Fitness In Faith: Jamie Redd Is Staying Her Path

UW SENIOR believes faith and competitiveness mesh wonderfully - and asserts that her success is the proof.

Reyna Fortenberry probably didn't know what hit her.

Loose on a breakaway, the Boise State guard appeared headed for an uncontested layup in a game against Washington.

But Fortenberry soon found out that little, if anything, goes uncontested if Jamie Redd is on the court.

The Husky senior, still frustrated by an earlier offensive-foul call she felt she didn't deserve, caught up to Fortenberry and knocked her to the floor just after the Bronco junior had released the ball. The degree of contact resulted in Fortenberry lying face down for several seconds and with Redd being charged with an intentional foul.

It was another incident adding fuel to a belief that Redd's public posture - a street-tough approach to the game she grew up with in a rough area of San Francisco - represents a hypocritical response to her religious declarations symbolized by a cross tattoo on her upper arm.

Teammate Molly Hills, a devout Christian, understands.

"No one is perfect," Hills said. "People have this idea that if you're Christian, you're perfect. That's not true. Christians make mistakes; they ask for forgiveness.

"Jamie gets in trouble because she's such a competitor. She gets going in these games . . . she gets fired up. She wants to win so bad.

"Sometimes that can get the best of you. But her heart is good."

By the end of this season, barring injury, Redd will move to the top of the UW career scoring list and into the top 10 for rebounds and assists.

And if there were a UW career list for most spectacular shots, she would be at the top of it, too.

Redd is probably the most physically gifted women's basketball player in Husky history, and probably one of the most religious. She is convinced the traits are intertwined.

"In all actuality, that's the reason I've made it so far because I know there's a higher power that's helping me," Redd said. "No coach could have given me the talent that I know I possess. I mean, I didn't get it by myself. It's the work of God. He blessed me with this talent."

And, Redd said, her faith is responsible for guiding her through a difficult upbringing as one of eight children in a single-parent home.

"When I look at my situation and where I've come from . . . I could have been another person out there selling drugs, or pregnant or . . . at home hanging with everybody else doing the same thing," Redd said.

"But for some reason God allowed me to escape that."

Persistence pays off

Redd almost didn't make it to Washington in 1995.

It took her persistence and the persistence of the coaches who recruited her from San Francisco's International Studies Academy - Chris Gobrecht, Sunny Smallwood and Kathy Anderson - before Redd eventually achieved an entrance-exam score high enough to qualify for a basketball scholarship.

Because of the repeated test failures, there were doubts about Redd's ability to do college-level work. Those doubts powered her to succeed - she is expected to graduate in June with a degree in communications.

"Even people within this (athletic) department said, `Jamie's not going to make it,' " Redd said. "I survived off of that because they don't know who I am or what I'm capable of doing. A piece of paper or an SAT score does not reflect a person's knowledge.

"For me, that's been a driving force - the fact I came from the inner city, the fact I did come to a pretty hard university and the fact I will graduate in four years. A lot of people are going to be tripping out. But you know what? In the end I'll have the last laugh because I know that God will work things out for me.

"I'll never forget where I came from. And I think it's important to my past and my present. I think a lot of times people forget where they came from. I'll never forget that."

There have been many influences in her life.

"My mom, my grandmother, my godparents - they've all been a driving force," Redd said. "So have all my coaches and my elementary school teachers.

"I've had so many people helping me. It's almost impossible for me to fail."

Gobrecht, who was Redd's coach during her first two years at Washington and now is the coach at USC, remains a close friend.

"To this day, I'm still blown away over how she became so grounded in light of all her circumstances," Gobrecht said. "She has a powerful value base. She's highly principled. I've coached a lot of kids who aren't as principled as Jamie.

"It's rare in this day and age to have a young person who is that sure about who they are and what's right and what's wrong."

Some unfulfilled goals

Clearly, Redd's faith and the Mount Calvary Christian Church have been and still are big influences.

"When she came in her freshman year, it was tough. She was very guarded," Hills said. "From where she was her freshman year to where she is now is so different. And I attribute that to her religion."

Meanwhile, Redd's pursuit of unfulfilled basketball goals - league and national championships - will resume tomorrow night when the Huskies open Pac-10 play against Washington State at Edmundson Pavilion.

Redd will wait until after the season to ponder her options, which include pro basketball, sports broadcasting, coaching on the college level and a type of ministry.

"There are a lot of youths out there who are misguided," Redd said. "They don't know which way to go."

Redd does.