Former UConn women’s basketball star Maya Moore reveals she gave birth to first child in February

Former UConn women’s basketball star Maya Moore revealed on “Good Morning America” Tuesday morning that she and her husband Jonathan Irons had their first child in February.

Moore, who stepped away from basketball in 2019 to focus on social justice, married Irons in 2020 after helping to overturn Irons’ prison conviction.

Irons spent 20 years in prison after he was wrongfully convicted as an adult when he was 16 and charged for burglary and assault, crimes he didn’t commit.

Moore, the four-time WNBA champion and two-time NCAA champion, originally met Irons before her freshman year at UConn through a prison ministry in Missouri.

Through her efforts she was able to help convince a judge to overturn Irons’ conviction in March 2020 due to issues with the case’s initial investigation.

GMA reports that Irons told the network six months following his release from prison that he proposed to Moore the night he was freed.

“When I got out, we were in the hotel room, we had some friends in the room, it was winding down and we were extremely tired, but we were still gassed up on excitement,” Irons told GMA. “It was just me and her in the room and I got down on my knees and I looked up at her and she kind of knew what was going on and I said, ‘Will you marry me?’ She said, ‘Yes.’”

In July 2021, Moore was awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPYs for her work in social justice reform.

maggie.vanoni@hearstmediact.com