As UCLA looks to win a national championship this afternoon, all eyes are on Bruins Guard Kiki Rice, a senior on the team. Supporting her will be her family, including parents John and Andrea, brother Teo, and aunt Susan Rice. “I come from a well-rounded family and my parents have always instilled in me the importance of being grounded and humble and not getting lost in any of the outside commentary and pressures,” Kiki said in 2022.
She added, “In my family, it’s really important that you are not just an athlete, a basketball player, but someone who has an impact on the community. So whether that’s volunteering, helping out in any other ways. I think it’s just kind of a general family thing, serving and helping others.”
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Here, get to know Kiki Rice’s family:
Her dad, John Rice
Kiki’s dad, John, attended Yale University. He graduated in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in Latin American studies. While at Yale, he was on the basketball time, and a member of Kappa Alpha Psi. He then received his MBA from Harvard Business School, and subsequently worked for the Walt Disney Company and the NBA. In 2001, he co-founded Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT), a “non-profit organization that is changing the face of leadership across sectors and driving breakthrough results for individuals and institutions.”
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Per John’s LinkedIn bio, MLT “works with 3,000 predominantly low-and moderate-income college students each year to help them achieve economic mobility and partners with more than 200 major companies on their talent strategies. MLT employs 300 people and has developed 1,000 senior leaders, with 15,000 alumni following in their footsteps across the corporate, nonprofit, and startup arenas.”
Kiki’s grandfather, economist Emmett J Rice.Bettmann – Getty Images
John’s dad Emmett J. Rice was a World Bank economist and member of the Federal Reserve System. “He wanted to change the world, and he thought he could do that through economic policy,” John said. “But he realized you have to have economic power to really shape the world, and that always stuck with me.” Emmett served as a Tuskegee airman during World War II and taught at Cornell University.
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His mom, Lois Rice (née Dickinson) was an education policy scholar who is best known as the “mother of the Pell Grant.” Lois’s parents were Jamaican immigrants.
Her mom, Andrea Rice (née Williams)
Andrea attended Yale at the same time as John, she was a member of the varsity tennis team and graduated with a bachelor’s in Economics in 1989. After, she attended Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and was co-founder Sports Management Club and a member of the Black Business Students Association.
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Per her LinkedIn bio, “My path has carried me from high-tech startups, to multinational organizations, to national and local social sector organizations, and has given me clear windows into people and organizational hurdles that impact success. I am skilled at working across organizations to integrate disparate perspectives, inspire change and deliver results.”
Her brother, Mateo “Teo” Rice
Teo Rice (12) celebrates with the championship trophy following the college basketball Ivy League Tournament championship.Icon Sportswire – Getty Images
Her older brother, Teo, followed in their dad’s footsteps and played basketball at Yale, and was team captain for the 2024-25 season. “I wanted to be at a place that would challenge me,” he said of going to Yale. “I feel that by coming to Yale I will be pushed on the court, in the classroom, and by my peers, and as a result I will be a better man for it.”
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He now works as an analyst at Deloitte.
Her aunt, Susan Rice
Rice in 2009.Chip Somodevilla – Getty Images
Kiki’s aunt is diplomat Susan Rice. Susan, John’s brother, served as the director of the United States Domestic Policy Council from 2021 to 2023 under President Biden, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 2009 to 2013 and as the U.S. national security advisor from 2013 to 2017 under President Obama.
Her cousin, Allan Houston
Allan Houston, Knicks shooting guard, in 2000.Lutz Bongarts – Getty Images
Allan, who played 12 years in the NBA, is Kiki’s cousin.
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Now a Knicks executive, he is also an advocate for prostate cancer screening. “I think it’s important to educate Black men about the fact that we’re all susceptible, not only to prostate cancer, but also to other diseases. We can’t be afraid to share experiences, because for such a long time, it was taboo for Black men to talk about these things. As a strong Black man, you didn’t go to the doctor a lot, and you didn’t share what happened to you. We need to continue educating Black men that prostate cancer is a disease that’s curable and can happen to a lot of people, and it’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Allan said.
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