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Wearin' of the Green: Siemone Augustus
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BATON ROUGE - LSU basketball legend Seimone Augustus will serve as the Grand Marshal for the 39th Annual Wearin' of the Green St. Patrick's Day parade.
Augustus is a Baton Rouge native. She was a stand out basketball player at Capitol High School that later went on to lead the LSU Women's Basketball team to three straight final four appearances.
Augustus was the No. 1 overall draft pick in the 2006 WNBA Draft where she played for 14 years.
Now that she is retired from playing, she enjoys coming back home to Louisiana and says it is an honor to be selected as this year's Grand Marshal and it was an opportunity that she could not pass up.
"Everyone's like, 'the crowds are amazing, the floats, just the atmosphere, the environment.' I'm just looking to soak this up. I mean, like you said, basketball has taken me everywhere and now I'm finally home and I get a chance to enjoy it and a lot of different things, this parade being one, so I'm just looking to have a good time. Obviously, engage with our community, our fans, our people back home in Louisiana and just kind of have fun with it," Augustus said.
Since her time at LSU, Augustus became the first female athlete to have her jersey number retired and to have a statue on campus. She is also a four-time WNBA champion and three-time gold medalist playing for Team USA.
Her career has brought her all over the world, but now that she has the time to be home more often, she wants to do everything she can to make a positive impact on her community.
"Being away from home for a very long time, once you get back home you're like, how can I impact my community the best way I can? Obviously, having a speech at the parade and everything, it's like 'rah rah,' but as we further go into relationships and networking, how can I impact the community with the knowledge that I've gained throughout years of playing and come back and implement some of that into making Baton Rouge, it's athletes, Louisiana like a better place. That's what I look forward to most," Augustus said.
Her successful basketball career has not allowed Augustus to ever attend the Wearin' of the Green parade in person. She says that she grew up watching it on TV, so now she will have the best seat in the house for her first ride.
The parade rolls Saturday March 16 at 10 a.m.
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