Sports Envoy
Sports Envoy Program

Region: South Korea

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.

Alex Shibutani

Ice Dancing

Served as envoy

  • 2017  –  South Korea
  • 2018  –  Japan
  • 2019  –  Japan

Maia and Alex Shibutani, known to audiences around the world as the “ShibSibs,” are the sister-brother ice dancing duo who captured two Olympic bronze medals at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.

Their dedication and hard work, skating together for 14 years, paid off as they became the first U.S. team of siblings to earn an Olympic medal in ice dancing and the first in the world to do so since 1992. The Shibutanis also made history in South Korea as the first ice dancers of Asian descent to claim an Olympic medal.

Maia, born in NYC and Alex, born in Boston, MA, spent their early years growing up in Boston, MA and Old Greenwich, CT. Maia and Alex decided to take up ice dancing when she was 9 and he was 12 after their family traveled to Washington, D.C., to see the 2003 World Championships. They were so enthralled by the ice dancing competition that they became a team shortly afterward.

During their first year competing, they earned a silver medal at the U.S. Junior Championships (2005) at the Juvenile level. From 2006-2007, they lived and trained in Colorado Springs, and won unprecedented back-to-back National titles at the Intermediate (2006) and Novice levels (2007). As they advanced to the Junior level, they relocated to Michigan to train alongside the top ice dance teams in the world. They debuted internationally with a gold at their first Junior Grand Prix at the ages of 14 and 17. They won silver medal at the 2009 World Junior Championships, and the Junior ice dance title at the 2010 U.S. Championships.

Upon advancing to the senior level, Maia and Alex made a historic debut on the international circuit in 2010, becoming the first ice dance team ever to medal at both of their Grand Prix events during a rookie season. By earning a silver medal at the 2011 Four Continents Championship, they became the first ice dancers of Asian heritage to medal at a major ISU championship. During the 2011 World Championships, they became the first American ice dancers to medal at their Worlds debut. At just 16 and 19, they were the second youngest team in the history of the sport (and youngest since 1962) to medal at the World Championships. They secured a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team, competing at the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, competing as the second youngest team in the field and placing ninth.

Maia and Alex went on to win the national crown in both 2016 and 2017. Maia and Alex are the only ice dance team to medal at every level of national competition over consecutive years, standing on the podium at each of the 14 years that they have competed. A gold medal at the 2016 Four Continents Championships marked their first ISU Championship title. They returned to the World Championships medal podium, earning a silver medal in 2016 and the bronze in 2017. Their bronze-performance secured three spots for the United States at the 2018 Olympic Games.

Maia Shibutani

Ice Dancing

Served as envoy

  • 2017  –  South Korea
  • 2018  –  Japan
  • 2019  –  Japan

Maia and Alex Shibutani, known to audiences around the world as the “ShibSibs,” are the sister-brother ice dancing duo who captured two Olympic bronze medals at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.

Their dedication and hard work, skating together for 14 years, paid off as they became the first U.S. team of siblings to earn an Olympic medal in ice dancing and the first in the world to do so since 1992. The Shibutanis also made history in South Korea as the first ice dancers of Asian descent to claim an Olympic medal.

Maia, born in NYC and Alex, born in Boston, MA, spent their early years growing up in Boston, MA and Old Greenwich, CT. Maia and Alex decided to take up ice dancing when she was 9 and he was 12 after their family traveled to Washington, D.C., to see the 2003 World Championships. They were so enthralled by the ice dancing competition that they became a team shortly afterward.

During their first year competing, they earned a silver medal at the U.S. Junior Championships (2005) at the Juvenile level. From 2006-2007, they lived and trained in Colorado Springs, and won unprecedented back-to-back National titles at the Intermediate (2006) and Novice levels (2007). As they advanced to the Junior level, they relocated to Michigan to train alongside the top ice dance teams in the world. They debuted internationally with a gold at their first Junior Grand Prix at the ages of 14 and 17. They won silver medal at the 2009 World Junior Championships, and the Junior ice dance title at the 2010 U.S. Championships.

Upon advancing to the senior level, Maia and Alex made a historic debut on the international circuit in 2010, becoming the first ice dance team ever to medal at both of their Grand Prix events during a rookie season. By earning a silver medal at the 2011 Four Continents Championship, they became the first ice dancers of Asian heritage to medal at a major ISU championship. During the 2011 World Championships, they became the first American ice dancers to medal at their Worlds debut. At just 16 and 19, they were the second youngest team in the history of the sport (and youngest since 1962) to medal at the World Championships. They secured a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team, competing at the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, competing as the second youngest team in the field and placing ninth.

Maia and Alex went on to win the national crown in both 2016 and 2017. Maia and Alex are the only ice dance team to medal at every level of national competition over consecutive years, standing on the podium at each of the 14 years that they have competed. A gold medal at the 2016 Four Continents Championships marked their first ISU Championship title. They returned to the World Championships medal podium, earning a silver medal in 2016 and the bronze in 2017. Their bronze-performance secured three spots for the United States at the 2018 Olympic Games.

Chloe Kim

Snowboarding

Served as envoy

  • 2017  –  South Korea

Chloe Kim is an American snowboarder. Currently, she is World, Olympic, Youth Olympic, and X Games champion in the halfpipe and the first to win the title at all four major events.

At the 2018 Winter Olympics, she became the youngest woman to win an Olympic snowboarding gold medal when she won the gold in the snowboard halfpipe at 17 years old. She is a 4x X Games gold medalist and the first woman to win two gold medals in snowboarding at the Winter Youth Olympics.

She began snowboarding at the age of four and began competing 2 years later before beginning training in Geneva, Switzerland from eight to ten. She joined the US Snowboarding Team in 2013 at 12. In 2018, she was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2018.

Marty Conlon

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2011  –  Uzbekistan
  • 2011  –  Jordan
  • 2012  –  Burma
  • 2014  –  South Korea

As a manager of International Basketball Operations at the National Basketball Association (NBA), Martin Conlon conducts basketball grassroots events all over the world, organizing, coaching in, recruiting for, and creating curriculum for camps, clinics, or coaching seminars. He also maintains relationships with international basketball federations, clubs, and organizations.

Conlon has led the NBA Haier Academy camps in mainland China for the last three years, working in nine different cities and acting as the lead scout and championship coach of the reality TV show NBA Mengniu Basketball Disciple. In 2008, Conlon also led the first-ever “NBA Hoop School” program in India, working with local coaches in Bangalore, Mumbai, and New Delhi.

Prior to joining the NBA front office, Conlon enjoyed an extensive professional basketball career, most recently as the captain and player/coach of the Irish National Team. He played one season in Spain, another in Greece, and three in Italy. Conlon played in the NBA from 1991 to 1999, spending time on the rosters of Seattle, Charlotte, Milwaukee and Miami.

A member of the Westchester County Hall of Fame, Conlon is also a junior council member of New York’s Museum of Natural History, a junior board member of SEEDS (Sports for Education and Economic Development in Senegal) and a member of the Hawk Mountain conservancy.

As a player at Providence College – from which he holds a bachelor’s degree – Conlon played on the 1987 NCAA Final Four team. He returned to the tournament with Providence in 1989 and 1990.

Edward Corsely

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2014  –  South Korea

Edwards was born in Baltimore, Maryland and graduated from Lake Clifton High School in 1998. He played collegiately at Central Connecticut State University and led the team to its first ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 2000. Edwards has had a very international basketball career, playing for teams in Turkey, China, Spain, Croatia, Poland, and the US.

He was selected by the Sacramento Kings in the 2nd round (58th pick) in the 2002 NBA draft. However, in the same year, the Yakima Sun Kings of the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) selected Edwards as the top pick in the third round (17th overall).

In the season of 2003-2004 he played as Center for RB Montecatini Terme in the Italian LegaDue. He returned to the Sioux Falls Skyforce in 2005 and won the 2005 CBA championship with the team. Later that year, he joined Fenerbahçe of the Turkish Basketball League. With Fenerbahçe, he averaged 12.5 points and 7.1 rebounds. For the 2010-2011 season he signed with the Zagreb club KK Cedevita, where he averaged 12.9 points per game and helped the team enter the Eurocup Basketball 2010–11 Final four.

In October 2014, Edwards was appointed an assistant coach for the Denver Nuggets. Late September of 2016, Edwards was appointed an assistant coach of the Greensboro Swarm, a new NBA Development League franchise. He served as an assistant there for three seasons.

Alexander English

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2014  –  China
  • 2014  –  South Korea
  • 2015  –  Italy

Alex English was born January 5, 1954 in Columbia, South Carolina. English stayed true to his homegrown roots, starring at local Dreher High School before moving on to play collegiately at the University of South Carolina.

Following his career at South Carolina, English was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 23rd overall pick in the 1976 NBA Draft. During his time in Milwaukee, English learned the game as a backup as the team tried to rebuild following Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s departure. English was traded to the Indiana Pacers in 1978, where he began to show flashes of his scoring ability, averaging 16 points per game. Midway through the 1979-80 season, he was traded once more to the Denver Nuggets where he would solidify his reputation as a prolific scorer. From 1980-1990, his entire tenure with the Nuggets, English averaged 26 points per game, earned 8 All-Star bids, became a 3-time All-NBA Second Team selection, led the league in scoring in 1983 and became the franchises’ all-time leading scorer. To add to the list of impressive feats, English led the Nuggets in scoring in 55% of the games he played for Denver. Following this decade with the Nuggets, he signed with the Dallas Mavericks in 1990, where he would play for one season before finishing his NBA career.

After being away from the game for a few years, English got into coaching, spending one season each with the Philadelphia 76ers and Atlanta Hawks as an assistant coach prior to joining the Toronto Raptors organization. There, he would spend 2004 – 2011 as the Director of Player Development and as an assistant coach. In the summer of 2011, English finished with the Raptors and spent one season with the Sacramento Kings.

Joe Logan

Baseball

Served as envoy

  • 2008  –  Colombia
  • 2010  –  Taiwan
  • 2011  –  South Korea
  • 2011  –  Philippines
  • 2012  –  Ecuador
  • 2013  –  India
  • 2015  –  Lithuania

Joe Logan was All American pitcher for Florida Southern College when the Moccasins won the NCAA Division II National Championship in 1988. He had previously played for Chipola Junior College where he also won All American honors.

The Montréal Expos took him in the 28th round of the 1989 amateur draft. Joe played minor league ball in the Montréal Expos organization from 1989-1991, then played one year in the independent Northern League in 1993. He was 4-7 with a 2.88 ERA in his pro debut for the Jamestown Jammers to help them to the New York-Penn League title. He split 1990 between the Rockford Expos (10-2, 2.63) and West Palm Beach Expos (1-0, 1.88). Had he qualified, he would have been 5th in the Midwest League in ERA, just ahead of Pat Rapp. Back with West Palm Beach in 1991, he fell to 6-12, 3.18. In 1993, he was 0-1 with a 10.80 ERA for the Sioux Falls Canaries to finish with a 21-22, 3.13 record in pro ball.

After his Major League Baseball career ended, Joe was a minor league pitching coach for the Anaheim Angels from 1994-2000. Since 2002, Joe Logan has served as coach for the Orlando Reds AAU organization and he continues to work with collegiate and professional baseball players on a regular basis.

Barry Larkin

Baseball

Served as envoy

  • 2008  –  Colombia
  • 2010  –  Ecuador
  • 2011  –  India
  • 2012  –  Lithuania
  • 2013  –  South Africa
  • 2015  –  Taiwan

Barry Larkin a 19-year Major Leaguer, 12-time National League All-Star, 1995 N.L. Most Valuable Player and MLB Network studio analyst, spent his entire career with the Cincinnati Reds. Larkin served as Special Assistant to the General Manager for the Washington Nationals, specializing in player development and scouting. Larkin also participated in Major League Baseball’s efforts, led by Jim Lefebvre, to develop and train the Chinese National Baseball Team in preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Larkin was selected by the Reds in the first round (fourth overall) in 1985 following a standout career at the University of Michigan. Larkin batted .353 in the 1990 World Series to help lead the Reds to a four-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics. He won three consecutive Rawlings Gold Glove Awards from 1994-96. He earned 1995 N.L. MVP honors by hitting .319 with 15 home runs, 66 RBI and 51 stolen bases. In 1996, Larkin became the first Major League shortstop to join the 30-30 club when he hit 33 home runs and stole 36 bases. Larkin was named the Reds’ captain before the 1997 season.

Larkin batted .295, with 2,340 hits, 198 home runs, 960 RBI, 1,329 runs scored and 379 stolen bases. Baseball historian Bill James has called Larkin one of the greatest shortstops of all time, ranking him #6 all-time in his New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract.

In 1993 Larkin won the Roberto Clemente Award, Major League Baseball’s highest off-field honor, for his philanthropy. In 2008, Larkin released a charity wine called “Barry Larkin’s Merlot,” with 100% of his proceeds supporting Champions Sports Foundation.

Stephanie Jallen

Para Alpine Skiing

Served as envoy

  • 2017  –  South Korea

When Jallen was nine years old, she was invited to the Camelback Adaptive Ski Camp in Tannersville, Pennsylvania, and was instantly hooked on the sport. While instructors initially wanted to put her in a bi-ski tethered to an instructor, Jallen insisted on learning to ski standing up. Jallen quickly developed as a ski-racer through the Pennsylvania Center Adapted Sports, a chapter of Disabled Sports USA. She was first named to the U.S. Paralympics Alpine National B Team in 2011 at only 15 years old. Jallen was born with a rare birth defect called CHILDS, Congenital Hemidysplasia with Ichthyosiform Erythroderma and Limb Defects Syndrome. CHILDS is a chromosomal disorder that affects the entire left side of the body, leaving Jallen with only one leg and one fully developed arm.

After the Paralympic Games Sochi 2014, Jallen received the Team USA ‘Best Paralympic Moment’ award from the United States Olympic Committee. She is a Two-time Paralympian (2014, 2018); Two-time medalist (2 bronze), PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games, 5th (super combined), 8th (downhill), 10th (super-G, giant slalom), Sochi 2014 Paralympic Games, bronze (super-G, super combined)