Mia Hamm

In 2000, Hamm was a founder of the first women's professional soccer league, the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA), and she was counted on to provide the star power to make the league financially viable. She joined the Washington Freedom and appeared frequently at civic events to promote the new league and the Freedom team. Overcoming her quiet demeanor, Hamm often spoke of the need to support the league. DiCicco, who was the league's commissioner, referred to Hamm as "our Michael Jordan" in an article by Grant Wahl for Sports Illustrated for Women.

The Freedom drew a crowd of 34,148 for the league's inaugural game in 2001 and defeated the Bay Area Cyber Rays 1-0. Hamm, though battling injuries, dribbled past Chastain and drew a foul which set up the game-winning goal on a penalty kick. She started the first three games of the 2001 season as a midfielder, partly because she was recovering from a shoulder injury, then coach Jim Gabbara moved her back to forward.

Every place Washington played, attendance soared as young girls and their families came out to see Hamm. "Hamm has been the pied piper of the Women's United Soccer Association, attracting hoards of fans wherever she goes," noted Jennifer Starks of the Contra Costa Times. "Hamm's presence has been critical in the attempts to promote and sell the new soccer league to the masses." Attendance at games averaged 14,000 when Hamm appeared; without her, it averaged about 8,000.

She would spend up to 20 minutes after each game signing autographs. For the season, Hamm played six positions and scored only six goals. In September, however, she scored two goals in the U.S. national team's 4-1 win over Germany to extend her career record to 129.

Hamm was still piling up honors. At the end of 2001, FIFA – soccer's international governing body — named Hamm its first Women's Player of the Year. Also that year, she divorced Corey and later began dating Boston Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra, whom she first met in 1998 while beating him in a penalty-kick contest.

In the off-season, Hamm underwent knee surgery. In 2002, she did not play until the Freedom's tenth game, when she entered wearing a knee brace in the 65th minute of play and seven minutes later scored a goal that gave Washington a 2-1 victory. Athough Hamm started only one game, she was the key player in Washington's playoff run. The team went 10-1-2 after she rejoined the squad, and she had eight goals and six assists, including three game-winning goals. Coming in fresh in the second half, Hamm would attack defenses in her old style. Even after turning 30, she was still a force to be reckoned with.

Mia Hamm was a pioneer to a degree that few other athletes have ever been in any sport. She scored more goals in international competition than any man or woman who ever played the world's most popular game, and in doing so brought women's soccer to global notoriety. In the United States, Hamm represented the ascendancy of women's athletics, being the foremost name in the most popular sport played by girls and becoming an icon representing women's ability to compete on the playing field. As the key to the success of the first women's professional soccer league, Hamm carried a heavy weight on her shoulders, but did so with consistent grace, poise and humility. Her philosophy of team play above individual achievement set a tone that helped instruct countless young athletes, girls and boys.