Sarah Palin
From Hoopedia
Sarah "Barracuda" Palin (born February 11, 1964, in Sandpoint, Idaho) is the governor of Alaska, and the was the Republican vice presidential nominee in the 2008 election.
Palin was born Sarah Louise Heath in Sandpoint, Idaho, the daughter of Sarah (née Sheeran), a school secretary, and Charles R. Heath, a science teacher and track coach. Her family moved to Alaska when she was an infant. The Heaths were avid outdoors enthusiasts; Sarah and her father would sometimes wake at 3 a.m. to hunt moose before school, and the family regularly ran 5 km and 10 km races.
At Wasilla High School in Wasilla, Alaska, Palin was the head of the school Fellowship of Christian Athletes. She was the point guard and captain for the basketball team. She helped the Wasilla Warriors win the Alaska Class 4A (the smallest schools) Girls state championship in 1982, beating Anchorage's Service High School, 58-53. Sarah Heath hit a critical free throw in the last seconds, despite a stress fracture in her ankle. She earned the nickname "Sarah Barracuda" because of her intense play, and was the leader of team prayer before games.
Basketball played an important role in her life in unforeseen ways. Her team's success taught her important life lessons. She told The Anchorage Daily News years later: "I know this sounds hokey, but basketball was a life-changing experience for me. It's all about setting a goal, about discipline, teamwork and then success."
It also changed her life in another way. The boys and girls teams often traveled together on often very long road trips. It was on these trips that she got to know Todd Palin, who would become her senior prom date and, eventually, her husband.
According to a New York Times report, they shared a common playing style: scrappy and tireless. She was not much of a scorer, but a tenacious defender. Her father recalled that "She was kind of mean and clawing at them and stuff."
Reports indicate that Palin continued her basketball involvement as a volunteer coach, presumably for her children's teams, but this information has not been confirmed.
