PASCACK VALLEY—Twenty-year-old Pascack Valley native Olivia Dunne, a former USA National team member and a standout Tiger gymnast at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, graces the October 2023 “Sports Illustrated” cover as a trailblazer.
Senior Dunne and LSU basketball star Angel Reese share the spotlight on the October SI “Money Issue” that focuses on rising money in college sports, due to athletes being able to profit from the use of their name, image or likeness while in college.
Both Dunne and Reese appeared in SI’s swimsuit issue earlier this year, so October’s issue marks the second appearance for both this year.
Dunne, the highest-earning endorser in women’s collegiate sports, boasts more than 8 million enthusiastic followers on Twitter, now “X,” and nearly 4.5 million on Instagram. She’s ranked No. 3 with a valuation of $3.2 million on the On3’s “Name, Image and Likeness” Top 100 List. She trails only Bronny James (LeBron James’ son) and Shedeur Sanders (Deion Sanders’ son) at $6.1 million and $5.2 million, respectively.
In addition to SI modeling, she’s one of “Rolling Stone” magazine’s top 20 most influential creators.
In its money issue, SI details the proliferation of money in college sports over the past two years, and focuses mostly on men, except for the two women at LSU: Dunne and Reese. Reese is ranked eighth on the NIL list, at $1.7 million.
Dunne was born in Westwood in 2002 and raised in Hillsdale. She started her gymnastics training in 2005 at ENA Gymnastics in Paramus. By the time she was 14 she was homeschooled by her mother, Katharine, while she spent her days training with her coach, Craig Zappa, at ENA Gymnastics.
Although she did not attend her public high school, Pascack Valley high, she and her older sister managed its gymnastics team.
Given her need for additional security, she takes classes online at LSU.
Dunne’s online bio notes, “She qualified for the 2020 Nastia Liukin Cup and competed at the 2016 and 2017 P&G Championship and 2017 U.S. Classic before arriving at LSU in 2021. During her freshman season at LSU, she earned All-America honors on the uneven bars, including a 9.90 score at the NCAA championships and a career-best 9.925 on the event.”
This summer she was among several movers and shakers from the Pascack Valley honored in Rep. Josh Gottheimer’s Fifth District Hometown Heroes awards. Her nomination noted her impressive social media clout.
(See “Pascack Valley proud in ‘Heroes’ roundup,” Pascack Press, July 31, 2023.)
According to On3, “LSU gymnast Livvy Dunne has been a trailblazer in the NIL space since the NCAA put its interim policy in place on July 1, 2021. And for all the success she has had in the gym, she’s continued to build her brand outside of gymnastics. Her social media following has grown to over 8 million. She’s inked deals with American Eagle, Plant Fuel, Bartleby, and others.”
According to On3, Dunne is the highest paid female athlete in the country, generating a multi-million-dollar income from name, image and likeness deals with major brands.
In early July, Dunne announced she was partnering with LSU’s Bayou Traditions to create the Livvy Fund (bayoutraditionscollective.com/livvyfund), funded in part by tading cards of some of her most iconic moments in gymnastics, to help connect female student-athletes at LSU with top brands to help secure NIL endorsement deals.
Support can range from $10 to $5,000 monthly.
I am so grateful…
“To be on the cover of ‘Sports Illustrated’ is such a dream come true. I am so grateful as a female student-athlete to have this opportunity. It’s extra special to be on it with Angel Reese because she is a badass,” said Dunne in an SI video clip.
Dunne said, “You could have it all. You can be a student, you can be an athlete and you can also be a savvy businesswoman.”
She added, “The new people that look up to me, especially girls, it’s incredible. That just means the world to me,” she said. “NIL (name, image likeness) hasn’t just helped gymnastics, I think it’s awesome for all women’s sports. Being able to work with some of my dream brands now it’s a dream come true.”
“I really hope to get as many women student-athletes on board as I can. I want to continue to elevate women’s sports as a whole because they really deserve the same publicity as the men’s. We do equal work, we put in equal time in our facilities every day and in school, so I feel like it would be right for this to be equal,” Dunne said in an LSU press release.
She told SI, “People definitely discredit what I do. People need to understand that I’ve worked for everything I’ve earned. I’ve spent years building an audience, and brands pay me for what they believe is worth the reach of the demographic that I offer.”
Dunne said the Livvy Fund should help boost other student-athletes. “Me being at the forefront, the most important thing for me was to give back,” she told the magazine.
Dunne said she also urges her sponsors to donate to the fund to help female athletes better market themselves.