Sports Envoy
Sports Envoy Program

Region: Morocco

Adonal Foyle

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2014  –  Morocco
  • 2014  –  Spain

Adonal Foyle is a retired NBA player, who was the eighth overall pick in the 1997 NBA draft. He played a total of 13 seasons, the first ten with the Golden State Warriors and last three with the Orlando Magic. Upon his retirement from playing professional basketball, Adonal served for 2 seasons with the Orlando Magic as their Director of Player Development. A published author, national speaker, and consultant, Adonal currently serves as the Community Ambassador for the World Champion Golden State Warriors.

Despite being recruited by several top basketball colleges, Adonal made the unorthodox decision to attend Colgate University, a small liberal arts college in upstate New York. A major factor in this decision was his desire to leave college with a strong academic grounding. At Colgate, he set an NCAA record with 492 career blocks which was only broken in 2002. Although he left Colgate early to join the NBA, he maintained his commitment to education and graduated in 1999.

During his NBA playing days, Adonal was a defensive specialist, collecting over 3,400 rebounds, and bringing toughness and tenacity to every game. He holds the Warriors franchise record for blocked shots at 1,140. He was a member of the 2009 Eastern Conference Champion Orlando Magic.

Adonal has received many honors, including induction into the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame, and the CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame, NBA Players Association Community Contribution All-Star Award, Social Change Agent (Greenlining Institute), NBA Community Assist Awards (multiple years) and named Runner Up Central Floridian of the Year by the Orlando Sentinel in 2010. He has also been appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador for St. Vincent & the Grenadines and has been honored with his own national postage stamp.

Jay Miller

Soccer

Served as envoy

  • 2008  –  Morocco
  • 2009  –  Bolivia
  • 2010  –  Thailand

Coach Miller is the Executive Director of Coaching for the Atlanta Fire United Soccer Association, a club with over 4,000 members. He also serves as the head coach of the Region III boys Olympic Development Program (ODP)
Coach Miller was the head soccer coach at the University of Tampa, where he won six consecutive conference titles and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II National Championship in 1981. He also coached the University of South Florida Men’s Program to four conference titles.

Coach Miller has over 20 years of international coaching, training and scouting experience, including the position of the USA Under-17 National Team Coach, USA U-23 National Team Coach and the interim coach of the full USA National World Cup team.

He has served as the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) National Coaching Coordinator 1994-2001 and has been instructing on the National Staff since 1978. Coach Miller holds a USSF National “A” Coaching License.

Jay earned a Bachelor of Science and Masters of Education from East Stroudsburg University in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.

Shannon Rowbury

Track & Field

Served as envoy

  • 2017  –  Morocco

Shannon Rowbury is a three-time Olympian, two-time World Championships Bronze medalist, six-time United States champion, and the American Record Holder at 1500m, 2 miles, and 5000m. At the time, her 6th and 7th place finishes at the 2012 Olympic Games in London and 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing were the highest finishes ever by an American woman at that distance. In August of 2016, she finished 4th place at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In June 2009, she won the US Championships at 1500m for the second time and shortly thereafter, she earned a Bronze medal at the World Championships in the same distance. Despite all of her achievements, Shannon’s most impressive performance to date came in July of 2015 when she broke the American 1500m record that stood for nearly 32 years, running a blistering fast 3:56.29. She is also the second fastest miler in American history.

A recognized world-class runner with a tremendous range from 800m to 5000m, Shannon’s story is as much about strength and perseverance against odds as it is about speed. In 2007, while a film student and athlete at Duke University, Shannon won the mile race at the NCAA Indoor Championships and then placed second in the 3000m an hour and a half later. Shortly after that indoor season, her collegiate career was abruptly cut short due to an injury that could have permanently sidelined her from her sport. This major setback forced Shannon to evaluate her physical limitations and challenged her emotional strength and passion for running. Through diligent rehabilitation, determination and an unfailing resolve to resume the sport that she loves, Shannon emerged stronger than ever and was back training for the 2008 Olympics within six months.

Running is Shannon’s second sport; Irish Dancing was her first. Beginning at the age of six, Shannon competed in Irish Dancing competitions throughout the country and twice at the World Championships in Ireland. She was ranked 7th nationally, before retiring at the age of 16 to focus on the sport she was introduced to just before her freshman year of high school—running. Shannon believes Irish Dancing was the foundation for her successful running career, preparing her mentally for competition and developing her coordination, balance and speed.

Lesle Gallimore

Soccer

Served as envoy

  • 2012  –  Morocco
  • 2016  –  Ethiopia
  • 2022  –  Israel

At Washington
• Started in 1994 at UW, completed her 22nd season with the Huskies – the longest tenure of any coach in the Pac-12
• Appeared in 14 NCAA tournaments, twice having advanced as far as the quarterfinals J(ELITE EIGHT)
• Won a Pac-10 Championship in 2000
• Coached Hope Solo and Tina Ellertson (Frimpong), both with ties to the U.S. WNT, as well as Kate Deines and Veronica Perez, with all four playing in the NWSL (Lindsay Elston and Kate Bennett now also)

Previous/Other Coaching Experience
• Four-time All-American at California (1982-85)
• Led the Golden Bears to the national playoffs three out of her four seasons
• Named the school’s 1976-86 Athlete of the Decade
• Served as an assistant at California from 1986 through 1989
• Helped the Golden Bears reach the NCAA soccer Final Four twice, in 1987 and 1988
• Obtained her United States Soccer Federation “A” License, the highest coaching license available, in 1993
• Member of U.S. Soccer National Coaching Instructor Staff
• Member of U.S. Soccer Youth National Teams Staff
• Vice President of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America and will become President in 2018

Playing Career
• Four-time All-American at Cal from 1982-86
• 3 x Olympic Sports Festival Gold Medalist
• US National B Team
• Reached the Final Four in 1984
• Inducted into the California Hall of Fame in 19954
• Inducted into the California Women’s Soccer Inaugural Lair of Legends in 2015
• Named to the Pac-12 Conference All-Century Team Starting XI in 2015

Personal
• Native of Redondo Beach, Calif., currently lives in Seattle
• Has a 22 year-old son, Zachary, that is a Lance coporal in the U.S. Marine Corp, stationed in Okinawa, Japan married to Elhiany and has a 3-month old daughter, Leila June
• Graduate from California in 1986 with a degree in psychology

Lorrie Fair

Soccer

Served as envoy

  • 2008  –  Morocco
  • 2010  –  Paraguay
  • 2012  –  Afghanistan
  • 2012  –  Venezuela
  • 2013  –  Iraq
  • 2014  –  Burma
  • 2016  –  Nepal
  • 2018  –  Pakistan
  • 2020  –  Virtual
  • 2022  –  Cote d'Ivoire
  • 2023  –  Brunei

As an undergraduate student at Carolina, Lorrie Fair Allen helped the women’s soccer team to national championships in 1996, 1997 and 1999. During the same period of time, Allen was succeeding on the field globally, becoming a FIFA World Cup champion and an Olympic silver medalist in 2000.

These days, Allen, a mother of two boys under the age of five, works as a program director for the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project and volunteers as a sports envoy for the U.S. Department of State.

Her dual passion of soccer and advocacy began to take root when she arrived at Chapel Hill. The women’s soccer program is special, and one of coach Anson Dorrance’s goals is to build leaders, Allen said in a 2018 interview. “His biggest hope is that that extends beyond the soccer field.”

As a State Department sports envoy since 2008, Allen works to support the embassies’ diplomatic missions abroad by connecting with people from diverse cultures using a shared love for soccer. Allen also led a six-month expedition beginning in London and ending in Johannesburg, South Africa, for the start of the 2010 FIFA World Cup as part of the organization, Kickabout, which she co-founded and self-funded.

At the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project, Allen spearheads the foundation’s grantmaking. She seeks out and identifies community-based organizations in Southern Africa that engage young people to keep themselves and their peers safe from HIV and helps them apply for grants to support them in accomplishing their goals.

In 2016, Allen became a Carolina student once again, pursuing an online master’s degree in public administration through the School of Government.