NEW YORK — Tina Charles, the WNBA’s all-time main rebounder, is retiring from the league, the eight-time All-Star introduced Tuesday on social media.
Charles, who had 4,262 rebounds in her profession, additionally completed because the league’s No. 2 all-time scorer behind Diana Taurasi. The 15-year veteran scored 8,396 factors within the common season.
“Right now, I formally announce my retirement from basketball. Fifteen years on the skilled stage and a lifetime of affection for this recreation,” Charles wrote in her put up. “I’ve skilled the best highs and the bottom lows, and I am grateful for all of it. By all of it, I discovered methods to present up. When doubt obtained loud and narratives had been written about me, I saved displaying up. That is the New Yorker in me, the place resilience is constructed, not talked about.”
Charles was the No. 1 decide by the Connecticut Solar in 2010 after serving to the UConn Huskies win consecutive NCAA championships in 2009 and 2010. She was the AP Participant of the Yr in 2010.
She performed with the Solar till 2013 earlier than a blockbuster commerce despatched her house to New York.
Tina Charles began her WNBA profession because the No. 1 decide by the Connecticut Solar in 2010. She got here again to Connecticut final season and began 42 video games, her final being Sept. 10. Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire
“She is undeniably probably the most impactful gamers to ever put on a Liberty uniform and probably the most achieved athletes our league has ever seen,” Liberty CEO Keia Clarke stated. “Her excellence on the court docket, her management within the locker room and her unwavering dedication to pouring a lot into the New York neighborhood, the town that raised her will endure for generations.”
She starred in her hometown by way of the 2019 season. She sat out the WNBA bubble season the following yr earlier than enjoying in Washington, Phoenix, Seattle and Atlanta. Charles got here again to Connecticut final season and began 42 video games whereas averaging 16.3 factors and 5.8 rebounds.
“Tina Charles has been probably the most prolific scorers and rebounder our league has ever seen and her impression locally has been simply as highly effective as her impression on the ground,” Atlanta Dream GM Dan Padover stated. “Tina had a historic profession and was a cornerstone participant throughout an essential time of our league’s progress.”
The 37-year-old heart helped the U.S. win three Olympic gold medals in addition to three World Cup championships. She earned WNBA MVP honors in 2012 and was the league’s high scorer in two seasons. The one factor Charles by no means had an opportunity to do was play in a WNBA Finals.
“This recreation gave me all the pieces, and I am going to miss it deeply,” Charles stated. “However my mother at all times taught me, do not cease at what you’ve got executed, maintain going towards what you continue to see. And I nonetheless see a lot. There are nonetheless goals in my coronary heart ready to be lived, and I am unable to wait to share that journey with you all.”
In addition to her impression on the court docket, Charles has left an enduring one off of it, serving to to save lots of numerous lives for greater than a decade along with her charity — Hopey’s Coronary heart Basis. She has donated 500 AEDs (automated exterior defibrillators) by way of the group that began in 2013 and is called in honor of her aunt.
It is devoted to curbing deaths in the US from sudden cardiac arrest. The group works to make sure faculties and public locations have lifesaving gear resembling defibrillators readily available.
Charles stated that earlier than she began the muse she did not notice how widespread and lethal sudden cardiac arrest may very well be till she examine Wes Leonard, a highschool basketball participant who suffered a coronary heart assault and died after basketball apply in 2011.
And when her aunt died a couple of years later from organ failure, Charles dedicated herself to serving to to unravel the issue.
In 2017, when Charles was enjoying for the New York Liberty, she was stunned by the staff by a person who was saved by one of many AEDs that the star had donated.
“Past her extraordinary accomplishments, Tina has represented the easiest of the WNBA all through her profession,” WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert stated in an announcement. “By her management and dedication to giving again — together with her work along with her Hopey’s Coronary heart Basis — she has made a significant impression far past the sport, incomes the Daybreak Staley Group Management Award twice.
“Her legacy will probably be outlined not solely by her excellence on the court docket, however by the usual she set as a frontrunner, a teammate, and a champion for the communities she touched.”