HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Hall of Famer. Four-time WNBA champion. Five-time Olympic gold medalist. And now — Connecticut state bird?
Basketball legend Sue Bird has another title coming her way, one that no other human has achieved before. Under a bill approved by the Connecticut legislature and headed to Gov. Ned Lamont's desk, she will share the state bird designation every March with the longtime titleholder, the American robin, starting next year.
“I think it’s a great honor,” state House Speaker Matt Ritter recently told reporters. “When this bill is adopted, if the governor signs it, the month of March we will have two state birds.”
Bird is beloved in the Constitution State, where she led the University of Connecticut to two national titles as the Huskies' star point guard, including an undefeated season in her final year in 2002. A native of Syosset, New York, on Long Island, she went on to a 19-year career with the Seattle Storm, earning 13 All-Star selections and becoming the league’s all-time leader in assists, starts and minutes played before retiring in 2022.
She was enshrined into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame last year.
Messages to Bird and her representatives were not immediately returned Thursday. She posted the news of her state bird designation on some of her social media sites.
“What an honor,” said the Instagram account for her Bird's Eye View podcast. The post featured of photo of her from her playing days at UConn.
Naming her the state bird every March was in just a few lines of a 111-page bill the included a wide range of unrelated matters. It received final legislative approval Wednesday and is expected to be signed into law by Lamont, who has proclaimed Connecticut the basketball capital of the world due to the successes of UConn's women's and men's basketball teams.
“The American robin, Turdus migratorius, shall be the state bird,” the bill says, “provided in the month of March of each year, the American robin and Suzanne Brigit Bird, also known as Sue Bird, shall be the state birds.”
