Hall of Fame Feature | Lorraine Ferret
10/3/2018 1:45:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Ferret earned All-Big Eight Honors in 1982 & 1983, was named a Kodak First-Team All-American in 1983
When Lorraine Ferret first stepped onto the University of Missouri's campus as a freshman in the fall of 1979, she was terrified. The Columbus, Ohio, native was far from home and was questioning if she could compete at the Division-I level in women's basketball.
"It was definitely one of the more frightening times in my life," Ferret recalled. "My family was kind of shocked that I chose Mizzou, but I told them that's where I felt I would learn the most. I decided that I was going to go out there, take the challenge and see if I could make it at a big college."
Nearly four decades later, it's pretty safe to say that Lorraine Ferret's big gamble has paid off.
Over the course of her sensational career as a Tiger, Ferret racked up 1,624 points (currently sixth-best in program history), earned All-Big Eight honors in 1981-82 and 1982-83, and was named a Kodak First Team All-American and a Wade Trophy nominee in the months following her spectacular senior campaign.
After her time at Mizzou came to an end, Ferret traveled overseas and found continued success in a five-year professional career in Europe, playing primarily in Italy and Switzerland. She was the first American woman to compete professionally in Switzerland — winning the Swiss scoring title four times and the Swiss Championship Swiss Cup Title in 1987.
Ferret's trailblazing achievements have not gone unrecognized as the years have passed. In 2016, she was inducted into her hometown high school's athletic Hall of Fame. She was also honored with a Southeastern Conference Women's Legends Award in 2016, alongside fellow former collegiate basketball stars Sylvia Fowles (LSU) and Toccara Williams (Texas A&M).
This past year, Ferret received a phone call from the University of Missouri with news of yet another accolade — she was one of six former Mizzou athletes chosen to be inducted into the school's 2018 Hall of Fame Class. Ferret was stunned.
"Part of my reaction was, 'Wow! I didn't think they'd recognize me for what I did,' " she said. "You just don't really think about anyone remembering you after this long."
"It's obviously an incredible honor, but it's something that I've never thought or dreamed of because I've been out of the sport for so many years."
That humble nature is something Ferret has consistently exemplified throughout her entire life. She credits her father with teaching her the value of humility and cites him as her greatest source of inspiration in her athletic endeavors.
"My dad was always first and foremost in encouraging me," Ferret said. "When I first started playing basketball I didn't really had a specific talent in the sport, I was just a tall girl. He never saw my gender as a limitation in this game and pushed me to be the best ball player I was capable of being."
Ferret says she expects to feel a sense of nostalgic pride when she returns to Mizzou for the first time in several years.
"I have countless fond memories there with so many great teammates," she said. "Bringing home the Big Eight tournament title in 1983, now that was the best — that memory still brings the biggest smile to my face. I remember getting up on the scores table after we won and dancing around, laughing with my teammates the entire time. We were just so darn excited."
Although she led highly accomplished collegiate and professional careers, Ferret says the road to her success as a female athlete in the 1980s never was a smooth one.
Title IX's passage in 1972 laid the foundation for women's equality in the world of sport, as it prohibited discrimination "on the basis of sex" in educational programs or activities at schools and colleges that received federal funds.
However, as Ferret recalls, Title IX's effects didn't trickle down to the collegiate level in terms of scholarships for female athletes until ten years after the act's passage.
"We were constantly fighting for things as collegiate female athletes, not necessarily in terms of equality, but just so things were even a little bit better than what we had," she said. "I sacrificed so much to get what I wanted. That kind of resiliency is what I still take pride in to this day."
"Sometimes we can't accept things and that's fine — that's when we fight for what we believe in."
While Ferret still feels that women's basketball has "so much more work to do" in terms of social and economic equality, she remains hopeful that positive change is on the horizon.
By working with current Mizzou women's basketball coach Robin Pingeton to help preserve the history of the sport at the university, Ferret is seeking to build a bridge of sisterhood between female athletes of the past and present.
"I hope younger generations of women's basketball players look more into the history of our sport because we've always faced a common struggle," she said. "I think growing a stronger bond between the alumni players and current players is where we need to start to ensure that these young women have access to opportunities that I never had as a player."
These days, Tiger fans can find Ferret back in her hometown of Columbus. She works upwards of 40 hours a week as a home health care aid, tending to patients in suburban and rural communities throughout the mid-Ohio area. With so much of her time dedicated to helping others, Ferret says she rarely has the opportunity to watch women's basketball, let alone be actively involved in the sport she so deeply loves.
But where basketball once dominated her life, her immense passion for her patients has flourished to take the game's place. And she couldn't be happier.
"I'm 57 and feel better now than I ever felt as a basketball player," Ferret said. "I'm loving my job more than anything I've ever done in my life. I'm just trying to make up for some lost time earlier in my life and am so fortunate to do what I do every day."
As she travels to Columbia to take her rightful place in Mizzou's Hall of Fame among the university's greatest athletes, Ferret's heart glows as she recollects the enduring memories of her past, while her eyes look ahead to a bright, limitless future. A true pioneer in the game of women's basketball, she continues to epitomize the compassion, humility and strength she first brought to the University of Missouri as a freshman all those years ago.
"I would tell my younger self that all the hard work pays off in the end," she said. "It's all about your effort and persistence. Chase your dreams, keep after it and fight with everything you have. That's the true test of a winner. My dad made me believe that. And I'm eternally grateful for that lesson because it's absolutely true."
