SPORTS HALL of FAME ATHLETE
Susan Ferraro '77'

Each of the female inductees who were student-athletes at Sidney can trace her success to the passing of Title IX in 1972. But none can claim it as directly as Susan Ferraro. Though the girls of the late 1960s and early 1970s experienced only limited chances (i.e. “play days”) they showed skills and talent just the same. With a collective burst on to the inter-scholastic scene, the girls were able to realize potential for actual seasons and schedules and playoffs! Indeed, Sue was among the early crop of women unleashed into playing the universal sports such as track and basketball. However, it was also time to see how athletic they could be in sports that were unfamiliar. For Sue, that was field hockey. Little did anyone – even Sue herself – realize how that sport would shape her future.

As she tells it, field hockey was a gym class activity for the Junior High School girls under Ruth Lorimer, then at the high school with Mary Vredenburgh – now Morrison. By her sophomore year, Sue played it in gym class so well that she was “given a permission slip and told to come to practice”. It was a hard sport to learn, Sue admitted, “especially obstruction – that was a bear to learn”. Still, she wound up with a varsity letter all three years and helped make Sidney one of the Susquenango League’s first real field hockey powers. More on that sport shortly....

The girls’ seasons were spread throughout the school year to make it more accommodating for participation: first field hockey in the fall; then volleyball and basketball in the winter but not at the same time; finally track and softball in the spring. Sue excelled in them all, which meant a lot of time spent practicing and playing sports. It was a huge source of enjoyment during her high school years and earned her varsity letters, pins, and gold bars. Girls’ sports were being taken seriously!

So on she went to SUNY Brockport to major in, what else? Physical Education. But unlike high school where they wanted athletes to play multiple sports, Sue decided to play the sport that was so hard to pick up, which of course was field hockey.

In her final two seasons, Sue was a starter for the Golden Eagles at defender. In 1980, her junior season, she and her teammates won the New York State and Northeast Regional Tournament, finishing 7th in the country for Division III schools. Then as a senior tri-captain in 1981, Brockport made it to the Final Four among all D-III colleges in the AIAW (Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women), the precursor to the Women’s version of the NCAA.

Not only did the team rise to the cream of the crop, but Susan herself was named a Division III Field Hockey All-American. That distinction is still special, because to date, no other Brockport player has achieved that status. The same can be said for the SUNY Brockport Hall of Fame. In 1999, Sue was inducted as its only field hockey player – quite an honor.

Later, she was part of an Arizona softball team which won that state’s championship six times. Not only that, in the national tournament, Sue earned MVP honors twice, All-American eight times, and one Gold Glove award. Obviously the competitive bug she caught as a young girl in Sidney stayed with her forever.

Sue owns her own Landscaping Business in Arizona. She has also worked as the landscape superintendent at the Rancho Manana Golf Cub Resort and as a senior gardener at the Phoenix Zoo. Being outside is where it’s at for Sue, which is fitting as her best sports were played outside as well.

Tonight we’ll ask her to come inside to accept the plaque that goes with the special recognition of being an inductee with the Class of 2011 in the Sidney Alumni Sports Hall of Fame.