Mary Currie: An athlete to know

Mary Currie is a Dubach, Louisiana native who competed at Grambling from 1983 to 1987, finishing her career as the women's basketball program's leading scorer.

She majored in computer science and scored 2,256 points and grabbed 905 rebounds. In one game she scored 51 points, during a tournament held at Ole Miss in December 1985.

She was named to the Black college SID association's All-America first team, All-SWAC first team.

In both high school and college, Currie was coached by the legendary Patricia Bibbs-Cage.

"I remember Mary Currie as a complete player because she could do a lot of things." Bibbs-Cage told the Associated Press. "She played inside much of the time but was deadly from 15 to 16 feet. I still remember the night she hit 18 of 19 shots at the Ole Miss tournament."

The AP writes that Currie chose to follow her high school coach to Grambling, but Currie told the writers of the book "At The Rim" that she chose the Tigers because of the computer science program that was close to home.

Her goal, even in middle school, was to get a basketball scholarship. So she attended basketball camps and played with her siblings one-on-three.

"By the time Currie was offered scholarships in her senior year, she had researched job markets and decided that the computer field would afford her the best opportunities and the highest pay for an entry-level position," the book writes.

When At The Rim interviewed her, Currie was working as a software engineer while working on her MBA. Though she was done with basketball.

She was featured in the April 20, 1987 JET Magazine alongside South Carolina State's Wanda Pittman. Bibbs is in Grambling's Sports Hall of Fame.

She passed away in 2000 from ALS.

Learn more:

GSU Legend Mary Currie Named to the 2023 SWAC Hall of Fame Class

GSU to retire hoops legend Mary Currie’s jersey

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