Jan. 15, 2018
By Greg Ostendorf
AuburnTigers.com
AUBURN, Ala. - "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
These are the famous words of Martin Luther King Jr., delivered to more than 200,000 demonstrators on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963. This was also the message Ruthie Bolton heard time and time again from her father, Reverend Linwood Bolton, when she was growing up the 16th of 20 children in Lucedale, Mississippi.
Bolton would become one of the most-decorated athletes in Auburn history. She won three SEC championships, played in back-to-back Final Fours, and she'd later go on to win two Olympic gold medals and play eight seasons in the WNBA.
But none of the accolades defined who she was.
"You character and who you are, that's your DNA," Bolton said. "I'd rather deserve honors and not get them than have them and not deserve them.
"At the end of the day, it doesn't matter your perception of me. Everybody wants to be celebrated. Everybody wants to be encouraged. But you know what, at the end of the day when I wake up, when I look in the mirror, when I'm true to myself, when I know that I've done everything I can to be the best person I can be. I've been loyal, I've had integrity, my true character is not what people see, it's what you do behind closed doors."
Bolton's greatest achievement wasn't the two Final Fours or the two gold medals. It was the day she walked away from an abusive marriage. And it's been every day since that she's spoken out about her struggles, empowering women who might be going through the same thing.
In May, ESPN aired the documentary "Mighty Ruthie" that looked back on Bolton's life. It chronicled her difficult journey to Auburn and how she overcame all obstacles in her way. It also gave her the opportunity to speak out about the domestic abuse she endured and how she ultimately found the courage to move on and become an advocate for women.
Since the documentary aired, Bolton has traveled across the world and served as a motivational speaker for women's conferences and domestic violence conferences. She's made stops at various universities and prisons to share her story.
"I wanted to start the conversation," Bolton said. "I wanted to heal, and I also wanted to help others heal. So it's definitely opened my eyes and saying you know what, you can't sweep it under the rug. You've got to start talking about it. And the more I talk about it, the easier it was to talk about it. And to be able to give closure to the women? That was very rewarding to me. To be able to create a reaction and to give them hope, give them closure.
"It's very, very empowering to me and very rewarding to me in that not only was I being liberating, I was liberating others."
Bolton says she's received countless letters and responses from people thanking her for being transparent or for giving them closure. She's also heard from several of her former teammates, who had no idea what she was going through when they were playing together.
This past October, Bolton returned to Auburn and spoke to a group of women that included some of her former teammates. It was at Auburn, 30 years prior, where she learned how to be resilient and learned how to persevere. At the time, former women's basketball coach Joe Ciampi was more interested in Bolton's older sister, Mae Ola. But Bolton, who had to buy her own bus ticket to visit Auburn, defied the odds and exceeded expectations to become a star.
To this day, she still credits her time at Auburn for helping her become the women she is today, for helping her become "Mighty Ruthie."
"That experience at Auburn changed my life forever," Bolton said. "When I tell this story, I tell Coach Ciampi, 'Don't be embarrassed that you didn't want me or you told me that I probably wouldn't play until my senior year because you helped me. You helped me to dig deeper in myself, and you helped me to discover something that I didn't know I had.'
"Adversity in life can either make us bitter or make us better. And that made me a better person, so I thank you. That experience really was the turning point in my life."
When Bolton isn't using her platform to speak to women, she's teaching a curriculum called "Aim High" at K-12 schools. She's visiting countries such as Bangladesh and Samoa where she's providing coaching clinics to young children and helping promote the sport of basketball. She's out promoting her new book, "From pain to power."
None of it would have been possible, however, if not for her life experiences, her abusive marriage, her distinguished basketball career, or her father instilling the values from Martin Luther King Jr. as she was growing up.
"I just love what [King] stood for," Bolton said. "He didn't just preach it, but he lived it. Now, as I've gotten older, I can see why my dad was such a huge advocate of him and how he walked, how he was against violence, how he walked in victory and how he stood for dignity and for each other. He didn't judge people. He had a way of controlling his anger.
"I talk about that when I work with young kids. I always say there's a place we're going, but we've got to know where we came from."
Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: