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At 76, woman still winning basketball championships

Oregon woman, teammates defeat younger competitors

By KAYLEE TORNAY, Mail Tribune
Published: December 14, 2017, 8:44pm

MEDFORD, Ore. — Patricia Ferguson’s success on the basketball court can’t be chalked up to the fact that everyone believed in her abilities.

The person who inspired her to first step on a basketball court at 11 years old was a boy outside of a gym in Detroit who told her that she couldn’t play with him and his friends because she was a girl.

“So I told that little boy, I said, ‘You listen. I’m gonna come back here next year and I’m taking your place,’ ” Ferguson says.

She did.

But even after proving her talent to the boys playing outside of the Kronk gym, Ferguson still was frequently passed over in favor of the taller boys.

A decade and a half later, a recruiter for the U.S. women’s national team told her the only advantage another qualifier had over her was measurable not in skill, but in the 5 inches taller she stood. And again, Ferguson was passed over.

“I will never forget that day,” she says.

Today, the 76-year-old Medford resident is one of the best basketball players in her age group — and she brings home the medals to prove it.

Three-on-three

Ferguson recently returned with gold at the end of October from the Huntsman World Senior Games in St. George, Utah, unofficially considered the “Olympics for seniors.”

More than 2,700 athletes competed this year from across the globe. Ferguson, with two other Michigan Spirits teammates, won the women’s three-on-three tournament. Because the older categories didn’t attract enough competitors to form actual draws, the Spirits ended up competing two age groups lower — facing women 10 to 15 years their junior.

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“We beat ’em anyway,” Ferguson says as she flashes the new gold medal.

She’s somewhat reluctant to display her uniform or the vast array of her medals that occupy three different spots inside the house, but she gives in to the prodding of her roommate Heidi Ansell.

Ansell doesn’t hesitate to bring up Ferguson’s accomplishments. The women have known each other for more than 30 years. They met in the ’70s when Ferguson was coaching women’s basketball at Clarion State College (now Clarion University of Pennsylvania), a time both women would describe as a stressful period.

“She wasn’t meant to be a teacher or coach,” says Ansell, a retired nurse. “She’s meant to be a participant.”

Ferguson says she prefers to inspire people by doing rather than teaching.

“I’m hoping it will entice people to do some of the things I’ve done so they can enjoy life more,” she says.

Ferguson went into the Army. Beginning in 1959, she was stationed at Presidio base in San Francisco. She honed her skills playing basketball against players from other bases, so that by the time she was ready to leave the Army in 1965, she was eligible to apply for basketball scholarships and had connections to help her get one. She entered West Chester State College (now West Chester University) later that year.

She played under legendary college coach Carol Eckman, in whose name the premier leadership award for women’s basketball coaches is given. Ferguson graduated in 1969, the year West Chester College not only hosted the first intercollegiate women’s basketball national championships, but won it, too — going undefeated for the season.

Ferguson says her competition days are far from over. Despite almost 2,400 miles between her and her current teammates on the Michigan Spirits, she says it takes only a few days of practicing with them to get “acclimated.”

Ferguson works out twice a week with a trainer, walks daily and watches her diet. She’s looking for another win.

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