Carlee Roethlisberger

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Carlee Roethlisberger -- Yeah, Lady Sooner player is related

By Jake on

Carless Roethlisberger is indeed related -- she's Ben Roethlisbeger's sister.
Carless Roethlisberger is used to it by now.

People look at her last name, look at her -- a 6 foot 1 sophmore forward for the Oklahoma Sooners women's basketball team -- and ask if she's related to Steeler's quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

And she is -- she's Ben's sister.

From a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review column on the young player:
isn't as if her last name is Smith or Jones or something similarly common.
If it were, Carlee Roethlisberger might be able to blend in as just another player on the Oklahoma women's basketball roster. But sharing such a distinctive moniker with an older brother who just won his second career Super Bowl, she's gotten used to people picking out her last name and making the connection.

"It's not so much in the stands as it is from our fans," said Roethlisberger, a 6-1 sophomore forward at Oklahoma. "Especially when we do autographs people will say, 'We're big Steelers fans' or 'We love Ben Roethlisberger.' Everyone's always a big Steelers fan."

Roethlisberger may be a big Pittsburgh sports fan during football season, too, but that allegiance won't extend to the court Sunday when No. 4 Pitt and No. 1 Oklahoma meet in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Women's Tournament at 9 p.m. at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City.

Then, she'll be just one of several Oklahoma players related to a professional athlete trying to beat the Panthers. At Oklahoma, it seems those players not related to once or current pro are in the minority.

Included among Roethlisberger's teammates are Abi Olajuwon, daughter of former NBA star Hakeem Oljuwon, twins Courtney and Ashley Paris, daughters of three-time Super Bowl winner Bubba Paris, and Whitney Hand, daughter of former major league pitcher Rich Hand.

Still, her situation a little different, Roethlisberger said, because her brother's name -- and therefore hers -- is splashed across headlines on a regular basis.
"(My teammates), their dads played in the past and this is going on in the present," she said. "(The Steelers are) winning Super Bowls and the name is so recognizable. But people definitely weren't as starstruck. It wasn't like, 'Ooh, that's so cool, your brother's Ben Roethlisberger.' They respected it, but it wasn't anything new."