Renee Montgomery, at 5 foot 7, was short even by WNBA standards. But over 11 seasons, she excelled on multiple teams as a point guard including two with the Atlanta Dream. At age 33, during the George Floyd police protests, Montgomery took an unexpected step: she decided to take the year off and focus on social activism.
When Dream owner and Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler complained about the WNBC honoring the Black Lives Matter movement, the Dream players rebelled, pressuring her to sell the team to an investor group that included Montgomery. So at age 34, she transitioned from player to business owner. That surprising, abrupt career shift is featured in a new Roku documentary “A Radical Act: Renee Montgomery,” out Oct. 16.
“I’m in athlete mode always,” said Montgomery in a Zoom interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I have my new squad, the other owners of the Dream.” She is part of a three-person investment group with Larry Gottesdiener, chairman of the real estate firm Northland and Northland president and chief operating officer Suzanne Abair.
While the Atlanta Dream has not yet become a championship team under their leadership and the team recently fired its coach, Montgomery said they are laser focused on creating both a better team and a better experience for the fans. The Dream is riding the wave of momentum the WNBA has experienced with the arrival of popular college players like Caitlyn Clark, Cameron Brink and Kamilla Cardoso. WNBA attendance has shot up 48% year over year.
The Dream, Montgomery noted, sold out all 20 of its home games this season, 18 at Gateway Arena (5,000 seats) and two at State Farm Arena (19,000 seats) when the Indiana Fever, Clark’s team, visited.
“When I played for the Dream, we lacked fan base,” Montgomery said. “We moved gyms multiple times. You lose fans in the process. We’re now in a position where we can outgrow where we are. The demand is now there. That’s a good problem to have.”
Seeing a sold-out State Farm Arena crowd going nuts for the Dream this past summer was an emotional moment for her. “This has been a long time coming,” she said. “There’s nothing better than hearing a crowd like that scream when you make a shot. This is now the normal WNBA experience.”
She said celebrities of all stripes are hitting her up for free tickets and she has had to say no sometimes. She has been able to meet Monica, Latto and Mariah the Scientist. “2Chainz comes by quite often,” she said. “All the people I mentioned are very much Atlanta. That’s what I love most.”
Credit: Scott Cunningham
Credit: Scott Cunningham
The documentary tells the story of Montgomery growing up in West Virginia in a predominately white neighborhood. She had a supportive family, who inspired her to attend the University of Connecticut where she won a national championship her senior year. She said as a smaller player, she had to work extra hard to be an effective WNBA player but she dug in and did the work. She won two WNBA championships.
When the protests against police brutality took over downtown Atlanta in summer 2020, Montgomery decided to join in and hand out water bottles to protesters.
“It felt powerful,” Montgomery said. “It felt like a community. It felt like we were all one team fighting for the same thing. People told me stories about situations they had with police and situations family members had.”
Her now wife Sirena Grace thought Montgomery’s work was worth recording so she began toting a camera around. “A third of the video in the documentary comes from her,” she said.
Montgomery, who has lived in Atlanta since 2010, decided to take a leap of faith, leave the basketball court and focus on social change, LeBron James was impressed by her move and asked her to join his get-out-the-vote movement. He also hired a documentarian to follow her around as she used her athletic success to spread the word.
“If you look at my upbringing, it was leading me to that point,” Montgomery said in the documentary.
Loeffler, the Dream co owner with Mary Brock, in 2020 wrote a letter expressing her strong objection to the league’s partnership with Black Lives Matter Inc. over concerns the group was promoting divisive rhetoric. The Dream players rebelled and supported her Senate opponent Raphael Warnock. Montgomery at the time reached out to her to talk. Loeffler didn’t respond, according to Montgomery.
When Loeffler sold the team in early 2021, new Dream owner Gottesdiener brought Montgomery into the fold, making her the first former player to become both an owner and executive of a WNBA team.
“It’s now actually harder for me to be a fan than a player,” Montgomery said. “When I was in a close game as a player, I wasn’t even nervous. I had the ball in my hand. Let’s go! Watching is so much more stressful. I have no control.”
IF YOU WATCH
“A Radical Act: Renee Montgomery.” available on Roku Oct. 16
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