How National Soccer Hall of Fame inductees choose their presenters: ‘I didn’t do this on my own’

“(I’m) looking forward to it but also a little nervous for some of her stories, but I’m sure it’ll be all out of love.”

Another product of New Jersey, Heath also shared the field at North Carolina in 2006 with her induction classmate; O’Reilly was a senior and Heath a freshman, helping deliver an NCAA championship. The partnership carried into the national team’s golden era with Olympic gold medals in 2008 and 2012 and a World Cup title in 2015.

For Heath, the decision for her Hall of Fame presenter came down to two people who had been with her the longest: her mother, Cindy, and her wife, Christen Press, who retired from professional soccer at the end of the 2025 season.

“I certainly didn’t do this on my own. I’ve had incredible mentors, coaches and teammates along the way. But when I really thought about it, who’s been there across the entire arc of my career? The answer was obvious: my mom,” she said. 

When her mom politely declined, Heath turned to Press. 

Press and Heath were teammates on the USWNT for more than a decade, starting around 2013, and won the World Cup in 2015 and 2019. They also shared a stint at Manchester United during the 2020–21 season. Toward the end of their playing careers, they started a media company and co-host a weekly podcast, The Re-Cap Show.

“I know everybody always kind of wants to get that inside look at an athlete’s life, in the locker room, and be as close to the game as possible, as close to those moments as possible,” Heath said. “There’s no one closer to those moments and closer to me as a human than Christen.  And honestly, I’m interested in hearing what she’s gonna say.”

As of the 2026 class, more than 30 women have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, each with a story behind their choice of presenter.

Brandi Chastain, inducted in 2016 but honored in 2017, selected Tony DiCicco, the former U.S. coach who encouraged her to take the decisive penalty in the 1999 World Cup final with her left foot. DiCicco died a few months later from cancer. He was 68 years old.

“I asked him because he brought me back to the USWNT but in a totally different position, which extended my career and set me up for all kinds of life lessons, learnings and success in mindset, change and personal resiliency,” she told The Athletic.

Carli Lloyd chose her father, Steve. Abby Wambach selected her longtime teammate Christie Pearce. Lauren Holiday chose her mother, Rita Cheney.

For some, the way they chose their presenters became a story in itself. 

Briana Scurry, inducted in 2017 and honored in 2018, was the first female goalkeeper and the first female player of color in the Hall. She chose her lifelong friend Naomi Gonzalez. At the time, she was still navigating the aftermath of a serious head injury sustained from a knee-to-the-head collision during a 2010 match when she was playing for the Washington Freedom, abruptly ending her career. 

“Naomi and her partner came to D.C. to raise money for their company and met with Chryssa Zizos, who was interested in being an investor,” Scurry told The Athletic. “During that meeting, they went to dinner and got to know each other, where Chryssa mentioned she ran a PR firm. Naomi, equal parts healer and natural connector, used the moment. She told Chryssa about my head injury and a drawn-out battle with an insurance company, and asked if she’d be willing to step in and help push for the care that was being denied.”

Zizos helped secure coverage for an experimental surgery and a year of therapy, while also helping Scurry rebuild her career. The professional relationship became personal; the two married in June 2018. Scurry felt like she owed her friend Gonzalez the honors. 

“After everything she’s done for me, the fact that she’s still in my life, and someone who really understood me and was there for the triumphs and the difficulties,” Scurry said. “I wanted Naomi to present me that day.”

Another U.S. goalkeeper, Hope Solo, made a similar personal choice, asking her husband to present her. Though her path to the Hall was less straightforward. Despite holding nearly every major international goalkeeping record, she was not a first- nor second-ballot inductee.

When she was finally selected on her third ballot, Solo considered declining. She ultimately accepted for her family.

“The induction became about legacy,” she told The Athletic. “Something they can see and hold onto. Who better to speak to my fight and everything I’ve endured than the man who stood beside me? A strong former footballer who can speak, clearly and unapologetically, about the woman he loves. There’s power in that. In a room full of authority, presidents, decision-makers, the usual power structure, having a man step up and tell my story, what I’ve been through, what it’s cost, what it’s meant. It lands differently. And it mattered.”

For the inductees, the connection to their people ran deeper than trophies or timelines: each inductee chose someone who had seen the full picture, not just the player on the field, but the person behind it.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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