A long-time teacher and coach, William Fortin has devoted much of his life to helping others reach their potential. For both Bill and his wife, Nanci, who is also a soccer referee at the high school and collegiate levels, retirement is really not an option.

Athletics came naturally to Laura Lishness from an early age. As a young girl, she was an all-star in the Forestville Little League and she played basketball in grade school before entering Bristol Eastern High School. At Bristol Eastern, Laura was a three-sport athlete and she won multiple all-conference honors in the sports of soccer, basketball and softball.

When a good friend said to Holly Oslander in 8th grade, “You should try basketball, you’re so nice and tall,” that was all it took to get her to try the sport. Before long, basketball became her passion.

It was either fate or just plain good luck that one of Kate Mullen’s playground instructors played college basketball and she was able to get hooked into the sport at an early age. As a young girl, Mullen’s parents instilled important traits of hard work and self-discipline in Kate and her coaches built on those natural talents throughout high school and college.

As the oldest of eight children, Vianna McGugan was thrilled when she realized that her participation in sports got her out of household chores like helping cook supper and disciplining her siblings. But even before that point, Vianna’s father introduced her to competitive car racing. After finding success as the only girl racing against boys at such an early age, Vianna realized that she would never think of herself as less able or less important because she was a girl.

Patti Fernandes’ passion for basketball started in the fifth grade, when she was growing up in the south end of Stratford, Connecticut. She was a three-sport athlete at Stratford High School from 1975-78, playing volleyball, basketball, and softball. She played guard for Coach Barbara Hall, who Patti credits with having the greatest influence on her playing career.

Sue Johnson was a three sport athlete at Walt Whitman High School, Huntington Station, NY. Upon graduation in 1982, she attended Yale University where she would become one of the most outstanding basketball players in Yale history.

Pamela Moffo grew up in Middletown, RI, “playing with the neighborhood boys” and loved all sports. During her junior year, Bonnie Columpar and Jeannie Ingraham – two young, enthusiastic physical education teachers – arrived and volunteered to start a girls’ basketball team.