University of Massachusets Athletics
Women's Basketball Alumni Q&A's
February 21, 2006 | Women's Basketball
Feb. 21, 2006
On Feb. 19, the UMass Women's Basketball program held its first annual Alumni Day. Over 25 former Minutewomen participated in a game held before the current team played St. Bonaventure at the Mullins Center. They also had a reception with their families and current players and staff and were honored on the court at halftime of the game. UMass Media Relations sat down with a few of these alums and asked them about coming back to UMass and the direction of the program.
Pat Nally
By Justin Lafleur, UMass Media Relations
Q: What has this alumni day been like?
A: It's been interesting. It's been nice to meet the women who played at UMass, obviously much later than I did. I am from the class of '73. One girl here is from the class of '74. It's been nice to see the facility. I'm really anxious to see the girls play. I haven't seen a girls' game in a long time.
Q: How was your athletic experience at UMass?
A: It was good. When I came up here, it was very different. I came up in '69 and basketball just became the way it is now. Before that we played six women on a team, two were roving forwards, or guards as they are known now. Two played defense and couldn't go over half court and two played offense and couldn't go over half court. When I came up as a freshman, I basically had to learn a whole new basketball game. That was interesting and fun. It's nice to see the way the sport has grown, and how colleges have embraced women's sports in general.
Q: How was your academic experience at UMass?
A: I had a good experience. I was in the education department for a while then went into Human Development. I ended up getting a teaching certificate but also experience in pre-school which is what I'm doing now. I am an assistant director at a pre-school. It was interesting. It was a nice rounded experience.
Q: What do you think can be done to help enhance the women's (basketball) game?
A: More exposure. We won lottery tickets to the Women's Final Four which is in Boston this year. I'm excited about that. To be able to see more of the games on TV would help get more public awareness of the game.
Q: What is your favorite memory at UMass and why?
A: It has nothing to do with women's basketball, but it has to do with men's basketball. I was here when Dr. J. was here. They played in the (Curry Hicks) Cage at the time. We would literarly stand in line in the freezing cold at 4:00 for a 7:00 game. We would go in and get to watch the freshman game and then see the men's game. Watching him (Dr. J.) was unbelievable. The first year they made it to the NIT was in 1970 which was very exciting.
Q: What is your favorite hobby and why?
A: It may not be a hobby, but I am a runner now. I do a lot of road races. It is what keeps me going. I run five or six days a week and then the races.
Q: How was the bond with former teammates? Do you still keep in touch with any of them today?
A: No, I have not. I was commentating to my husband that just watching some of the girls that came back for this and that played together and watching the bond they have is a special thing. I don't think we really had it that much back then.
Julie Mulvey By Justin Lafleur, UMass Media Relations
Q: What has this alumni day been like?
A: It was a blast. I have so many great memories here. I loved it and had a lot of fun. It was good to see other people and to get back together. I was really looking forward to it. I'm glad I did it.
Q: How was your athletic experience at UMass?
A: It was great. You always have bumps in the road, but we had so much fun. We had some successful teams. It was a growing experience for me. It changed my whole life.
Q: How was your academic experience at UMass?
A: Great. When I came out of high school, I went to Bridgewater State College the first semester. I didn't do well at all. I dropped out and went to work for two years. I just walked back in here in January. I matured and did really well academically. It saved my life. The academics pulled me up. I went on to get my masters after that. It was a great experience.
Q: What are you doing now?
A: I am the director of student life at a community college.
Q: Since your nephew is Matt Pennie, can you talk him and the road he took to become a Division 1 player?
A: We are so proud of him. We saw him on TV two weeks ago (vs. Temple on ESPN), and we got phone calls, "Did you see Matt?" It is a great opportunity for him. He loves it, absolutely loves it. Although he is a bench guy, he loves it.
Q: What do you think can be done to help enhance the women's (basketball) game?
A: I think promoting it more and more. It is taking baby steps forward as far as getting interest and watching them play. It starts at the younger ages, getting the girls to have female role models instead of male. As far as UMass, have stability in terms of coaching, and reach out to the public. It seems like the coaching staff is doing that now.
Q: What is your favorite memory at UMass and why?
A: I have so many good memories. I had so many good times during intersession. We would have a lot of fun and do goofy stuff. It was a real positive experience. We liked and respected each other.
Q: What is your favorite hobby and why?
A: I play anything. I like to run, I like football. I like to play basketball, I don't play too much of it now. I stay active. My kids are all in athletics and I love going to their games. I like to travel, to get away from the New England winters.
Q: How was the bond with former teammates? Do you still keep in touch with any of them today?
A: Some I do. One is my sister Martha. I just got back in touch with Ginger at the beginning of this year. Those are the ones I mainly keep in touch with. A few of them I do.
Kim Chambers by Mark Brumbaugh, UMass Media Relations
Q: What is it like coming back to UMass?
A: It's great! I haven't been back about ten or eleven years. So it's really nice to have everyone back together. I live so far away in North Carolina, so it's nice to have an event to come back to.
Q: Does the area look a little bit different to you now?
A: Route 9 has definitely changed a lot. As you come in, it seems like there are a lot more shops. We drove through uptown last night to check out some of our old spots, just to see what it was like. It was neat to be back. I haven't driven around the whole campus though since I got here.
Q: What were some of your best memories from your time here?
A: I think just the friendships I made. Spending all the time together, going through all the things we went through together, you just build really strong bonds. I think probably my biggest memories were just great friends.
Q: What is your career now?
A: I was in pharmaceutical sales until about a year ago. I had my first
child, and he's about 16 months old, and now I say home. Now I am expecting my second! I'm doing "mommyhood" now, and it's great.
Q: Have you stayed involved with basketball in any way?
A: As much as possible. When I moved to North Carolina, I actually coached. I was an assistant at UNC-Greensboro for a year. So I was really immersed in basketball, but it wasn't what I was looking to do for a career. But I try to stay as involved as I can.
Q: Have you caught any UMass games?
A: I went to the women's game against UNC-Charlotte a few weeks ago, and I
went to the men's game against Davidson, which is right up the road from where I live. So it was nice to have UMass playing locally.
Q: Have you been encouraged by the continuing growth of women's athletics?
A: Yeah, absolutely. It seems even the athletic department here at UMass has
evolved. It seems that women's basketball get taken even more seriously than
it used to.
Q: What do you think of the team?
A: Unfortunately they didn't win that game, but they had a really good second
half and made a really good come back. I was talking with Mary [assistant
coach Mary Ciuk], and she said that game got them jump started on a really
good winning streak. They have some great athletes on the team.
Q: Do you have a particular career highlight or play that you will always
remember?
A: I remember a game at home against West Virginia, who I didn't care for very
much. I just wanted so badly to beat them, because they had creamed us at
there place. And we did. I really came out on fire. We ended up winning,
and it was great.
Q: How many points did you have?
A: I didn't have that many points. But it was a great game, we were
dominating. I just loved it. In the time I was in, I made a great
contribution and got us on the road to winning that game. So that's the one that always sticks out in my mind.
Beth Wilbur by Alli Miller, UMass Media Relations
Q:What years did you play for UMass?
A:I graduated in 1989, so 1985-89.
Q:How would you describe your UMass experience?
A: Well, I had four coaches in four years. That must be an NCAA record somewhere. But I wouldn't change any of it. It was a learning experience year after year, coach after coach. But it was great. I made a lot of great friendships. I met my husband here. A lot of good in my life came out of UMass.
Q:What first made you decide to come here?
A: I decided to come here for basketball, definitely, and the education department. I came up when I was being recruited and went into the education department, and met the Dean of Education. The coaches took me there and I just loved that. It was also close enough where my parents could see me play, but not too close where they would be around too much. So it was four hours from New Jersey and it seemed perfect.
Q:What do you do now?
A: I work part-time. I teach third graders. I'm in a job share, so I work two and a half days a week in a third grade classroom. The other two and a half I am full-time mom--doing laundry, shopping for groceries, straightening the house up.
Q: How many kids do you have?
A:I have two daughters. They will be eight and ten in March.
Q:What are their names?
A:Kate is my almost-eight-year-old and Taylor is my almost-ten-year-old.
Q:How was coming back to UMass today?
A:It's been really fun. I haven't been back in quite some time and it looks a lot different. I like seeing all the old photographs, and showing my daughters that I wasn't always this old. We walked around a little and I saw Thoreau, where I met my husband, so that brought back a lot of good memories.
Q:What is your favorite memory of UMass?
A:Jack Leaman. I think I learned the most about the game sophomore year when Jack was coaching. He had this uniqueness about him and not necessarily a polished way to coach women, but he got to us through the love of the game. I will always think about my sophomore year, learning a lot and making that connection with him here.
Q:Will you be at the dedication?
A:I am working on it right now. All I need is a baby-sitter for my kids Saturday and I'm going to hook-up with Michelle Picko, another player, and I think we are going to try and come out next Saturday.
Q:How do you think UMass women's basketball has evolved since you left?
A: I think they get a lot more exposure, a lot more advertising. I think women's sports in general all over the country have improved immensely. The girls are tougher and stronger, and I think they're more fun to watch now.
Sue Peters by Dave Quinn, UMass Media Relations
Q: First off, catch us up with the latest in your life:
A: The latest, well that could be a lot of things. I'm a teacher at Westford High School and I officiate basketball. That keeps me in the game. I enjoy coming back to things like this (the alumni reunion game.) Marnie's done such a great job trying to bring the alums back into the picture by having events and wanting to do things to get people who really care about this program back involved with the program.
Q: Do you enjoy coming back to Amherst and what do you miss most about the area?
A: It brings back a lot of memories. I'm a softball alum as too and I'm back quite often for softball events. Elaine (Sortino) has the golf tournament and we seem to get together quite a bit. It's exciting to be back. It's fun for me seeing people who I haven't seen for so many years on the basketball end. The raw excitement of remembering out times her, sitting her, reminiscing and thinking about how thing have changed here form the locker rooms and the facilities, I think it's the start of something really big here.
Q: How would you compare collegiate basketball when you were playing to basketball today?
A: We were just the start. It was right after Title IX when we all first started playing. It was the first opportunity for women. The skills have exploded from when I was playing, as well as the athleticism. It's an exciting, exciting game now. The sky is the limit in terms of opportunity, I really like what's happening with the NBA getting involved with women's basketball because now you have some big time money supporting the growth of women's basketball. I think that's all good. There are problems when you have big business involved though. Anytime you have big business involved, it changes things a little. I look at the experiences we've all had where we were playing sport for the pure enjoyment of playing with no real financial gain from playing today is different. When you think about some of the players that have to choose one sport. When we all got involve we all played more than one sport. There was a chance to get involved, to be free and to grow. Now a day, if you're going to succeed, you have to choose one sport before you get to high school. Even thought there is some good to that, there's the drawback that they don't get to have the experiences we had.
Q: When you were playing did you realize that you were in many ways a trailblazer, laying the foundation for women's basketball in the future?
A: Maybe a little bit, but there were always trailblazers. There were trailblazers before us as well. I'd like to think that title IX as the trailblazing start for women and whatever we did to help future generations and players to have these opportunities, I'm grateful for.
Q: Finally what message would you like to convey to the 2005-06 UMass Women's Basketball Squad?
A: It funny you as because when you get a little old, after you've been teaching, playing, coaching and officiating you get to see the game from a lot of different perspectives. I look back at my own personality and behavior when I played, and we spend a lot of energy on little things that don't matter. Basketball is such a competitive sport that you can't go through a season with out little personality conflicts or maybe not being 100% accepting of your role or lack of playing time. So my message would be that these are four of the best years of your life and you need to try to find a way to have a positive attitude and do what's best for the team. They should really try to enjoy what I like to call intrinsic stuff that you get out of the sport. Don't sweat the small stuff, don't be negative, and really enjoy the opportunity because you'll look back in 20 years and say I really wish I would have stopped and smelled the coffee a little bit.