Bio

Margaret “Peg” Farris Robertson

Mississippi Gulf Coast Junior College (1974, 1975-1977) / Basketball
Perkinston, Mississippi

Peg Farris, the daughter of former Bulldog baseball coach Kenneth “Curly” Farris, helped Gulf Coast push the “7” envelope in the 1976-77 basketball season. A 6-foot Lady Bulldog, Farris was part of “the greatest triumvirate ever,” which included AHOF members Connie Winsted and Edna Purvis. The trio scored in double-digits, dominated the court and took the Lady Bulldogs to the National Junior College Athletic Association Women’s Basketball Championship Tournament in March 1977.

On May 2, 1975, head women’s basketball coach Sue Ross, also an AHOF member, announced five grant-in-aid women’s basketball scholarships, the first ever awarded by Gulf Coast. Farris, a Stone High grad, was the first player to sign.

At Stone, Farris, winner of Perk’s Most School Spirit Award in 1976 and 1977, was elected All-Gulf Coast Conference and All-District, as well as numerous All-Tournament teams. One college publication stated, “We are expecting a lot of rebounding strength and scoring from Peg this year.” Farris delivered.

The Lady Bulldogs lost the bid for the 1976 South Division championship, but they came back hungry the next season. Campus life for Farris that year also kept her busy. She was a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the Dorm Council and the Bat Girls.

The Lady Bulldogs also won the Mississippi Association of Junior Colleges South Division title in Wesson Feb. 17-19, 1977. They then hosted the women’s state championship tournament Feb. 23-25 at Perk. Gulf Coast won, taking the first state-sanctioned Mississippi junior college state championship in Gulf Coast history. Next, they won the NJCAA Region VII Tournament, held March 1-5, 1977, in Cleveland, Tenn., and then went back home to prepare for the third NJCAA Women’s Tournament held in mid-March in Overland Park, Kansas.

At 24-11 and riding a 13-game winning streak, they lost the first game, but won the next four and placed No. 7 in the nation. Farris scored and rebounded in the double digits in those last four games.

Farris, an honors grad at Perk and Citizenship Award winner who won Perk's Most School Spirit award in 1976 and 1977, ended her junior college basketball days as All-State, All-South State, All-State Second Team, All-Region VII Tournament, All-Region VII and All-NJCAA Tournament Second Team.

In 2005, Farris, who received a full scholarship to Delta State University, has three children and is outpatient supervisor of rehabilitation services at Singing River Hospital in Ocean Springs. She can still attest to what Sue Ross said back in 1977: “South State, State, Region VII and seventh nationally in ’77.”