Shae Ralph leads Vanderbilt into women's Sweet 16 with trailblazing mom by her side
Ralph's mother, Marsha Lake, was a trailblazer in the sport in the early 1970s. She played at North Carolina, beginning her career in 1971.
Vanderbilt coach Shea Ralph’s mother didn’t think she would see the day women’s basketball was taken seriously. Today, she is watching her daughter shape the next generation of the game. Ralph’s mother, Marsha Lake, was a trailblazer in the sport in the early 1970s.
She played at North Carolina, beginning her career in 1971 ― one year before the passage of Title IX. During her time in Chapel Hill, she became the program’s first All-American. Lake also fought UNC athletic administrators for equal treatment, advocating for essentials such as proper uniforms and enough basketballs for practice.
During her college career, Lake competed on the inaugural U. S. women’s team at the 1973 World University Games alongside close friend Pat Summitt, helping the Americans earn a silver medal.
With her mother, as well as Summitt, serving as guiding influences throughout her career, Ralph has built a program that is distinctly her own. “The role that I play as a leader is that every day, I show up and my job is to be a torch bearer and a trailblazer for my players because there were women, my mother, Pat Summitt, that did it for me,” Ralph said. "What they did personally impacted my life, and now it's my job to show our players what it looks like.