On January 14th and 15th the Ballard High School Athletic Booster Club will be holding a jersey retirement ceremony and dinner for Sue (Stimac) Verduin, one of the school’s most successful female athletes.
Sue Verduin ’78 played varsity basketball all three years and will be the first woman basketball player to have a jersey retired at Ballard High School. “Her name has been coming up for years,” Sue Rauda, a good friend of Sue Verduin and Ballard High School parent, explained, “It is neat that it is happening now, when her kids are there.”
During her sophomore year, Verduin scored an average of 15 points per game, the high scorer for the season. As a Junior she scored 171 points in 13 games. By senior year Sue was named Captain and MVP. She had a 55.6% field goal shooting, made 75% of free throws, had 239 rebounds, 97 assists, 50 steals, and a total of 345 points for an average of 17.2 points per game
Verduin was chosen to be on the Seattle PI Metro All-Star Second Team and received Regional Honorable Mention by the Seattle Times. She was the Ballard High School Student Athlete of the year and received the Irma Rodenhouse Scholar/Athlete Award. She was also the recipient of the Sam Schulman Scholarship Award, which was given to an outstanding Washington high school player by the owner of the Seattle Supersonics.
Verdin continued her basketball career at Seattle University where her jersey has already been retired. During her college career, she set 11 individual and career Seattle U records. She currently stands as the third-highest female scorer in Seattle University’s basketball history with a total of 1,675 career points. In 1981 and 1982 Sue Verduin was named to the American Women’s Sports Federation All-American team.
“Sue’s basketball legacy lives on in many, many kids in the Seattle area,” Sue Rauda writes, “She has coached teams out of Redmond, Bellevue, Queen Anne and most recently, Loyal Heights Community Center and Ballard Community Center. Many of her players are currently playing on high school teams around the city, including several boys and girls on the Ballard High School team.”
Sue Verduin is currently the Athletic Booster Club President and lives in Ballard with her husband John and two children Johnny (16) and Beverly (14), both of which are students and varsity basketball players at Ballard High School.
Between the 6:30 girls’ and the 8:00 boys’ varsity games on Friday January 14th, 2011, the Ballard High School Athletic Booster Club will be holding a retirement ceremony.
Then the following day there will be a dinner and program in her honor at the Ballard High School Commons from 6 to 8 p.m. The suggested donation price is $20 for adults and $10 for those under 18. All proceeds will be donated to Ballard High School Girls Basketball in Sue’s honor.
Questions or to RSVP please contact Sue Rauda, rauda@comcast.net or 206-782-9085
For more information about the event or Ballard High School athletics please visit here (.pdf.).
Sue Verduin is the most wonderful, giving person to our community and someone who believes in kids. I remember when my daughter played basketball years ago, Sue was her coach – it was before the Boys and Girls club had single sex teams. Sue put her foot down and demanded an all-girl team. The director told her they’d have to play boy teams – but that was just fine with her – eventually all-girl teams developed in the league and now it’s standard. Way to get things going Sue! This is only one small example of the positive influence Sue has had in our community. I applaud this gesture to recognize Sue not only as a great ball player at BHS, but as a leader in the community and schools. Way to go Sue!
Congrats Sue! You deserve all the accolades. Proud to have you as an alumni at Seattle U.
There was an all girls team that won the championship against a league that was all boys 4 years before Sue was there. That was nothing new. The Boys and Girls Club has always been very supportive, so I doubt anyone had to put their foot down.