This time a year ago, Tina Charles was still playing in the WNBA, grabbing rebounds and pouring in points for the Connecticut Sun.
Fast forward to 2026, and Charles has been looking at basketball through a different lens as a broadcaster, contributing to coverage of the WNBA and FIBA Women’s World Cup at NBC Sports and TNT. And she’s spent her spare time in retirement pouring hops into fermentation tanks.
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Indeed, the WNBA’s all-time leading rebounder is now a brewing beer. Charles founded 78 Brewing Co. earlier this year and has released her first brew: The 78-0 Hazy IPA.
“I’m just trying to tell stories through beer and just trying to bring communities together,” Charles told USA TODAY Sports. “The students are rolling back in for UConn, and I really hope it’s a beer that’s very attractive to them.”
The number 78 is a nod to her decorated career playing college basketball at UConn, where she had a crucial role in helping coach Geno Auriemma’s Huskies go 78-0 in her final two seasons in Storrs, Connecticut. The beer is available at bars and retail shops across Connecticut, as well as at Mohegan Sun Arena where it’s served in a special edition “Sunset” can.
UConn is also where Charles discovered her affinity for breweries. A craft beer was the first alcoholic drink she ever had after turning 21.
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“I love a good hazy IPA. I love the citrus and tropical notes. It was always a beverage that I would gravitate towards when I was with friends or family or just hanging out. It was always around for celebratory moments,” Charles said. “I wanted to make a beer that was for non-beer lovers and non-IPA lovers. It’s very approachable, it’s very crushable, and it doesn’t have that bitterness bite. I just wanted a beer that’s more on the smooth finish and crisp side, which is what 78-0 is.”
Charles is now part of a growing but small group. According to the National Black Brewers Association, less than 1% of all breweries in the United States are Black-owned — and even less are owned by Black women.
Charles was inspired to start her own brewery after meeting Alisa Bowens-Mercado, who has garnered the nickname “Lady Lager” after opening the first brewery owned by a Black woman in Connecticut. Charles likened meeting her to seeing Teresa Weatherspoon play for the Liberty when she was growing up in Jamaica, New York. She had a goal she could achieve, something she could aspire to, something that seemed attainable.
“Seeing someone that looks like me definitely encouraged me,” Charles said. “Representation definitely matters for you to have confidence in order to enter a space, and (Bowens-Mercado) was very encouraging.”
For now, Charles is sticking with the Hazy IPA, but could brew other beers in the future. In addition to brewing and her broadcasting duties — she’s been a contributor for TNT Sports as it covers the FIBA Women’s World Cup — she’s also working on getting her master’s degree in sports management from UConn. She’s hoping that degree will give her a baseline for a WNBA front office role.
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As Charles was in her final professional season with the Sun last year, she knew the end of her playing days loomed and that other interests were tugging at her.
“Sometimes when it comes to knowing the time for retirement, your mind is more made up than your heart. But I knew it was time, I didn’t need basketball to tell me,” Charles said. “As ironic as it sounds, I knew I had things brewing off the court. I felt that I had fully released and did everything I could in the space of basketball. I was able to see the new generation come in and take it forward.”
Charles had a long and accomplished playing career. At UConn, she starred alongside Maya Moore, Tiffany Hayes and Renee Montgomery and helped the Huskies win back-to-back national championships with unblemished records in 2009 and 2010. She was a three-time All-American, the Most Outstanding Player at the Final Four in 2009, and the consensus National Player of the Year as a senior in 2010. She is still the Big East’s all-time leading rebounder.
After being selected first overall by the Sun in the 2010 WNBA Draft, Charles began piling up accolades at the professional level, beginning with winning the Rookie of the Year award. The 6-foot-4 center was voted WNBA MVP in 2012, led the league in scoring twice, topped the league in rebounding four times, was a nine-time All-WNBA selection, an eight-time All-Star and a four-time All-Defense choice.
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In addition to her rebounding record, Charles is also the WNBA’s all-time leader in field goals made and is second all-time in scoring. Among players who have seen action in at least 300 WNBA games, Charles is one of three to average at least 17 points and nine rebounds in a career. The others in that group are A’ja Wilson and Lisa Leslie.
The 6-foot-4 center would go on to play for the Liberty, Washington Mystics, Phoenix Mercury, Seattle Storm and Atlanta Dream before returning to the Sun for her final season. Last month, the franchise — which will relocate to Houston, Texas next season — retired her No. 31 jersey.
“It was bittersweet,” Charles said of seeing her jersey lifted into the rafters at Mohegan Sun Arena. “New England and the state of Connecticut has meant so much to women’s basketball as a whole.”
Charles was also a key player for Team USA for more than a decade, helping the Americans win three Olympic gold medals and three World Cups between 2010 and 2021. In her work with TNT Sports this month in Berlin, Germany, she should be able to offer a unique perspective on what it’s like to play for the national team.
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“I’ve spent my life just studying this game. With the World Cup, I can also speak from the experience of knowing what it means to wear that USA jersey. Gold is earned, it’s not assumed, and you have a responsibility to go out there and take it,” Charles said. “I’m thankful that (TNT) wanted the opportunity to have my voice to help viewers understand the game more and just what these players are going through.”
The World Cup also comes at a time where the rest of the world seems to be making some strides in catching up with Team USA. At the 2024 Olympics, the Americans only beat France by a single point in the gold medal game. Many of the rosters in Germany this month have WNBA talent playing for them.
“Germany is playing at home, and then you have Australia and you have France. Spain is always competitive. I’m looking at Belgium,” Charles said. “Emma Meesseman is a stellar player, Julie Allemand is a stellar point guard, and Mike Thibault is a phenomenal coach.”
Should the Americans grind their way through the tough competition and capture what would be their fifth consecutive World Cup title, perhaps Charles will celebrate by cracking open one of her ice cold Hazy IPAs.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tina Charles built a Hall of Fame basketball career. Now she’s building a brewery.
