WVU Sports Hall of Fame

Inducted: 1996

Written by Greg Walker

Cathy Parson becomes the first woman to be inducted into the WVU Sports Hall of Fame. The Mountaineer women's basketball all-time career scoring leader tallied 2,128 points from 1980-83. Parson appeared in a school-record 121 games and averaged 17.6 points per outing.

Her career scoring total is even more impressive when considering only Jerry West (2,309) and Rod Hundley (2,180) scored more points in their WVU careers. She also is the women's all-time leader in career field goals made (898) and attempted (2,061). Of her 121 games played, Parson registered double figures 108 times. Her 17.6 career scoring average ranks third all-time and she owns a school record 46 20-point games.

After disappointing seasons her first two years in Morgantown when the Mountaineers went 10-19 and 15-18, the sharpshooting guard led WVU to its first 20-win season, a 20-11 campaign in 1982. During that year, Parson averaged a career-high 20.7 points per game; the duo of Parson and J.D. Drummonds (21.0 ppg) averaged better than 40 points per night for the Mountaineers under Coach Kittie Blakemore.

Parson twice scored a career-high 35 points in a game that season, first against Pitt-Johnstown and later against Glenville State. But no win that season was bigger than the 81-79 upset of nationally ranked Penn State. That night, Parson led the Mountaineers to their first-ever victory against the Nittany Lions with 33 points; it was Parson's jumper with :03 seconds remaining that gave WVU the two-point victory. Captaining the 1983 team, Parson finished her career with a 17-12 season and was named second team all-Atlantic 10.

A three-time Mountaineer MVP, the 5-7 Parson was the first women's player to have her jersey retired. She was a three-time all-East selection, an honorable mention AIAW All-American in 1982 and a third team AIAW All-American in 1983. After graduation, Parson was one of 20 players selected to try out for a spot with the Harlem Globetrotters. She also played a season for the Virginia Wave of the Women's American Basketball Association.

Born May 4, 1962, the Hagerstown, Md., native was a three-time Washington County player of the year at North Hagerstown High School. She was named to the high school All-America squad in both her junior and senior seasons. Parson was a semifinalist in the 1982 WVU Homecoming Queen competition.

A 1983 graduate of the University, Parson spent three years as an assistant coach at Providence and in 1988 accepted the head coaching job at Christopher Newport in Newport News, Va., where she is currently coaching. She has won two Dixie Intercollegiate Athletic Conference coach of the year awards and coached Kodak All-American Karen Barefoot, the only player at any level in NCAA history to score 2,000 points and record 1,000 assists.

Parson has taken Christopher Newport to three NCAA Division III tournaments and made the Sweet 16 in 1992. She has coached six conference players of the year in Cathy Skinner (1988-89, 1989-90), Barefoot (1991-92, 1993-94), Alice Streetman (1992-93) and Dolmesha Stallings (1994-95). Parson is Christopher Newport's all-time winningest basketball coach with a 139-72 record during eight seasons. She is the daughter of Reverend and Mrs. Tom Parson.