Volleyball phenom, Gabrielle Reece was born on January 6, 1970 in La Jolla, California. Reece spent her early childhood growing up in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. She had already grown to five feet tall by age seven, and after moving to St. Petersburg, Florida, playing high school volleyball and basketball was a natural choice for Reece. After earning an athletic scholarship, Reece enrolled in Florida State University, where she majored in Communications. In her late teens, Reece competed in volleyball as a Lady Seminole, setting season records for solo and total blocks and earning numerous All-Tournament honors.

As a junior at Florida State University, Reece was voted Most Inspiring Collegiate Athlete in the United States, and inducted into Florida State's Athletic Hall of Fame. In 1989, 19-year-old Reece began her modeling career with the renowned agency, Ford. Now known for her beauty in addition to her athletic prowess, Reece was named one of the five most beautiful women in the world.

Later that year, Gabrielle went on to grace the covers of such magazines as Harper's Bazaar, LIFE and Women's Sports & Fitness and Hugh Hefner's Playboy magazine. She appeared on the cover of the January 2001 issue of Playboy Magazine with an accompanying nude pictorial. Other sports women to have appeared on the cover of Playboy include Katrina Witt and several wrestling stars such as Sable and Torrie Wilson.

n 1993, Nike made Reece the company’s first ever female cross-training spokesperson.

Along with appearing in ads for Nike, Reece also juggled competing with the Bud Light Pro Beach Volleyball League. In 1994, she was made captain of team Nike, as well as the League's Offensive Player of the Year.In addition to volleyball and modeling, Reece also served as a host for such shows as MTV Sports and The Extremists in the mid-90s. Reece also added columnist to her resume in 1994, when she penned a sports and fitness column for Elle magazine. Three years later, she she co-authored Big Girl in the Middle, about the trials and tribulations of being a top female athlete.

That same year, Reece married extreme surfer Laird Hamilton. Six years later, the couple welcomed the birth of their daughter, Reece Viola Hamilton.In 1999, Reece switched over to competing in the two-person Federation of International Volleyball circuit. One year later, she graced the cover of Playboy magazine, which also included a pictorial of the sexy sportswoman.