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Gabrielle Reece
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Gabrielle Allyse Reece (born January 6, 1970) is an American professional volleyball player, sports announcer, and fashion model.
e was born in La Jolla, California, to a mother from Long Island, New York, and a Trinidadian father - who died when she was five years old. Her height is inherited mostly from her mother. She was raised in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, and she returned to the U.S. mainland for the eleventh grade.
Reece didn't take up sports until then (the 11th grade) when she and her mother moved to St.Petersburg, Florida.
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Encyclopedia
Gabrielle Allyse Reece (born January 6, 1970) is an American professional volleyball player, sports announcer, and fashion model.
Early life
Reece was born in La Jolla, California, to a mother from Long Island, New York, and a Trinidadian father - who died when she was five years old. Her height is inherited mostly from her mother. She was raised in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, and she returned to the U.S. mainland for the eleventh grade.
Reece didn't take up sports until then (the 11th grade) when she and her mother moved to St.Petersburg, Florida. Many colleges started recruiting her due to her abilities in sports. She accepted a volleyball scholarship from the Florida State University, where she majored in communications, and in volleyball she led the league in kills four times and blocks once. In 1989, she moved to model in New York City. She returned to Florida for six weeks that summer to take classes, and then she returned to New York for more modeling. That August, she was back on campus at FSU for the season. That meant turning down $ five-figure jobs to earn All-Tournament honors several times in her collegiate career. In 1997, she was selected for induction into the Florida State University Athletic Hall of Fame. Reece set two school volleyball records in solo blocks (240) and total blocks (747). Both records still stand.
Volleyball career
Since graduation, Reece has played on professional volleyball tours. FSU inducted Reece into the Florida State University Athletics Hall of Fame in 1997. Reece set two still standing school volleyball records in solo blocks (240) and total blocks (747).
In 1997, competing with the best global beach volleyball players ever assembled, Reece's 4-man team took first place at the first-ever Beach Volleyball World Championships staged at the UCLA Tennis Center. A Florida State star turned pro, 1997 was Reece's fifth season as a team captain in the 4-person Women's Beach Volleyball League (WBVL), and her fourth captaining Team Nike, which shared League Co-Championship.
For four consecutive years, Reece was the WBVL kills leader from 1993-1996. She was named the Offensive Player of the Year in 1994-95, and the League blocks leader in 1993. She also competed domestically in the 1999-2000 Olympic Challenge Series, the 1999-2000 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, and other competitions.
Modeling career
Reece began her modeling career while attending FSU. In 1989 she was named by ELLE magazine as one of the five most beautiful Women in the World.
Reece has appeared on the covers of several magazines including Shape, Women's Sports & Fitness, Outside, ELLE, and Life. She also appeared on the cover of Playboy, with an accompanying nude pictorial, in January 2001. Ironically, when appearing as herself the year before on the HBO series Arliss, she angrily chastised her agent for bringing her an offer to pose nude for Playboy.
Other work
Reece co-wrote a book with Karen Karbo about her life as a pro athlete entitled "Big Girl in the Middle," published by Crown (1997). She also wrote a column for Conde Nast's magazine Women's Sports & Fitness, and has been a contributing editor at ELLE magazine.
Reece can be seen featured on TV every year as a hostess on ESPN and NBC's "Gravity Games," where she participated in the daredevil sports of road-luging, white water kayaking, drag racing, surfing, sky diving, and more on "MTV Sports" (1993-95), and "The Extremists with Gabrielle Reece" (1995-96). She was also a commentator at the 1998 Goodwill Games.
Reece recently reunited with Nike as a spokeswoman, and she is a new expert and writer for Yahoo-Health. Reece is also a producer of a health & fitness product; "The Primal System" with fitness expert Paul Chek and can be seen hosting a show for Fit Tv/Discovery, ‘Insider Training' where she profiles professional athletes about their training & conditioning regimens.
In movies, Reece played the supporting role of a physical trainer in the film Gattaca (1997) and a pro beach volleyball player in "Cloud Nine" with Burt Reynolds (2004). She has also guest starred on the television shows "North Shore" (2004) and "8 Simple Rules" on ABC (2005), and has appeared as a guest on Extreme Makeover Home Edition and "America's Next Top Model" and the "Tyra Banks Show".
In 2007, Gaberielle, along with her husband Laird Hamilton, appeared in the ABC reality television series Fast Cars and Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race, featuring a dozen celebrities in a stock car racing competition. In the first round of competition, Reece matched up against the former NFL coach Bill Cowher and the actor William Shatner.
In 2008, she released "Gabrielle Reece: Fit & Healthy Prenatal Workouts" with exercise guru Mike Monroe to bring expectant moms a safe and effective workout regimen for the first 6 months of pregnancy.
For 2008, Reece is the spokeswoman for Simply Nutrilite, a line developed by Quixtar.
Personal life
On November 30 1997, Gabrielle married the Hawaiian big-wave surfer Laird Hamilton. They have two children together: daughters Reece Viola Hamilton (born in October 2003) and Brody Jo Hamilton (born on January 1 2008 in Hawaii).
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