University of Missouri Athletics

Patty was a decorated swimmer in Mizzou women’s history and joined her brother Kevin in the MU Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame – the first brother-sister combo to be so enshrined. She won 14 Big Eight Conference championships (10 individual, four relays) in various freestyle, backstroke, butterfly and relay events. She held the Big Eight record for most career points scored in the conference championships at the time of her graduation and was a two-time all-American as part of 200 freestyle relay teams that scored nationally in 1977 and 1978 – the first all-America finishes by the MU women’s swimming program. Her Big Eight individual titles included the 50 freestyle (1975-76-77), the 100 freestyle (1975), the 50 butterfly (1975-76-77), the 100 butterfly (1976-77) and the 50 backstroke (1977). She was part of relay teams that won Big Eight championships in the 200 freestyle relay (1976-77-78) and 400 freestyle relay (1976). She ended her career holding seven school records, and a couple of Big Eight Conference records. DeForrest was a three-year team co-captain who later served as an assistant coach for the women’s program at Mizzou and went on to coach swimming at Clayton High School in her hometown of St. Louis, before serving as the director of the City of Clayton Parks and Recreation Service.