UNC women’s soccer legend Mia Hamm announced as 2025 commencement speaker

Mia Hamm, one of the most decorated soccer players in history and a four-time NCAA champion with UNC, will deliver the keynote address at the school’s 2025 spring graduation ceremony at Kenan Stadium on Saturday, May 10.

The selection was announced during the UNC Board of Trustees meeting Thursday morning and later posted by the university on its website.

“We are thrilled that Mia Hamm – arguably the most famous athlete in the world – will deliver the keynote address and share her unique perspective with our Class of 2025 graduates and their guests,” said Chancellor Lee Roberts. “She is a wonderful example of Carolina’s excellence, and we eagerly await the insights and advice she has for our graduates.”

“It is no exaggeration to describe her as one of the finest athletes in her sport – at any level and at any time,” Roberts concluded to the trustees.

Hamm led Carolina to national titles in 1989, 1990, 1992 and 1993. She sat out the 1991 season to play with the U.S. women’s national team in the first FIFA Women’s World Cup, which she also won. After returning to Chapel Hill, Hamm was named national player of the year in 1992 and 1993. She was also a three-time All-American, three-time ACC Player of the Year and two-time ACC Female Athlete of the Year. Her total points of 278 (103 goals and 72 assists) still stand as an NCAA record. The Tar Heels played a total of 95 games in which Hamm appeared, losing only once.

As a player for the U.S. national team, Hamm scored 158 international goals (a record among male and female players that stood from 2004 to 2013), won two World Cups and two Olympic gold medals. She was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2007.

Off the field, Hamm founded the Mia Hamm Foundation in 1999 to honor the memory of her brother Garrett. The foundation conducts bone marrow research and supports women’s sports programs. Hamm is also a benefactor of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. She received a Distinguished Alumna Award in 1997 and another Distinguished Alumna Award in 2009.

“I want the class of 2025 to know that Carolina has prepared them to define their own legacy in this world,” Hamm said. “It’s a place where I was constantly challenged, loved and developed – not only into the player, but into the person I am today.”

More information about the spring 2025 graduation ceremony will be announced at a later date on the graduation website, but Roberts confirmed Thursday that the ceremony would again be held at night, with a start time of 7 p.m.

Featured image via Dakota Moyer

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