After being inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, former Auburn basketball star Ruthie Bolton-Holifield said she was overwhelmed, but history shows this was an undeniable path.
While at Auburn, Bolton played on three SEC championship teams and made four NCAA Tournament appearances. Of those four appearances, Bolton led the Tigers to two runner-up finishes.
In 1996 and 2000 Bolton became a two-time Olympic gold medalist.
During those years her coach was Nell Fortner, current Auburn women's basketball coach.
"She was just a phenomenal competitor, a winner and just a great person," Fortner said.
In 1997 Bolton was the first WNBA player of the week.
She played with the Sacramento Monarchs where her jersey number is the only one ever to be retired from the Monarchs' team roster.
Bolton's professional career lasted 15 years, and she was a part of 10 U.S. national teams.
While at Auburn, Bolton said her job was to assist rather than to shoot.
"At Auburn, sometimes I would shoot two times a game," she said. "I wasn't a scorer."
Once she entered the WNBA this mentality changed. She is the fourth on the all-time 3-pointer list and scored over 2,000 points in her career.
"To me, it's hard to believe that my game transformed that much from a defender to a shooter," Bolton said.
Joe Ciampi coached Bolton during the years she played for the Tigers.
"Even though I challenged her, it propelled her into a position to prove me wrong, and she did," he said.
Ciampi said he believes Bolton is one of the reasons he was inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Ciampi was a class of 2005 inductee after he finished his career at Auburn in 2004.
"She was the glue for our team in terms of you never knew what Ruthie would do offensively, but defensively you knew she would challenge everybody and play 40 minutes for you," Ciampi said.
Ciampi said Bolton became determined during her time at Auburn and carried that determination to the professional level.
"She probably was one of the most physical ball players in international ball and USA basketball because she played with strength," Ciampi said. "She had the quicks, but more importantly she developed that shooter's mentality."
Bolton, who is one of 20 siblings, said her family was a big part of her success.
Her sister, Mae Ola, also played basketball for Auburn while Bolton was here.
"My dad taught us a lot about family and sticking together, and they've really been in my corner 100 percent," Bolton said.
Bolton said this award has shown her that all her hard work and determination has finally paid off.
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