white suburb of Minneapolis. Briana found all sports enticing. When faced with opportunities of playing soccer, basketball, softball, floor hockey and football – she picked them all. She began playing soccer in the fourth grade after reading a flyer about a team being formed at her school. At 11, Scurry took up football and scored nine touchdowns while playing wide receiver and quarterback. When she wasn’t playing sports, Scurry painted and built model airplanes. “You didn’t insult her with a doll,” Robbie Scurry said. Briana played for the Minneapolis Kickers throughout her youth career. Hers was the only African-American family in Dayton, a small farming community of 2,000 people, until she reached high school. She had a few brushes with racism, which led to another sport. Robbie enrolled her in karate classes and Scurry advanced to brown belt before leaving the martial arts at 15. That’s when she started focusing – on soccer, basketball, softball and track at Anoka High School. She excelled as a power forward in basketball, her first love. By her senior year, though, she knew she should stick with soccer. “I was All-American in soccer and I was all-state in basketball,” she explained. Scurry credits UMass coach Jim Rudy for molding her into “somewhat of a goalkeeper” and Tony DiCicco with polishing her further. He taught her organize the defense and play with the ball at her feet. He helped turn her into the world’s best, but Scurry still has other goals. She’s thinking about sports law, and trying out for the Women’s National Basketball Association, after the 2000 Olympics. “I could probably do this till I’m 40, but I don’t want to,” Scurry said. “I’m going to train hard for six months and see if [the WNBA is] in the cards for me. It’s hard for me to say what I’m going to do, because when I say I’m going to do something, something else comes up.”
by Soccer America
Associate Editor Dean Caparaz
