The Most Influential People in Seattle Sports, Vacation, and Recreation

Sue Hen and Megan Rapinoe Step Out of Bounds

The associates and sporting activities legends have crafted distinctive video game plans for athlete activism.

As vaccine-seekers submitted into Lumen Field’s clinic in mid-March, two common figures stood as greeters: Megan Rapinoe, very easily recognized by her cotton candy–colored pixie reduce, and fiancee, Sue Hen, beside her. As stars of the OL Reign and the Seattle Storm, respectively, Rapinoe and Chicken rival Russell and Ciara as the city’s largest power couple.

Since remaining drafted just two several years into the team’s existence, Bird has turn into synonymous with the Storm and its 4-time championship accomplishment. While rather quiet in public, around Seattle the 41-yr-previous has mentored youngsters by way of the Boys and Ladies Club and stepped in at a Marysville superior faculty soon after a college capturing. In 2020 ESPN’s “The Evolution of Sue Bird” traced how she has more and more spoken out in support of Black Lives Make a difference and LGBTQ legal rights.

In distinction, the phrase “outspoken” is utilized to 36-yr-previous Rapinoe nearly as usually as, say, “World Cup–winning.” In the midst of her worldwide accomplishment, she minced no phrases when telling reporters, “I’m not heading to the fucking White House” with President Donald Trump in business office, and she stands at the forefront of soccer’s equal pay out dispute. Even her stance just after scoring in the Globe Cup turned a meme: arms out, upper body up, shorthand for unapologetic self-appreciation. Then the activist swerved in 2021 when she accepted a placement as an “ambassador” (not angel!) for Victoria’s Top secret, part of the company’s effort and hard work to rebrand by itself.

Fowl and Rapinoe commenced dating in 2016 and got engaged in 2020, but their personalized lives are less than scrutiny fewer than the tantalizing concern of retirement. Virtually no a person desires to see both stop their sporting activities profession, but it’s more and more obvious that they’ll be unachievable to pass up when they do.—Allison Williams

---

Dongho Chang

No matter if you are biking, strolling, or driving, the city’s longtime targeted visitors engineer has probably shaped how you move by way of the metropolis. He’s reconfigured our urban landscape at the Seattle Department of Transportation, incorporating every thing from bike lanes to pace bumps to make Seattle much less car or truck-centric and, principally, safer. Now he’ll check out to do the same in a new point out-degree purpose.

Sam Cho

The transport of items and people runs via Port of Seattle, which manages Sea-Tac and the city’s shipping and delivery space. Still the make-up of its governing human body does not normally mirror the range of its imports. Right after this second-generation Korean American was sworn in final year by his mother (in Korean!), he promptly lifted broader worries, like immigration policy. He’s given that introduced a lot more recognition to the area human trafficking disaster.

Lee Jacobson

Trail selfies have only proliferated for the duration of the pandemic (“Behold, I Have Returned from a Hike,” study 1 the latest New Yorker humor piece). But the guy who runs the virtually 200,000-strong Washington Hikers and Climbers Fb team utilizes social media to foster extra authentic appreciation for the outdoors. Associates share suggestions and tales and, for the most section, retain their cameras pointed out at all our jaw-dropping vistas.

Sally Jewell

The next technology of company leaders will have to grapple with existential climate considerations who can speak far better to that than this former REI CEO and U.S. secretary of the inside? The Mother nature Conservancy board member is sharing her wisdom this 12 months as the Fritzky Chair in Leadership in the University of Washington’s Foster University of Business.

Quinn

Pinoe may well get most of the consideration close to below, but this OL Reign midfielder is also internationally acknowledged. Just after coming out last year, they grew to become the initial publicly trans and nonbinary Olympic gold medalist (for Team Canada, womp womp). The soccer star advocates for trans-inclusive youth athletics guidelines amid political contests.

Jill Simmons

The Washington Trails Affiliation CEO has introduced a qualifications in sustainability to arguably the local mountaineering community’s most influential position. The nonprofit’s revitalization of backcountry paths, and ongoing maintenance of well known kinds, keeps its 25,000 users, 5,000 volunteers, and 500,000 on line consumers coming again. A “Trails for Everyone” marketing campaign hopes to diversify its devotees.

Rick Steves

He may perhaps have experienced to refund 24,000 deposits soon after Covid designed international visits a no-go, but the Edmonds-dependent travel connoisseur has not shed any of his pull amongst those people who enjoy a excellent dad joke with their London restaurant recs. These days he’s played prognosticator, predicting a return to standard vacation sometime in 2022. In the meantime, he’s delivering “daily doses of Europe” on social media.

Nathan Vass

A experience with this King County Metro bus operator is a trip. Greeting travellers with a smile and narrating stops as he drives, he disarms even the most cynical Seattleites with his relentlessly gregarious disposition. His website and resulting book, The Traces That Make Us, highlight the human connections community transit can forge.

Doc Wilson

In June 2020, pursuing Black Life Make a difference protests, this bicycle owner anticipated about 30 people to ride with him to Black-owned firms all-around the metropolis. Extra than 10 occasions that range confirmed up. Given that then, Peace Peloton has ongoing pedaling to companion storefronts to assist treatment economic injustice. Other metropolitan areas are interested in the design.

Russell Wilson

Communicate about a ability perform. The Seahawks QB may well not have requested a trade previous offseason, but he did permit some wanted trade places leak from his camp following sensation like the crew was ignoring his input. The consequence: a new Russ-helpful offensive coordinator. Whether they perform jointly outside of this period continues to be in doubt.

An before variation of this short article misstated Jill Simmons’s title at Washington Trails Association. She is the CEO.