School: Wilson | Graduation Year: 1986 |
Year Inducted: 2014
Sports Played: Soccer, Basketball, Softball, Tennis
High School Honors: 4-year letter winner in soccer, All-PIL First Team and First Team All-State as a sophomore, junior and senior; on PIL championship teams freshman and sophomore years. Team captain and MVP as junior and senior. Third place State sophomore and junior years; National Soccer Coaches Association of America Most Valuable Player Award as a junior. Played on Oregon All Star traveling team as a junior and senior. 4-year letter winner in basketball, First Team All-PIL as a senior and HM All-State as a senior; on 2 PIL championship teams, soph. & junior (third place State). Member of the Oregon All Star AAU traveling summer team junior and senior years. 2-year letter winner in tennis, member of PIL championship as sophomore and junior; State Co-champs as junior. 1-year letter winner in softball; HM All-PIL as senior. Wilson’s Outstanding Female Athlete Award as a senior; Multnomah Athletic Club Scholarship as a sophomore; Outstanding Female Athlete Award from US Army/National Soccer Coaches Assn. MVP; Women’s Sports Foundation All-Star Award.
Post High School Career: Santa Clara University, 4-year basketball scholarship. BA degree in English, Writing and Communication; Editor for School Newspaper; first person to complete Women’s Studies Certificate. Career: own business as a consultant in event production, fund raising, and garden design.
Commentary:
My parents, Sandy and Buzz Marron, were the reason I began playing sports, and they never missed a game and made incredible sacrifices to send me to summer sport camps and allow me to play on summer traveling teams.
They have a Super 8 video of me at age three sitting on the steps, looking into the camera and chatting away to my Dad who was filming, while dribbling a little ball back and forth with both hands. I remember as a kid in New York City them taking my brother and me to the clay courts at Fordham University, and later to the courts at Gabriel Park, and exposing us to tennis. My Dad was always throwing a ball with me, pitching to me, setting up a soccer net for me to practice with, and we watched a lot of sports together. We were an active family, swimming, biking, camping, etc.
Later when we moved to Portland, my Dad coached many of my teams from 4th grade on, including basketball and softball. He would take our 7th and 8th grade basketball team to the annual NCAA Women Basketball pre-season Giusti Tournament of Champions at the Memorial Coliseum, and we’d spend two full days watching game after game. Bev Smith, the star of the University of Oregon team, was the first female athlete who inspired me to dream about where sports could take me.
At Wilson, my soccer and basketball coaches for four years, Steve Melnichuk and Jim MacDicken, were huge inspirations. In addition to being superb coaches, they were incredibly dedicated and supportive and pushed me to be better, as a player and as a leader. MacDicken even had our team raise funds and secure sponsors so we could take summer trips to Canada and California to play some of the tops teams.
Finally, I was lucky to have played with so many wonderful teammates who inspired me. The memories of what we accomplished and how close we were — on and off the court —were life-defining. I am thrilled that some of these amazing women came to the Induction Banquet.