Sports Envoy
Sports Envoy Program

Region: East & Southeast Asia

Cobi Jones

Soccer

Served as envoy

  • 2014  –  Burma
  • 2014  –  Brazil
  • 2015  –  Tonga
  • 2015  –  Fiji
  • 2021  –  Virtual
  • 2024  –  Greece

Cobi Jones is a Southern California sports legend, maintaining the title of the longest standing member of the LA Galaxy dynasty. LA’s “Original Cobi,” spent 15 seasons with the Galaxy, as both a player and coach from 1996 – 2010. A 2011 US Soccer Hall of Fame inductee, Cobi is a two-time MLS Cup winner (2002, 2005) with a storied international career with the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team. A permanent fixture with the team from 1992- 2004, he played in three World Cups (1994, 1998, 2002) and has the most international appearances for the Men’s side with 164 caps. He is also a 1992 Olympian. Prior to his MLS career, Cobi played overseas with Coventry City (English Premier League) and the Brazilian side, Vasco de Gama.

Today, Cobi is one of the sport’s preeminent broadcasters working with FOX Sports, where he was part of both the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup and 2018 FIFA World Cup broadcast teams, both as a game analyst (2018) and co-hosting World Cup Tonight (2018-2019). He is the lead English language analyst for Fox’s coverage of Liga MX, Mexico’s top professional soccer league. He has also covered the Bundesliga, US Men’s National Team games, CONCACAF Champions League, the Gold Cup, and various FIFA tournaments for Fox. Cobi has been in the booth as the color commentator calling the LA Galaxy matches since 2012 for Spectrum SportsNet (formerly Time Warner Cable), Pac-12 Network, BeIn Sports, Next VR and he was also part of the 2012 NBC Olympic coverage.

A UCLA Hall of Famer and 1990 NCAA Champion with the Bruins, Cobi works closely with the LA2028 Olympic Committee, The Rose Bowl Institute, the LA84 Foundation, Cal South, AYSO, the US Soccer Foundation, and others. He represented the White House as part of the Presidential Delegation, attending both the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final in Canada and the 2014 FIFA Men’s World Cup Final in Brazil. He is also consistently part of the US State Department’s Sports Envoy.

In the Fall of 2020, it was announced that Cobi joined the esteemed ranks as one of the founding investor owners of the NWSL’s newest team, Angel City FC, brining women’s professional soccer to Los Angeles. Cobi joins sports greats Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, Serena Williams, actresses Natalie Portman, Jennifer Garner, America Ferrara and other notable names as part of the ownership group that is moving the needle for parity and equality in sports.

In an effort to work toward racial equality, improve the gender pay gap and continue to help elevate American soccer on a global level, Cobi will work with US Soccer and the US Soccer Foundation to bring his passion and commitment to the beautiful game to another level.

Tamika Raymond

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2010  –  Malawi
  • 2011  –  Tanzania
  • 2012  –  China
  • 2013  –  Ukraine
  • 2013  –  Nigeria
  • 2014  –  Sri Lanka

Tamika Maria Raymond is an Assistant Coach for the women’s basketball team at the University of Kansas. Prior to serving in that role, Raymond played professional basketball in the WNBA for six seasons. During the 2002 WNBA Draft, the Minnesota Lynx selected Raymond with the sixth overall pick. She played her last season in the WNBA with the Connecticut Sun.

Prior to playing in the WNBA, Raymond attended the University of Connecticut, where she majored in interpersonal communications. She played for the school’s women’s basketball teams, which won Division I National Championship teams in 2000 and 2002. She completed her four-year collegiate career with averages of 10.6 points per game and 5.8 rebounds per game. She finished as UConn’s all-time leader in field goal percentage at 70.3 percent.

Raymond had a stellar high school basketball career in Dayton, OH. She was named the 1997 and 1998 Ohio Player of the Year and was selected to the 1997-98 Associated Press girls Division I All-Ohio high school basketball team. She was named “Ohio’s Miss Basketball” by the Associated Press.

Holly Warlick

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2019  –  Taiwan

In seven seasons at the helm of Tennessee women’s basketball, Holly Warlick built a very impressive résumé in her young head coaching career. Her worksheet contains accomplishments few coaches achieve in their entire careers, much less as first-time head coaches.

Those successes confirmed that Warlick was the right choice to take the reins at Tennessee and that she and her staff had the acumen to run a championship program. A disciple of the legendary Pat Summitt, Warlick maintained the core values of her former coach, co-worker and friend while at the same time employing her own personality, style and competitive energy to coach today’s players.

Whether as an All-America player from 1976-80, an assistant and associate head coach for 27 seasons from 1985 to 2012, or head coach from 2012 to 2019, Warlick thrived during her more than three decades in the spotlight at Rocky Top. She posted one of the top won-lost records in the nation during her tenure.

Warlick was announced as head coach of the Lady Vols on April 18, 2012, as women’s hoops legend Pat Summitt stepped into the role of head coach emeritus. In a touching and symbolic gesture the following day at a press conference announcing the changes, Summitt presented her coaching whistle to her long-time aide and former floor general.

On the international scene, Warlick was a gold medal coach, and two of her players joined her in earning that hardware. Warlick served as an assistant, while Mercedes Russell and Diamond DeShields played on the undefeated (6-0) 2015 USA World University Games Team in South Korea.

Warlick was recognized personally for her performance. In 2013, members of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association named her the Spalding Maggie Dixon Division I Rookie Coach of the Year. She was selected by the AP and league coaches as the 2013 SEC Women’s Basketball Coach of the Year, and members of the Tennessee Sports Writers Association also chose her as TSWA Women’s Basketball Coach of the Year that season.

In May 2017, Warlick was recognized for her years of leadership, volunteer activities, philanthropic work and professional accomplishments that have contributed to improving the quality of life in Tennessee. She was named the Tennessee Woman of Distinction at the 32nd annual Chattanooga Women of Distinction Awards luncheon. In 2019, she became a member of the Pat Summitt Foundation Advisory Board.

Chineze Nwagbo

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2019  –  Kosovo
  • 2019  –  Azerbaijan
  • 2019  –  Albania
  • 2019  –  Tanzania
  • 2023  –  Malaysia

Chineze Nwagbo started her basketball career at Duval Senior High School in Lanham, Maryland, where she is recognized as a four-year varsity letter recipient and two-time team captain. Her honors include two back-to-back State Championship Titles, All-American Honorable Mention, All-County First Team, All-Gazette, USA Today’s Most Improved and Most Important Player to Scout in Maryland, amongst a plethora of other accolades.

Chinny was a standout basketball player at Syracuse, where she earned her B.S. in Biology. Shortly after graduating, Chinny embarked on a career playing professionally for 11 years in Spain, Chile, Brazil, Poland, Portugal, & Israel, winning 4 MVP titles and appearances in championship games. The highlight of her career was when she represented her parent’s native country of Nigeria in the 2006 World Championship Games.

After retiring in 2016, Chinny began a series of ventures with the NBA. In China, she helped develop the grassroots implementation of an NBA-based basketball curriculum. She has done work for Jr. NBA programs, the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders developmental camps, and has been brought on to work with the Atlanta Hawks, NY Knicks, Washington Wizards, and the National Basketball Players Association as a youth development coach and mentor.

She has served as an Envoy for the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Sports Diplomacy program, which was designed to use the transformative power of sports to create social change in global communities around the world by bridging divides, creating cultural understanding, supporting women’s empowerment (& gender equality), advocating safe environments for kids with disabilities to play, and championing the importance of creating a more equitable and peaceful society.

As an Envoy, Chinny has traveled to various parts of the world, building relations with various U.S. Embassies, Sports Federations, Sultans, Chargé d’ Affaires, administrators, coaches, and elite players. She has also dedicated her time as a motivational speaker to various youth programs and amazing nonprofits geared toward providing resources for under-represented & underserved youth worldwide. In her spare time, she has appeared on New Channel 8’s SportsTalk show as a guest sports analyst and hopes to play an instrumental role in the game’s growth, primarily serving as a role model for
young girls.

In 2020, Chinny joined PeacePlayers International, an organization utilizing the
transformative power of sports to bridge divides in historically conflicted
communities worldwide. There she served as the Director of Youth Programs & Development for Baltimore city providing unserved and underrepresented young people of color with afterschool programming geared towards connecting the community, providing equitable experiences and tools to mitigate conflict.

All these experiences have led Chinny to the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) where she is the Director of Player Programs and Engagement dedicated to creating programs and resources to ensure Professional Athletes succeed far beyond the playing field!

Carol Jue

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2019  –  Taiwan

Chapman’s all-time winningest women’s basketball coach, Jue has won over 300 games in her 17 years at the helm of the Panthers’ program. Over a nearly two-decade coaching career, Jue has won over 69 percent of her games and has led the Panthers to the SCIAC Tournament seven times since joining the conference in 2012-13.

Under her guidance, the Panthers have been considered amongst the elite programs in the West Region. Since 2003, Jue has led Chapman to nine NCAA Division III playoff berths (2004-09, ’11, ’14, ’18) and nine 20-win seasons. She has coached five All-West Region selections, three Academic All-Americans, six Academic All-District honorees and three SCIAC Athletes of the Year.

Jue led the Panthers to their first-ever SCIAC Tournament title in 2017-18 with a double overtime victory over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. The Panthers had their most successful SCIAC season ever with a 15-1 record in the SCIAC. Chapman went 23-5 overall for its most wins since the 2007-08 season that ended with a 24-4 record. Jue and her staff were recognized as the SCIAC Coaching Staff of the Year for the third year in a row.

In 2010-11, Chapman went 22-6 and as a result, Jue earned Association of Division III Independents Coach of the Year honors for the third time in her career. She has earned SCIAC Coaching Staff of the Year honors in 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18.

She has led her teams into the SCIAC Tournament in each of Chapman’s six seasons in the conference -the only program on campus to accomplish that feat. The Panthers have appeared in the tournament finals four times, winning their first title game in 2017-18. Since joining the SCIAC in the 2012-13 season, Jue has led the Panthers to an incredible 78-18 SCIAC record with at least 10 win in every season.

In May 2009, Jue was also honored by the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California as the only Chinese-American head basketball coach (men’s or women’s) in the NCAA. She has taken her teams on two international tours in Taiwain. The Panthers played in the Jones Cup in 2010 and the BLIA Tournament in 2015.

Jue was no stranger to winning at the NCAA Division III level having spent four prior years at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges as an assistant coach and serving in the 2002-03 season as the interim head coach.

Jue played collegiately at both Cal State Los Angeles and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and was selected team MVP and named to the All-SCIAC team while playing at Claremont from 1991-92. She was a two-time All-San Gabriel Valley honoree as a player at Montebello High School in the mid-1980’s and was inducted into the Montebello High Hall of Fame in 2011.

Evan Lysacek

Figure Skating

Served as envoy

  • 2012  –  Sweden
  • 2012  –  Belarus
  • 2014  –  Russia
  • 2020  –  Japan
  • 2020  –  Malaysia
  • 2020  –  Singapore

Following his figure skating Gold medal at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, Lysacek was chosen as the 2010 United States Olympic Committee’s SportsMan of the Year, and the winner of the James E. Sullivan Award as the top U.S. amateur athlete of 2010. On January 22, 2016, he was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame. Evan Lysacek is the last American male figure skater to win an individual Olympic medal. He was a Sports Envoy in Belarus and Sweden in 2012 and Russia in 2014.

“With these adults, with young kids, with people who have nothing to do with skating whatsoever… our common language is sports and it transcends differences in language and differences in culture.” “I really feel like they absorbed the on-ice skills that I was trying to teach,” he said. “But also, I think they absorbed the message from what we were talking about a little bit and how that can help them if they continue skating, whatever skating will mean in their life, but it will also help them in everything that they do.”

Tamika Catchings

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2013  –  Thailand
  • 2014  –  United Arab Emirates

Tamika Catchings began her basketball career as a Forward at the University of Tennessee. During her four years at Tennessee, UT posted a 134-10 overall record (.931), collected four Southeastern Conference regular season crowns, three SEC Tournament titles, competed in four NCAA Tournaments, won the NCAA title in 1998, advanced to the NCAA Final Four in 2000 and made the 1999 Elite Eight and 2001 Sweet Sixteen.

Drafted No. 3 in 2001 by the Indiana Fever, Catchings helped the Indiana Fever advance to the playoffs 13 times in 15 seasons, while capturing the WNBA title in 2012 and advancing to the WNBA Finals in 2009 and 2015. In 2010 became the first player to earn a fourth Defensive Player of the Year award and is the only player to be named to the All-Defensive first team all eight years.

Internationally, Catchings honed her game internationally in China, South Korea, Russia and Turkey and won four Korean titles with Woori Bank Hansae (2002, 2003, 2006, 2007). Since joining the USA National Team in 2002, Catchings has aided the USA to a combined 58-1 record in major international events, winning four-straight Olympic golds, two FIBA World Championship golds, and one World Championship bronze medal.

Outside of basketball, in addition to hosting camps and clinics and raising money to enable disadvantaged youths to attend basketball camps, Catchings created the Catch the Stars Foundation in 2004. Taking advice from Dawn Staley, the foundation is targeted towards at-risk youths, and its goal is to provide both academics and athletics programs. In 2008 Catchings was awarded the Dawn Staley Community Leadership Award.

Taj McWilliams-Franklin

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2014  –  China
  • 2017  –  Kazakhstan
  • 2023  –  Serbia

During her senior year of high school, Taj McWilliams-Franklin gave birth to a daughter, Michele. Sixteen months after the birth of Michele, McWilliams-Franklin welcomed a second daughter, Schera, into the world. As such, she now had to find a basketball family that would accept her expanding family.

St. Edward’s University, an NAIA school in Austin, Texas, the city where her mother lived, would serve as McWilliams-Franklin’s new college basketball home, offering her a partial scholarship that she supplemented with loans. To sustain her basketball career while surviving her academic and everyday obligations, McWilliams-Franklin gave Schera up for adoption. Despite these stresses, McWilliams-Franklin excelled on the court, attracting the attention of Division I programs. Yet, appreciative of the opportunity, McWilliams-Franklin stuck with St. Edward’s. She was named 1993 NAIA Player of the Year her senior season.

In need of money to finish school and support her family, McWilliams-Franklin headed overseas. She played in Wolfenbüttel, Germany (1993-94), Contern, Luxembourg (1994-95) and Galilee, Israel (1995-96), all with Michele in tow. Hooping in far-flung locales did not strain her love for the game, instead confirming that basketball was the career she wanted.

While McWilliams-Franklin combined her commitments — to the game and to her daughter — her unconventional arrangement did not earn widespread approval, including from Michele’s biological father. He sued for custody, successfully raising questions about McWilliams-Franklin’s “fitness as a mother.” The parental rights he won did not last long, however, with McWilliams-Franklin regaining custody from Michele’s father after his one-month fatherhood experiment failed.

Soon thereafter, it seemed McWilliams-Franklin’s perseverance would pay off. A professional women’s basketball league, the ABL, was established in the U.S. in 1996. After participating in a combine for prospective players, she was selected by the Richmond Rage in the inaugural ABL Draft with the 40th overall pick. In Richmond, McWilliams provided a powerful post presence, complimenting star point guard Dawn Staley and versatile forward Adrienne Goodson to form a talented threesome that led the Rage to the ABL championship series, where they fell to the Columbus Quest.

This successful season did not secure the Rage a permanent place in the Richmond sporting landscape. The team was relocated to Philadelphia, giving McWilliams-Franklin another new basketball home. After an underwhelming 1997-98 season, the Rage folded early in the 1998-99 season. McWilliams-Franklin, thus, traveled overseas, this time to Greece. McWilliams-Franklin took another shot at making a roster in the WNBA by attending the 1999 combine. Despite her documented success in the ABL, however, she remained available until the third round, when the Orlando Miracle, an expansion team, selected her with the 32nd pick. In a fitting match, one of women’s basketball’s ultimate underdogs would join an unquestionably underdog expansion team.

Led by McWilliams-Franklin, the Miracle overachieved during their debut season after opening their inaugural season with two-straight road losses. The Miracle finally scored a win with McWilliams-Franklin converting a game-winning bucket with 21.7 seconds remaining. McWilliams-Franklin was named an Eastern Conference All-Star reserve along with teammates Nykesha Sales and Shannon Johnson. The Miracle finished 15-17 for the 1999 season. In 2000, Orlando would establish itself as a legitimate playoff contender driven by an ever-determined McWilliams-Franklin.

As the fulcrum of the Orlando offense, she turned in one of the most productive offensive seasons of her career, averaging nearly 14 points per game on better than 52 percent shooting. Fans showed appreciation for McWilliams-Franklin’s play, voting her in as an All-Star starter — an honor that confirmed the underdog had become one of women’s basketball’s elites. The Miracle also would earn a playoff berth and meet the Cleveland Rockers in the first round. The lower-seeded Miracle stole Game 1, powered by a perfect McWilliams-Franklin, who made all seven of her field goal attempts. Yet, the road woes that had bedeviled Orlando all season stalled a deeper playoff run. The Miracle dropped Games 2 and 3 of the three-game Eastern Conference Semifinals.

For McWilliams-Franklin, overall on-court success was accompanied by off-court stability. While playing abroad in Italy during the WNBA offseason, McWilliams-Franklin met Reggie Franklin, an Army sergeant. In December 2000, they were married, and three years later, they gave birth to a third daughter, Maia. With Reggie willing to serve as the primary parent, McWilliams-Franklin appeared to have found the balance needed to fulfill her hooping dreams and familial desires.

All the more, the precariousness of women’s professional basketball presented her with additional difficulties. After the 2002 season, the Orlando Miracle would become the Connecticut Sun, making Uncasville, Connecticut, McWilliams’ new basketball home.

McWilliams-Franklin would spend four seasons as a Connecticut Sun, a time that would cement the underdog’s reputation as a winning player. In 2004, Connecticut advanced all the way to the WNBA Finals, where they fell 2-1 to the Seattle Storm. In 2005, the Sun were even better, with the fantastic foursome of McWilliams-Franklin, Sales, Lindsay Whalen and Katie Douglas pushing to a league-best 26-8 record.

McWilliams-Franklin also collected individual honors in 2005, securing her third All-Star selection and being named to the All-WNBA Second Team. However, the ultimate achievement — a championship — eluded McWilliams-Franklin and the Sun. They again came up short, losing the WNBA Finals 3-1 to the Sacramento Monarchs.

The 2006 season followed a similar script. At 26-8, the Sun again had the WNBA’s best record. McWilliams-Franklin again earned All-Star and All-WNBA Second Team honors. Yet, more disappointingly, Connecticut fell to the Detroit Shock in the Eastern Conference Finals.

So, for all the success that McWilliams-Franklin had attained, she still remained an underdog because her teams were unable to break through and earn a title. To continue her quest for a championship, she would have to journey elsewhere.

Ahead of the 2007 season, McWilliams-Franklin requested a trade to the Los Angeles Sparks, with the opportunity to live and play in L.A. best meeting the needs of her family at that time. Although she had turned in another All-Star season, another cross-country journey was in her future. The next offseason, she was traded to the Washington Mystics. Then, at the 2008 trade deadline, the Detroit Shock sought McWilliams-Franklin’s services for the playoff run.

In the Motor City, all this movement would pay off, with McWilliams-Franklin proving the perfect booster for the Shock. After adding McWilliams-Franklin, Detroit finished the season 12-3 and, most importantly, won the WNBA title.

The Shock envisioned serving McWilliams-Franklin as a role player, supporting stars Katie Smith and Deanna Nolan. Soon after her arrival in Detroit, she told the Ocala Star-Banner:

For the past couple years, I’ve been on young teams where I’ve been expected to be the leader for a lot of young players. It’s been a nice change to be on a team where I’m just one of the veterans — where I have so many great players surrounding me.

However, during Detroit’s playoff run, McWilliams-Franklin exceeded her role. Then almost 38 years old, McWilliams-Franklin proved she still possessed the clutch gene.

In Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals, McWilliams-Franklin added 19 points and eight rebounds, pushing the Shock past the Liberty and sending them back to the WNBA Finals. In Game 3 of the Finals, she spurred the Shock to their championship-clinching victory, going on a personal 4-0 scoring run with approximately four minutes remaining to give the Shock an insurmountable double-digit lead.

In 2007, McWilliams-Franklin reconnected with Schera, re-establishing a relationship with the then-Shawnee State University basketball player.

Seemingly, McWilliams-Franklin might have decided to retire after the 2008 season, completing her unexpected, underdog career with a championship. Yet, as she asserted soon after beginning her professional career abroad, McWilliams-Franklin was determined to play as long as possible.

As an indication of her obsession with the game, McWilliams-Franklin continued to play abroad throughout her WNBA career, suiting up in Italy, South Korea and Russia. After another WNBA season in Detroit and single season with the New York Liberty, Cheryl Reeve, who had been an assistant coach with the Shock, lured McWilliams-Franklin to the Minnesota Lynx.

Ahead of the 2011 WNBA season, a rather unremarkable Minnesota team added two very different yet equally important talents — a seemingly guaranteed superstar in the much-heralded rookie Maya Moore and the 40-year-old, over-achieving basketball lifer in McWilliams-Franklin. Combined with Seimone Augustus, Lindsay Whalen and Rebekkah Brunson, the Lynx coalesced into a championship contender.

In full ‘“Mama Taj” mode, McWilliams-Franklin provided sturdy, veteran leadership for an organization with a losing reputation. Her experienced play also proved pivotal. With McWilliams-Franklin manning the back line, the Lynx captured the 2011 WNBA title and appeared poised to add a second in 2012, until a GOAT and her pack of underdogs — the Tamika Catchings-led Indiana Fever — ruined the repeat.

Somewhat ironically, McWilliams-Franklin, the longtime underdog, decided to call it quits right after she was no longer the underdog, but a member of the top dog squad that suffered an upset. McWilliams-Franklin retired from the WNBA at age 41 after the 2012 season. She would play one more season abroad, joining Clube Amigos do Basquet in Spain in 2013-14. In total, her professional basketball career, which spanned over 30 years, was a testament to perseverance.

Sue Wicks

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2009  –  Philippines
  • 2010  –  Indonesia
  • 2011  –  Dominican Republic
  • 2013  –  Malaysia
  • 2016  –  Cambodia
  • 2017  –  Jordan

Sue Wicks was a first-round selection by the New York Liberty in the WNBA’s inaugural draft in 1997. Wicks went on to play six seasons with the Liberty, earning an All-Star selection in 2000. She also was the recipient of the Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award in 2000. Wicks finished her WNBA career in eighth place all-time in blocked shots.

Wicks played collegiately at Rutgers University, where she was a three-time All-American and the 1988 National Player of the Year. She was inducted into Rutgers’ Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in June 2013.

Nykesha Sales

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2009  –  Uganda
  • 2010  –  Cape Verde
  • 2011  –  Haiti
  • 2012  –  Venezuela
  • 2013  –  Ukraine
  • 2014  –  South Korea

The all-time leading scorer in Connecticut Sun history, Nykesha Sales returns to the team for her second season as the community liaison and an assistant to the coaching staff.

In 2013, Sales made numerous community relations appearances on behalf of the Sun, practiced regularly with the team and also provided color commentary on selected team broadcasts.

Sales was the first member of the Connecticut Sun franchise, which began as the Orlando Miracle prior to the 1999 season. She played with the team from 1999-2007, helping the Sun reach two WNBA Finals and four straight Eastern Conference Finals between 2003 and 2006.

A seven-time WNBA All-Star, Sales was the second player in league history to amass 3,000 points, 500 assists and 400 steals during her career – joining Sheryl Swoopes. She finished her career with 3,955 points, 683 assists and 490 steals.