Destinee Hooker remains a Hooker despite getting married

Cheap joke? Certainly is, but it’s true. Destinee Hooker is one of the best women’s volleyball players in the world, but she received almost as much attention for her unique last name this summer as she did for her ability to shake a gymnasium floor with a thunderous spike. Despite the immature jokes and the criticism, Hooker has openly stated that she is proud of her last name. So proud, in fact, that she decided to keep it after getting married.

According to TMZ.com, Hooker and her fiance Steven Coulter recently tied the knot at a courthouse in Texas. They will have a bigger ceremony next year, since she is currently in Russia about to begin a season of volleyball. Destinee said she loves being a “Hooker” and will simply add her husband’s name to hers rather than change it, making her Destinee Hooker-Coulter.

It’s common for star female athletes to keep the maiden names that everyone already knows them by, as is the case with Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings. Hooker had a chance to change hers after hearing what I’m sure was a lifetime worth of heckling, but you have to admire her pride and thick skin.