On July 9 this past summer in a sold-out stadium, Chicago Sky number 14 was raised into the rafters amid a deafening, cheering crowd. It was the first jersey retired since the organization’s beginnings.
Allie Quigley, former guard of the Sky, is inseparable from the city that shaped her. From early days in Joliet gyms to her standout collegiate years at DePaul University and her defining professional tenure with the Chicago Sky, her basketball career, and thus success, is characterized by persistence, community and a deep-rooted connection to this city. As a player who not only emerged from Chicago’s rich basketball scene, but gave much of her career back to it. Quigley’s contributions to the game represent a strong thread tethered to the evolving fabric of the growth of women’s basketball today.
“It means a lot,” she reflected in an interview with the Spectator. “So many people, especially in Joliet, made me who I am. It was really like a community that kind of raised me as an athlete.” Her early memories of Chicago are filled with local coaches, parents, high school mentors, and countless basketball camps that helped her grow. That closeness to home extended far into her collegiate and professional career, allowing her to compete for and in front of many of the same people who contributed to her love and talent for the game.
Allie Quigley’s path to success, however, was limited in her first few years in the WNBA. After several years of short roles and team changes early in her professional career, it was in Chicago where she found her place. “Winning Sixth Woman of the Year in my second year with the Sky was huge,” she recalled. “I went from five or six years of really not playing at all… to being a key contributor. That gave me a lot of confidence, like I belonged.” Quigley’s first All-Star selection, followed by a WNBA championship in 2021, also served as affirmations of her ability and resilience, characterizing her years of quiet work under public recognition.
Those milestones, while personal, also reflect broader shifts in the landscape of the women’s game. The sport Quigley entered as a professional in 2008 differs dramatically from the one she watches today, in part due to the quiet, underappreciated, and unacknowledged work by many players like her. “It’s grown exponentially,” she states. “It’s just a different world in terms of coverage and accessibility.” This growth has not only elevated players but has reshaped the way fans engage with the league, especially in the digital era. “These amazing moments were always happening in women’s sports, but now through social media, people can actually see them.” Whereas prior to the growth of social media, clips and highlights were only shown on networks like ESPN rarely, they now generate enough content to fill millions of feeds. In the past two years alone, content engagement on the WNBA’s main Instagram account has seen an over 400% increase in viewership.
What once existed in the margins of sports history is now increasingly central to the American sports conversation. Sold-out arenas, trending highlights, and national discourse surrounding the WNBA are now more commonplace than ever. For Quigley, watching this momentum build brings a quiet pride, not only for herself, but for the generations before who contributed. “There were so many unbelievable players that came before me that I really looked up to,” she stated, citing UConn legend Diana Taursi as her main inspiration. “I know that I stood on their shoulders, and now today’s players are standing on mine.” This continuity of women’s basketball players lifting one another up across generations grounds her deeper purpose of her career.
Part of this purpose lies in what young female athletes see when they look to the court. “When I was five or ten years old, there wasn’t even a WNBA team in Chicago to dream of playing for,” she said. The mere presence of the Sky in the city today with its television broadcasts and community visibility, gives young girls an access point she never had. For Quigley, having her parents take her to watch powerhouse college programs like Notre Dame and Connecticut was motivating. “They were constantly exposing us to these powerful women’s players that would inspire me,” she remembered. It was through this proximity to the game that ignited her ambition.
As Quigley reflects on the current moment for women’s basketball, her admiration for the next generation of players is clear. She referenced guard Paige Buecker of the Dallas Wings as one of her favorites to watch, citing her completeness and poise. Bueckers, named the 2025 Rookie of the Year, is a clear representation of the growth of the women’s game, particularly due to social media. Across both Instagram and Tiktok she has almost 7 million followers, despite being early in her career.
Still, for all the visible progress, Quigley is clear about what must come next for the women’s game. Chief among her concerns is financial stability for players, both during and after their careers. “Saleries have always been a topic,” she acknowledged. “Hopefully players will continue to see growth in that area and have some kind of stability even after playing,” she stated, emphasizing the importance of financial safety-nets such as pensions. The progress made through collective bargaining agreements have laid foundations, but she sees them as a beginning rather than an endpoint.
The Women’s National Basketball Players Association’s (WNBPA) work has been central to this momentum. Through carefully negotiated Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) and public advocacy, players have reframed the conversations around value and equity in women’s sports. Advocating for better pay, improved travel conditions, and enhanced maternity support to name just a few, this organization has shifted the public narrative of what it means to be a professional women’s basketball player. Despite all their efforts however, the current CBA between the WNBPA and the WNBA, with Commissioner Cathy Engelbert at the center, have been anything but productive. The players are still yet to earn even in some cases a liveable wage to support their families and kids. With the rising visibility accredited to the sustained and international labor behind those within it, Quigley remains hopeful for salary contracts to improve.
For those discovering the WNBA now, Quigley offers a simple directive: go see what everyone’s talking about yourself. “They’re just very good, high-level players,” she stated. “Don’t just watch clips on social media – take your daughters, your sons, and go to a game. See how elite these athletes are. It’s pretty special.”
That sense of grounded excellence of a game built steadily and with care defines Quigley’s legacy. It lives not just in box scores and banners, but in the thousands of young fans now growing up in a city where the dreams she once chased are fully visible, right in front of them.