RENO - In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the passage of Title IX, the University of Nevada will hold its Salute to Champions dinner featuring Olympic gold medalist Brandi Chastain on Thursday, Nov. 8 at the Atlantis Casino Resort.
The evening will include dinner and no-host cocktails as well as a celebration of women's athletics at the University of Nevada and a message from Chastain, the keynote speaker. Nevada will also honor the past Wolf Pack women's letterwinners in attendance at the dinner.
A former member of the United States women's national soccer team, Chastain won two Women's World Cup championships, two Olympic gold medals and an Olympic silver medal among her many accomplishments. She was instrumental in forming the Women's United Soccer Association, playing from 2001-03 and leading the San Jose CyberRays to the 2001 WUSA Founder's Cup championship.
She is best known for her game-winning penalty shootout kick against China in the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup final and her celebration afterward. The iconic image of her jersey-waving celebration was featured on the covers of Newsweek and Sports Illustrated and brought the women's team into the international spotlight.
She started her college career at the University of California and was named the Soccer America Freshmen Player of the Year in 1986. She missed most of the 1987 and 1988 seasons after reconstructive surgery on both knees. She transferred to Santa Clara University, leading the Broncos to two Final Four NCAA appearances and graduating in 1991.
Chastain appeared in the HBO documentary Dare to Dream: The Story of the U.S. Women's Soccer Team and is the author of a book about women's sports entitled It's Not About the Bra. She also serves as a color commentator on soccer telecasts, broadcasting for NBC Sports during the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics and for ABC/ESPN during Major League Soccer matches and the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. She also currently plays for the California Storm of the Women's Premier Soccer League.
Nevada and Pack PAWS, the membership organization committed to Promoting and Advancing Women in Sports at the University of Nevada, held the Salute to Champions Dinner annually from 1996 to 2009 featuring speakers including Lisa Leslie, Kerri Walsh, Lisa Fernandez, Mary Lou Retton and Jackie Joyner-Kersee just to name a few. The dinner will now be reprised as appropriate to mark milestones in Wolf Pack women's athletics, including this year to mark the 40th anniversary of the passage of the Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, the federal law which prohibits discrimination in all educational programs and activities that receive federal funding.
Tickets for the event cost $65 for adults and $45 for youth (18 and under) and can be purchased by calling (775) 682-6965.
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