Ruth Riley Hunter ('01, '16, Basketball) 2018-19 Monogram Club Staff

Ruth Riley Hunter, a four-time Monogram winner, helped Notre Dame to its first women’s basketball national championship during her senior campaign in 2001. Riley graduated summa cum laude with a degree in psychology in 2001, and in 2016 earned a Master of Business Administration degree through Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business Executive MBA program.

Riley was selected by the Miami Sol with the fifth overall pick in the 2001 WNBA Draft. Her outstanding 13-year playing career included two WNBA titles with the Detroit Shock. In 2004, Riley earned an Olympic gold medal as a member of the United States women’s basketball team. Riley retired from the sport in June of 2014, and currently is a television and radio analyst for the Miami Heat.

In 2015, Riley received the Monogram Club’s highest honor, the Edward “Moose” Krause Distinguished Service Award, for her numerous service endeavors around the world. Riley is an NBA/WNBA Cares Ambassador and a spokesperson for the United Nations Foundation’s Nothing But Nets campaign, which strives to prevent malaria in Africa. Riley also co-founded Inspire Transformation, an organization focused on creating community-based programs to support and sustain women and children and be a catalyst for positive social change. She also is a member of the national council for Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign to eradicate childhood hunger in the United States as well as on the board for Hunger Free America.

Riley assisted with the creation and supervision of the first summer study abroad program for Notre Dame student-athletes, which took them to South Africa in 2015.

During her playing career at Notre Dame, the Macy, Indiana native was a two-time first-team All-American and two-time first-team Academic All-American. In 2012, Riley was inducted into the CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame.

Riley is married to Benjamin (Robinson) Hunter (’99, football).